Ivy Talk: “Lifting As We Climb”: River View Farm Women’s Community Work

Courtesy Theodosia Lemons

Learn about how some of the women of River View Farm participated in and led the local, state, and national African American Women’s social and literary clubs during Jim Crow and Civil Rights.

Before the Civil War, black and white women joined social clubs. However, these were often linked to the church or run by men. It was in the late 1800s that the Women’s Club Movement began, in which white middle-class women established national social and literary clubs. These clubs initially focused on self-improvement, but later expanded into societal reformation.

Largely left out of the Women's Club Movement, the African American Women’s Club Movement emerged. Middle-class African American women’s social clubs aimed to improve their conditions and those of all African Americans.

Our speaker, Mariah Payne, works at the Ivy Creek Foundation as the Education Coordinator. She graduated in December 2022 from Christopher Newport University with a Bachelors in History and Minors in Museum Studies and Psychology. She is a Hawkins descendant here at River View Farm and a descendant of the Gillettes at Monticello.

This talk will be offered via Zoom. Registration: https://app.donorview.com/7X6DZ