NFCWC 1902 Brochure
*On this date in 1896, the Northeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs (NFCWC) was founded. This umbrella organization represented black women's clubs in the northeastern United States.
The organization was affiliated with the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC). It was one of the first umbrella organizations for Black women's clubs in the United States, predating the NACWC by a month. The motto of the club is "For God and Humanity." Mary H. Dickerson founded the organization "The New England Federation of Women's Clubs." The NACWC inspired the organization. The name was changed two years later to the Northeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs (NFCWC), and Dickerson served as the first president.
In 1899, the NFCWC withdrew its membership from the NACWC over differences in the choices of officers for the group, which the NFCWC felt did not best represent them. However, later, they re-affiliated, becoming one of four regional groups of the NACWC. NFCWC met annually, sending delegates who represented their local areas in New England. It comprised 55 clubs from the northeastern part of the United States in the early 1900s. In 1904, the NFCWC petitioned President Theodore Roosevelt to urge him to take steps against lynching.
After their annual convention on August 12, 1904, the group protested lynching and other forms of discrimination against African Americans. In 1919, NFCWC also appealed to President Woodrow Wilson to stop race riots in Chicago. The organization was formally incorporated in New York on June 15, 1927. Headquarters for the group was set up in Newport, Rhode Island, in a building donated by Louise M. Fayerweather on September 22, 1927.
