12019-03-12T23:56:24+00:00Stanford University Pressaf84c3e11fe030c51c61bbd190fa82a3a1a1282414plainpublished2019-08-20T14:16:51+00:00AnonymousOn April 10, 1909, the Baltimore Afro-American reported on the Metropolitan Women’s Business Club of Greater New York. The group’s goal was to raise $10,000 to build a “suitable hall for entertainments, meetings and public gatherings for social and business purposes.” “It has been pointed out,” the Afro-American noted, “whereas the colored people pay hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to white landlords, if they had a hall of their own this vast sum of money would be circulated among their own people and would greatly benefit the race by giving employment to deserving young men and women in various ways.”
The newspaper praised the group’s membership as including “some of the brainiest and most progressive Afro-American women of the race in New York city,” and described Miss M. P Felton, chairwoman of the executive board, as “a successful financier.” As part of her fundraising efforts, Felton arranged a recital at the YWCA Memorial hall in Brooklyn (click to view PDF).
