Garden clubs are certainly front and center stage right now, as we approach a very active week throughout the state with the anticipation of Historic Garden Week between April 23 and April 30. Many of us are also aware that today is a national celebration of Earth Day. In today’s post, I’d like to highlight a little-known, but immensely important area of garden history I have only recently learned more about: Black Garden and Horticultural history in Virginia. Because in addition to Earth Day, many throughout our state are hosting celebrations to honor Mrs. Ethel Earley Clark of Roanoke, Virginia (1899-1976), too. Clark was the first President of what was then known as the “Federation of Negro Garden Clubs of Virginia.” Throughout her lifetime, she helped support many of the earliest Black Garden Club chapters that were established in this state. Many exceptional leaders of Black Garden Clubs continued this legacy.
For more information on Mrs. Ethel Earley Clark, I highly recommend reading any material written by Abra Lee or Meredith Henne Baker, which is linked at the end of this article.
A Letter Exchange
Among the museum’s archival holdings is a fascinating letter exchange between Florence Sloane, Mrs. Ruth B. McCoy and Mrs. Lillian H. Savage of Norfolk, dated to 1935. And this unassuming piece of mail was actually my introduction to the rich and vast world of Black Garden and horticultural history in Virginia:
Collection of the Hermitage Museum & Gardens (Norfolk, Virginia). Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
And in reply, Florence Sloane wrote:
Collection of the Hermitage Museum & Gardens (Norfolk, Virginia). Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Collection of the Hermitage Museum & Gardens (Norfolk, Virginia). Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
A few things stand out about this letter exchange that elevate it to a remarkable treasure from the Archives:
- That the Hermitage gardens were known and viewed as a point of interest among those in the garden community in 1935.
- That the “Negro Garden Club” chapters of Virginia actively planned field trips for their members to support continued education and provide purposeful, beautiful settings for their gatherings.
- That although Florence Sloane did not meet with them in person when the group visited, her letter in reply is quite warm and congenial. She even offers Iris bulbs from her own home as a gesture of connection and friendship among like-minded garden women.
After reading this letter exchange, I was surprised I had not heard more about the “Federated Negro Garden Club of Virginia,” a major organization that was incredibly active in this area in the early 20th century and had hundreds of members. This quickly showed me that there is so much more to learn when it comes to understanding history when we begin to consider those who may have made significant contributions but were not always included in the narrative or the retelling of that history.
A quick Google search then led me to a digitized copy of the NGC organization’s handbook from 1942 and a few very helpful online articles (see sources below) provided a great, basic history of the organization. As the digitized handbook shows, the organization was chartered in 1932 and by 1942, expanded to nearly 100 clubs throughout the state of Virginia. The Handbook is an exceptional document and primary source. Not only is there an introduction provided by Lady Eleanor Roosevelt herself, but beginning with page 83, the handbook provides an incredibly thorough overview of the “Years of Progress by the Negro Garden Clubs of Virginia,” as recounted by Mr. William M. Cooper, then the Director of Summer and Extension Study at Hampton University, and Asa C. Sims. Sims was a renowned Hampton Horticulturalist and then Extension Landscape Specialist at Hampton University. He was also one of the four founders of “Negro Garden Club of Virginia.”
In their introduction, Cooper and Sims first extend their thanks and recognition for the success of the garden clubs to the “everlasting credit of the women who have composed the membership [and who] have done so much with so little, using not only native shrubs, flowers, and trees for the improvement of planting, but also using other native resources, both human and material.” No other words could so aptly describe the women, like Mrs. Ethel Earley Clark, and those after her who led the NGC. Moreover, this statement is a refreshing example of how the male advisors of the organization completely supported and gave due credit to the women who did the exemplary groundwork.
Cooper and Sims continued in the handbook by highlighting the key values that defined the work of the Black Garden Clubs and their members, from its inception. There were a handful of clearly defined core values that guided activities and reinforced the purpose of the organization:
- Home improvement
- Community Improvement, which grows out of the improvement of the individual homes, which make up the community
- Recreation and creative self-expression; the cultivation of gardens and floriculture was presented as an outlet for self-expression, recreation, and by extension, improved health for communities.
Members of the Black Garden Club chapters involved themselves in extensive work in their communities.
