Henrietta Duterte
*This date in 1817 is celebrated as the birth date of Henrietta Duterte. She was a Black funeral homeowner, philanthropist, and abolitionist.
Henrietta Bowers was born to an affluent, free Black family and raised on Middle Alley, now called Panama Street, in Philadelphia's Society Hill. Known for her fashionable attire, she began her career as a tailor. In 1852, she married Francis A. Duterte, a Haitian-American owner of an undertaking business. None of their children survived infancy, and Francis Duterte died in 1858. After her husband's death, Duterte took over the funeral parlor and became the first woman to operate such a business in America.
The funeral home earned a reputation for quick undertaking service before modern-day embalming methods. Under her ownership, the business was estimated to gross $8,000/year (about $211,500 as of 2017). Duterte was a member of the Underground Railroad and used her business to assist fugitive slaves from Southern states seeking freedom. She often hid runaway slaves in coffins or disguised them as part of funeral processions.
The success of the funeral parlor allowed her to make generous contributions to her community. She supported the AME Church of St. Thomas, the Philadelphia Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Persons, and the Freedman's Aid Society, which was created after the Civil War to assist formerly enslaved people in Tennessee. Later, Duterte transferred ownership of the funeral home to her nephew, Joseph Seth. She died at 86 on December 23, 1903, and is interred at the historic Eden Cemetery in Collingdale, Pennsylvania.
