Carrie Fortune
*Carrie Fortune's birth is celebrated on December 2, 1860. She was a Black clubwoman, seamstress, and community activist.
Born in Florida, Caroline Charlotte "Carrie" Smiley Fortune was the daughter of white plantation owner John Smiley and his mistress, an Indigenous Seminole woman. At about 16, Carrie Smiley accepted the offer to relocate to Sag Harbor in NY, where she became the personal seamstress on Hampton Road near Eastville Avenue. Carrie Smiley became friends with Mary Jane Hempstead and her nieces, The Green Sisters Mary, Christina Susan, Sadie & Priscilla.
She taught them dressmaking skills, and they acquired clients in the village, according to an article in 2012 by Michael Wright. Elizabeth Bowser, granddaughter of Carrie and daughter of Jessie, Carrie's daughter, quoted, "When her grandmother married T. Thomas Fortune in 1878 and moved to Brooklyn, she kept in touch with Ms. Green and soon began returning to Sag Harbor in the summertime to visit. Carrie and her husband were among the first Black families to "summer" in Sag Harbor, in the loosely defined neighborhood known as Eastville. The family moved to Red Bank, NJ, in 1901, where their home was the scene of many gatherings of literary men and women, including a visit by Booker T Washington.
During her life, Carrie Fortune was one of the founders of the Urban League, an originator of the Big Sister movement. She was active in YWCA work with the Home for Aged Colored People and founded the Lenten Sewing Circle. She was a member of the Northeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs (NFCWC) for over 50 years and related to St. Augustine Episcopal Church of Brooklyn, NY, for over 45 years. Fortune was a Sunday School teacher, taught voice and the piano, and sang in the choir for many years. She founded the St Thomas Guild, which is still active in the church. Carrie always maintained an interest in Red Bank and its people.
She took a great interest in the problems of her race and had an extensive library of rare books and prints. Two weeks before Carrie Fortune's death, she paid a visit to her daughter, who also lived in NY; she returned to her home in Brooklyn, where she succumbed to a fatal heart attack on January 15, 1940, at the age of 79. The funeral was held at St Augustine Church in Brooklyn. She is buried in Evergreens Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY.