- They collectively cultivated orderly, landscaped yards according to the “five-point program.” This philosophy suggested that one provide for proper walks, lawns, shrubs, trees, and flowers when cultivating one’s yard. As Cooper and Sims cite in their handbook essay, the individual improvement of one’s own yard resulted in “over fifty communities working together to raise the standards of living in more than two thousand homes.” (Pg. 83)
- Moreover, this emphasis on community improvement and beautification through floriculture resulted in roadside improvement efforts such as tree plantings, and improvements to community streets or conditions by appealing to city councils to rectify unlivable conditions. These women were advocates for not just beautification, but the improvement of their communities as a whole. Beautification and cultivation of the landscape was synonymous with social enrichment.
- They also intentionally worked with and among the most important areas in their communities, such as at schools and churches—as Cooper and Sims call them, “centers of interest and pride in each community.”
Black Garden Clubs were so much more than ornamental horticulture, or floriculture. They were deeply rooted in community improvement efforts and even activism, as Historians Abra Lee and Meredith Henne Baker detail in their work.
The fourth and final value, though originally listed in Cooper and Sims’ essay as the third point, is listed here last for emphasis: improving race relations.
Gardens as Common Ground for Improving Race Relations
Although all these values are important and certainly guided Black Garden Club activities throughout the previous decades, it is this value that stood out to me the most, considering the social context in which the organization formed during the Jim Crow era. It also reminded me of the letter from the Hermitage archives and the power of an Iris to serve as a gesture and symbol of comradery and peace.
Gardens provided beauty and an outlet in an otherwise ugly world. The history of Black Garden Clubs underscores that there is strength and community among those who come together around this shared passion. It is abundantly clear perhaps now, more than ever, that Nature’s beauty certainly has the power to bring people together, even in the darkest times—a fact which we have been reminded of most recently amid a global pandemic.
Local Legends:
The number of garden club chapters exponentially increased between the beginning of the federated clubs in the early 1930s and 1940s. By the 1950s, local Garden Club legends had emerged especially throughout Tidewater.
Asa C. Sims was a Horticulturalist, the state advisor to the “Negro Garden Club of Virginia” and one of its original four founders, a respected faculty member at Hampton University, and owner of his own floral shop, Sims Florist, in Hampton. (https://www.mcdonaldgardencenter.com/blog/horticulture-trailblazer-hampton-roads-hero-incomparable-asa-sims).
Ruth B. McCoy, Lillian H. Savage, and Florence L. Chesson were among the phenomenal Norfolk women who led the Black Garden club chapters and enacted real change in their neighborhoods and communities here.
What we know about Mrs. Ruth B. McCoy (1897-1969):
- Mrs. Ruth B. McCoy served as President of the “Federated Negro Garden Club of Virginia.”
- Mrs. Ruth B. McCoy was as active with the garden club organization as she was with her church family. She was a member of St. John’s AME Church of Norfolk and served on its Stewardess Board.
- Ruth was married to William (Willie) O. McCoy.
- She lived in the historic Huntersville neighborhood (on Fremont St.) and then the Lindenwood neighborhood of Norfolk, just north of Huntersville (listed at 1045 Vista St. from 1940-1969), between 1930 and her death in 1969. She repeatedly led the Huntersville Garden club to major annual awards and recognition for their outstanding club work. She was extremely well-respected and beloved by all who knew her.
- It has also been noted that Mrs. Ruth B. McCoy was the second Vice President of the “Negro Garden Club of Virginia” and even sponsored a silver garden trophy to be awarded to outstanding chapter members at annual award receptions and conferences. Hear more from Abra Lee about her here.
- In a brief phone interview with Ms. Sylvia Patterson, formerly of the Huntersville Jr. Garden Club, Mrs. Ruth B. McCoy was remembered for having a beautiful home garden that featured a small fishpond, according to those who remember her here in Norfolk.
- Though she did not have any children, her legacy of leadership and stewardship to the community does not go unrecognized.
What we know about Mrs. Lillian H. Savage (1895-1953):
- Was a member of First Calvary Baptist Church and served as the church’s Clerk for over 30 years.
- She was the daughter of Rev. Luther Hughes of Washington, D.C. She was married to George L. Savage and had two daughters, Mrs. Marion S. Overton and Mrs. Emma Alexander of Radford. She had three grandchildren, Elaine and Brenda Overton and Wayne Lee Alexander. And is buried in Calvary cemetery in 1953.
