Ethel Cuff Black
A young Black woman, wearing a white lace-trimmed collar over a dark print dress, in an oval frame
Howard University yearbook, 1915
Born
Ethel L. Cuff

October 17, 1890
Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
DiedSeptember 17, 1977(1977-09-17) (aged 86)
Flusing, New York, U.S.
Burial placeCypress Hill Cemetery
EducationBordentown School
Howard University (B.A., 1915)
OccupationEducator
Employer(s)Public School 108
Delaware State College
Known forFounder of Delta Sigma Theta

Ethel Cuff Black (October 17, 1890 – September 17, 1977) was an American educator and one of the founders of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.[1] She was the first African-American school teacher in Richmond County, New York.[2]

Early life

Ethel L. Cuff was born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1890.[1][2] Her father was Richard Cuff, a banker and business owner, which allowed her to grow up in the top tier of the African-American community.[1][2] Her grandparents were landowners and second-generation freedmen.[2] Her maternal grandfather was a Civil War veteran.[3][1] She attended public schools in Wilmington.[1] She attended the Industrial School for Colored Youth in Bordentown, New Jersey.[4]

Delta Sigma Theta founders, 1913, at Howard University. Ethel Cuff: second from right, front row.

She attended Howard University, graduating with a degree in education in 1915.[1][5] At Howard, she was a member of the choir, the chair of the Howard chapter of the YWCA, and vice president of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.[1][6][2] In 1913, she and 21 other sorority sisters voted to withdraw and from Alpha Kappa Alpha and establish a new sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, that was devoted to community service and social activism.[7][1][8][4] She was the new sorority's vice president.[4]

Cuff marched in the Woman Suffrage Procession on March 3, 1913, with Delta Sigma Theta; it was the only black organization in the Washington, D.C. march.[4]

Career

After college, Black taught in Kentucky; Sedalia, Missouri, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.[1][9][2] She became the first African-American teacher at Public School 108 (P. S. 108) in Richmond Hills, Queens, New York, teaching there for more than 27 years.[1][10]

Black worked for the United States Census Bureau in Washington, D.C. from 1920 to 1922 and in Trenton, New Jersey from the summer of 1928 to the summer of 1928.[9] She became a faculty member of Delaware State College from 1930 to her retirement in 1957.[1][9]

Honors

Black was honored by Delta Sigma Theta at its 60th National Founders Day ceremony.[9] Although she was too ill to attend the ceremony, it was recorded for her.[9] After her death, the Wilmington, Delaware alumnae chapter established a local Kiwanis library in her honor.[11] In 2013, she was included in a United States Senate resolution that congratulated Delta Sigma Theta for 100 years of service.[12]

In 2023, the eastern end of Foch Boulevard, between 170th Street and Merrick Boulevard, near Roy Wilkins Park, was co-named in her honor.

Personal life

Black lived in Jamaica, New York for forty years.[10] She married real estate agent David Horton Black in 1939.[13][2] He pre-deceased her.[9]

In June 1951, she helped formed the Queens Alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta.[2]

In 1974, she moved into the Franklin Nursing Home in Flushing, New York.[10] In 1977, she died there at the age of 86.[10] Her funeral services were held at St. Albans Congressional Church.[10] She was buried in Cypress Hill Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.[10][14]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Ethel Cuff Black". Delaware Public Archives. 2017. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Parks, Gregory S. (2008-06-13). Black Greek-letter Organizations in the Twenty-First Century: Our Fight Has Just Begun. University Press of Kentucky. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-8131-7295-8 – via Google Books.
  3. ↑ Giddings, Paula (1988). In Search of Sisterhood: Delta Sigma Theta and the Challenge of the Black Sorority Movement. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers. p. 33. ISBN 0688135099.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Strickland, Shadra. "Hidden Figures of the Suffrage Movement | Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art". Brandywine Museum of Art. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
  5. ↑ Giddings, Paula (1988). In Search of Sisterhood: Delta Sigma Theta and the Challenge of the Black Sorority Movement. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers. p. 65. ISBN 0688135099
  6. ↑ "Delta Sigma Theta Founder History | University of Texas Deltas". Archived from the original on 2007-12-14. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
  7. ↑ Giddings, Paula (1988). In Search of Sisterhood: Delta Sigma Theta and the Challenge of the Black Sorority Movement. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers. p. 48. ISBN 0688135099
  8. ↑ Giddings, Paula (1988). In Search of Sisterhood: Delta Sigma Theta and the Challenge of the Black Sorority Movement. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers. p. 39. ISBN 0688135099
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Honors Founder Service Sorority". The News Journal. 1973. Retrieved July 27, 2023 – via Delaware Public Archives.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Obituary for Ethel Cuff BLACK". Daily News. New York City, New York. 1977-09-21. p. 501. Retrieved 2023-07-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ Boylan, Anne M. "Ethel L. Cuff (Black) | Biographical Database of Black Women Suffragists". Alexander Street Documents. Retrieved 2023-12-19.
  12. ↑ "Congressional Record, Volume 159 Issue 9 (Thursday, January 24, 2013)". www.govinfo.gov. p. 5292. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
  13. ↑ Giddings, Paula (1988). In Search of Sisterhood: Delta Sigma Theta and the Challenge of the Black Sorority Movement. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers. p. 185. ISBN 0688135099
  14. ↑ "Ethel Cuff Black". Women and the Vote NYS. Retrieved 2023-12-19.


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