Last updated: May 3, 2023
Person
Sallie Wyatt Stewart
Courtesy of the University of Southern Indiana
Quick Facts
Significance:
African American educator and civil rights activist
Place of Birth:
Ensley, TN
Date of Birth:
January 3, 1881
Place of Death:
Evansville, IN
Date of Death:
July 1951
Sallie Wyatt Stewart was an African American educator, real estate broker, civil rights activist, and community leader based in Evansville, Indiana. During World War II, she organized Evansville’s Colored Women’s Work Committee to promote the sale of war bonds and stamps. These home front activities built on Stewart’s lifetime of service dedicated to her community, especially the advancement of African American women and girls. As a leader in several local, state, national, and international organizations, Stewart served as a founding member of Evansville’s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter, president of the Indiana Federation of Colored Women, successor to Mary McLeod Bethune as president of the National Association of Colored Women, and founder of the National Association of Colored Girls.
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Early Life and Education
Sallie Wyatt Stewart was born on January 3, 1881 in Ensley, Tennessee. Her parents Armstead and Eliza relocated the family to Evansville, Indiana. When Stewart’s father became disabled, she began working as a domestic to help her mother support the family (including seven younger siblings).
When she was sixteen, Stewart graduated from Governor High School as her class’s valedictorian. She continued her studies at Evansville Normal School, a two-year teacher training college, and later enrolled in summer courses at the University of Chicago and Evansville College.
In 1911, Sallie married Logan Henry Stewart, Evansville’s first Black real estate broker and one of the city’s most prominent Black businessmen. He shared Sallie’s commitment to improving life for African Americans in Evansville and helped establish the local chapter of the Negro Business League. After his death in 1929, Sallie earned her own broker’s license, becoming the first African American woman in the US to do so. She continued to run their real estate brokerage firm and eventually became an executive committee member of the National Negro Business League and National Colored Merchants Association.
Community Work in Evansville
Education was one of Sallie Wyatt Stewart’s lifelong passions. She taught in the Evansville Public Schools until her retirement in June 1951. Stewart served as a Dean at Douglass and Lincoln High Schools. At Lincoln, Stewart also headed the English department and introduced classes in domestic science, stenography, and mental hygiene. In addition to her teaching and administrative duties, Stewart led regular fundraisers for band and athletic uniforms, musical instruments, and other equipment for students.
Although Stewart worked as a teacher throughout her life, it is likely that her husband’s success in business initially afforded her the financial stability and connections to participate in activities and organizations outside of her job. But it was Stewart’s own leadership abilities that made her a force for change in her community.
Stewart used her education and resources to create opportunities for other Black women and girls to succeed. In 1916, she established the Evansville Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs. With the group’s support, Stewart raised $3,000 to purchase a house to provide childcare services for working mothers. After World War I, many Black women had become widows and had to enter the workforce to support their families. The Day Nursery Association opened in early 1919.
Under Stewart’s leadership, the Evansville Federation purchased another home to serve as a boarding house and recreational center for Black women and girls. Officially formalized in January 1925, the Phyllis Wheatley Community Home provided a place to stay while they looked for jobs.
Stewart was a charter member and inaugural secretary of the Evansville chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She also served as an officer on the Evansville Inter-Racial Commission in 1927. The Commission organized a Colored Auxiliary of the Tuberculosis Association of Vanderburgh County, which Stewart chaired in the fall of 1928. Under her leadership, the committee investigated housing quality in Baptisttown, where most of Evansville’s African American population lived due to segregation. The Commission discovered that conditions had not improved since a report with similar findings was released in 1916. Stewart advocated for the creation of a public park and to improve the conditions at Booker T. Washington pool, the sole swimming facility open to Black residents.
Organizational Leadership
In addition to working within her local community, Sallie Wyatt Stewart provided organizational leadership to Black women’s clubs at the state and national levels. Between 1921 and 1928, Stewart served as president of the Indiana Federation of Colored Women. The organization began to release its monthly newsletter The Hoosier Woman under her leadership. By 1933, the Indiana Federation of Colored Women had 56 clubs, 2,000 members, and a $20,000 budget.
In 1918, Stewart represented Indiana at the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) meeting in Denver, Colorado. Over the next ten years, she served as chairperson of the Social Science Department, chair of the executive board, and vice president at large. In 1928, Stewart succeeded Mary McLeod Bethune as president of NACW.
Due to her experience in teaching and real estate, Stewart’s skills in record-keeping, planning, and business were transformative for the organization. Under her leadership, the NACW reorganized from twenty-seven departments into two major focus areas: Mother, Home, and Child as well as Black Women in Industry. The NACW began to focus on professionalism, improved working conditions, fair pay, better hours, and access to insurance.
Through her work with NACW, Stewart founded the National Assocation of Colored Girls, served as a delegate at the International Council of Women in Vienna, became the fourth vice president of the National Council of Women of the United States, and served as the trustee and secretary of the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association.
Later Life and Legacy
Stewart’s involvement in national organizations did not diminish her commitment to her local community, especially after the onset of World War II. Many of Evansville’s wartime activities supported the troops at nearby Camp Breckinridge. In November 1942, Stewart organized a Colored Women's War Work Committee. Its members supported the war effort by selling war bond and stamps. During the war, Stewart also served as the president of Senior Hostesses at the Lincoln USO for African American servicemen. She created a program to honor mothers whose sons were serving in the armed forces. Evansville was designated an American World War II Heritage City in 2022.
During the 1930s, Stewart experienced health challenges. Between 1937 and 1939, she took a leave of absence from teaching in order to treat her diabetes. Later in life, she lost a leg and began to use a wheelchair.
Stewart died in July 1951, only one month after her retirement from teaching. At the time her death, her estate was valued at over $100,000. She left her estate in trust to assist young Black women.
This article was researched and written by Jade Ryerson, Cultural Resources Office of Interpretation and Education.
Sources
Bigham, Darrel E. We Ask Only for a Fair Trial: A History of the Black Community of Evansville, Indiana. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1987. https://archive.org/details/weaskonlyfairtri00bigh/mode/2up.
Evansville Argus. “Honor War Mothers’ Program Highlighted by Rochelle’s Review of Our Colored Soldiers.” Evansville Argus. May 16, 1942. https://digitalarchives.usi.edu/digital/collection/Argus/id/1430/rec/16.
———. “USO Hostesses Meet Sunday.” May 21, 1943. https://digitalarchives.usi.edu/digital/collection/Argus/id/1573/rec/3.
———. “Women’s War Work Group Organized: Mrs. Stewart Heads Body of Workers.” Evansville Argus. November 21, 1942. https://digitalarchives.usi.edu/digital/collection/Argus/id/1456/rec/1.
Hine, Darlene Clark. When the Truth Is Told: A History of Black Women’s Culture and Community in Indiana, 1875-1950. Indianapolis, IN: National Council of Negro Women, 1981. https://archive.org/details/whentruthistoldh1981hine.
Stetson, Erlene. “Black Feminism in Indiana, 1893-1933.” Phylon (1960-) 44, no. 4 (1983): 292–98. https://doi.org/10.2307/274578.
Trotter, Joe William, Jr. River Jordan: African American Urban Life in the Ohio Valley. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1998. https://books.google.com/books?id=IaoeBgAAQBAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s.