- She was a member of the Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, the “Negro Garden Clubs of Virginia,” and was a member of her local Progressive Garden Club.
- She served on the Committee of Management and Religious Education of the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA and the committee for Social Action.
- She was a co-signer of the letter to Florence Sloane as the Secretary of the “Negro Garden Club of Virginia” while Ruth B. McCoy was President.
- Served as President of the NGC by 1942 and wrote an impassioned President’s Address for the 10th Annual Meeting of the Negro Garden Club of Virginia held at Hampton Institute. This address was printed in the Garden Club Handbook of 1942: “We Can, We Will, We Must,” pgs. 126-127. In her essay, she says “we must overbalance ugliness with beauty.”
What we know about Mrs. Florence Lomax Chesson (1891-1961):
- Florence L. Chesson was the wife of Dr. P.J. Chesson, who was one of the male founders and supporters of the federation known as the “Negro Garden Club of Virginia.”
- She served as the first Vice President of the NGC while Ethel Earley Clark was President and after Clark’s tenure, served as its President.
- As this personal interest story published in the Norfolk Journal and Guide on May 13, 1939 details, she was an incredibly compassionate and caring woman:
- “Mrs. Florence Chesson Derives Greatest Pleasure ‘From Doing Things and Helping Others’”
- She was passionately interested in local and state garden club movements
- Was inspired by John Keats’ poetry: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” She was a graduate of Virginia State College and a was a teacher, like her husband, Dr. P.J. Chesson, in the Norfolk Public School system until their marriage. And she attended continued education courses at the Hampton Institute Summer School and extension classes.
- Served as President of the Lindenwood Beautification Group, which was organized in her home in the late 1920s (about 1929).
- Served as Chairwoman of the junior garden clubs in the state
- Was active and held leadership roles at the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA. Along with Ruth B. McCoy, served as secretary of the board of management and was chairman of the religious education committee there. She was a religious leader as well and very active with her local church community at the Metropolitan AME Zion Church. She was also president of the Athenian Sunday School Class.
- Involved with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and served as Virginia’s state branch president.
- She was a member of the board of trustees of the Norfolk Community Hospital
- President of the Women’s Auxiliary to the Excelsior Reed and Brass Band
- Secretary of Auxiliary of Lambda Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity
- Served as a campaign worker for the Norfolk Community Fund, Norfolk Community Hospital, King’s Daughters’ annual Block Day, NAACP, and YWCA fundraising drives.
The Hampton Connection
It cannot go without mentioning how incredibly important the city of Hampton and Hampton University were in the development and continuation of this organization over the decades. Although the land-grant institutions of Virginia were Virginia Tech and Virginia State College, Hampton University, then known as Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, was a true hub of excellence, education, and empowerment for those who attended and taught at the institution. Hampton had especially strong technical programs that included courses in ornamental horticulture and extension courses.
To this day, Hampton University remains one of the most important repositories for more information about the “Negro Garden Club of Virginia.” And it is a shared hope among those interested in and actively researching the topic that when their materials do become available for research purposes, it will contribute significantly to move this history even further into the forefront of American Garden History.
The Storytellers Preserving This History
Throughout the process of looking into this topic for my own edification, I had the opportunity to connect and work with two amazing women who have dedicated their lives to making sure these stories are told and more widely known: Abra Lee and Meredith Henne Baker.
I was contacted by Virginia Humanities Fellow Meredith Henne Baker who reached out to me over email in late 2021. Baker has been in the process of researching Virginia’s Black Garden Club history throughout her recent position with the Library of Virginia. She also plans to write a book that highlights this area of important women’s history and that finally includes Black women’s history in the larger history of the Garden Clubs of Virginia. In December of 2021, she wrote and published an article that sheds light on some of her research while at the Library of Virginia and important findings that help contextualize the significance of these garden club chapters and the women who spearheaded them.
Read Baker’s Seeds of Change article through The Library of Virginia.
I will be perfectly honest in admitting that in recent years, I had also become a fan girl of Abra Lee’s since reading more about Black horticultural history and following her work at @conquerthesoil on Instagram. It was during several talks with Meredith Henne Baker that she suggested I reach out to Abra Lee in order to plan an upcoming event. Even though I was star-struck, we were able to connect with her. I was and continue to be beyond honored and grateful that Abra was so willing and able to be part of our program to share her exceptional body of work with us in Norfolk this past year. She is truly a gifted leader in the field and an exceptional storyteller.
