Sale 2503 - Printed & Manuscript African Americana, March 28, 2019

401 c   (WOMEN.) Scurlock, Addison; photographer. Photograph of the educator and architect Elizabeth Carter Brooks. Silver print, 19 x 15 inches to sight, signed in ink “Scurlock, photo”; YWCA insignia subtly retouched in ink by the photographer. Not examined outside of modern mat; in a period frame with plaque reading “Miss Elizabeth C. Carter, Executive War Worker, Y.W.C.A.” [Washington, DC, circa 1918] [1,500/2,500] Elizabeth C. Carter (1867-1951), a daughter of slaves, spent most of her remarkable life in New Bedford, MA. She became the first African-American teacher in the New Bedford public schools, held leadership roles in the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs and the NAACP, and also worked as an architect. From 1918 to 1920, she managed the construction of the Phillis Wheatley YWCA building in Washington, DC. It was likely during this period that she posed in a YWCA uniform for Addison Scurlock (1883-1964), the renowned African-American portrait photographer. In 1929, she married and took the name Elizabeth Carter Brooks by which she is now better known.