Supporting This Work
These past several years have been beneficial for a lot of self-reflection. And so in that process, I wondered how the Hermitage could use its resources and platform to help celebrate and honor this history in Norfolk, even though Horticulture and gardens are far from my personal area of expertise.
In February of 2022, we hosted a virtual event featuring both Abra Lee and Meredith Henne Baker. This, and a related workshop program, were supported by a unique grant initiative, Beneath the Surface, developed through a partnership between Virginia Humanities and the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. Though the talk ended up becoming a virtual program, the event was well-attended and an absolute honor to be a small part of. During the program, Lee and Baker shared historical overviews and exceptional details about the community engagement, civic activism, and beautification activities undertaken by the incredible women (and men) involved in the Black Garden Club community while vibrantly recounting the lives of these Virginians who shaped our communities and horticultural history.
For more information about the Hermitage program, visit our webpages:
Because this year marks the 90th anniversary of the beginning of the Negro Garden Clubs of Virginia, there have been additional events and programs planned on this topic throughout the state to celebrate this history. On Thursday April 21, the Morris Arboretum of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania hosted a phenomenal virtual symposium in collaboration with the Anne Spencer House Museum & Garden in Lynchburg, VA. The program, called “Ethel Day Symposium” was an extraordinary opportunity to hear from some of the most amazing women in the fields of horticulture and floriculture. They spoke about the history of Black Garden Clubs and how this history connects to and continues to inspire their work today. Moreover, they emphasized how important it is for these stories to be shared through their own voices. On Saturday April 23, the Anne Spencer Gardens will also host an in-person celebration that is sure to be just as inspiring.
The “Federated Negro Garden Clubs of Virginia” has an incredibly rich and inspiring history that deserves widespread recognition and celebration. It was an important organization that flourished, despite a social climate of intense racial inequity. These Black Garden Club chapters were a bright spot for many in the community. Black Garden Clubs were part of the American garden movement, mostly led by women, that would spread throughout the United States over the next several decades. The NGC fostered the rise of many exceptional female leaders who led the organization and its many individual chapters. And these women were a powerful force that enacted real change in our communities.
And yet this is a history that is still being written. There is so much more to be learned about it and the inspiring individuals who were part of it. Of course, research is dependent on what information has been saved and made accessible over the years. Though there are some known repositories that possess more information, it may be very possible that there are additional physical materials that help document and illustrate this history that have not yet been unearthed. It is entirely possible that this history, the stories, the club scrapbooks and trophies, have been kept with individuals rather than institutions over the years. And so if you have any information about this history, want to share your own stories, or knew individual women of the Black Garden Clubs of Virginia, I encourage you to reach out to either the Hermitage, Abra Lee, Meredith Henne Baker, or any of the additional individuals I’ll list below. Rest assured that there are several Historians and organizations wanting to highlight this history and several exceptional garden community leaders actively doing this work.
To learn more about this history through the words and work of incredible women in the field, I highly encourage everyone to follow these individuals. They are the modern community of Garden Women doing this important work:
Abra Lee: Conquer the Soil; https://conquerthesoil.com/
Meredith Henne Baker: (Meredith Henne Baker (@MereHBaker) · Twitterhttps://twitter.com/MereHBaker)
Meredith Henne Baker’s work at the Library of Virginia: (https://www.lva.virginia.gov/news/broadside/2022-no1.pdf)
Shaun Spencer-Hester, Director & Curator of the Anne Spencer House Museum & Garden (Lynchburg, VA): (http://www.annespencermuseum.com/contact-us.php)
Wambui Ippolito, Horticulturalist: (https://www.cultivatingplace.com/post/for-the-love-of-plants-with-horticulturist-wambui-ippolito); https://www.instagram.com/wambuilovesplants/
Teresa Speight, Cottage in the Court: (https://cottageinthecourt.com)
The Honorable Lillian Harris Ransom, granddaughter of Mrs. Lillian Summerville Jones of Portsmouth, VA: (https://phsonline.org/board-of-directors/the-honorable-lillian-harris-ransom)
Guina Hammon, founding Gardener at Chester Avenue Community Garden, Program Manager at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS), and Community Storyteller: (Interview with Guina Hammond (Chester Avenue Community Garden)
Hermitage Collection Connection 