YWCA Formation
Modeled after the Young Men’s Christian Association established by Sir George Williams, the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) was founded in the United Kingdom in 1855 by Lady Mary Jane Kinnaird and Emma Robarts. The YWCA’s purpose was to support young working-class women who moved to urban areas during the Industrial Revolution. The YWCA offered these young women a “range of services (such as housing, job placement, and cafeterias), vocational, recreational and enrichment opportunities (such as classes, concerts, libraries and gymnasium facilities), and prayer groups and other religious activities to serve their mental, moral, physical and spiritual welfare."1 The YWCA focused on developing young women holistically in a safe environment and providing them with skills and resources to compete in the job market with men. However, the YWCA was not originally established as a single unified organization, but as two separate ones spearheaded by different founders.
The first co-founder was Lady Mary Jane Kinnaird, who was born in 1816 in England. She became a philanthropist deeply committed to uplifting young women. In 1855, she established the General Female Training Institute, which began as a boarding house for nurses during the Crimean War on their way to and from Crimea, as well as for many young women coming to London for work.2
The other co-founder was Emma Robarts, who was born in 1818 to Nathaniel and Martha Robarts. In 1855, she started a prayer group with 23 other women to “pray for the young women of the world.”3 Originally called the Young Women’s Christian Association, the group changed its name to the Prayer Union in 1859. Throughout the 19th century, the movement quickly spread across the United Kingdom with 130 branches by 1872. In January 1877, Emma Robarts and Lady Kinnaird met and decided to merge the General Female Training Institute and the Prayer Union into the Young Women’s Christian Association to more effectively serve the young women of London and develop their spiritual, physical, emotional, and professional well-being. Robarts died on May 1, 1877, before the official announcement could be made.4 In less than 50 years from its inception in 1855, the YWCA became an international organization when England, Norway, Sweden, and the United States jointly created the World YWCA in 1894.5
YWCA in the United States
The YWCA arrived in the United States in 1858 when a branch opened in New York City. Originally called the Ladies Christian Association, it focused on the "temporal, moral and spiritual welfare" of working women by providing boarding and recreational activities for them. This proved to be so successful that Boston organized the first official Young Women’s Christian Association in 1866, which sparked the formation of other branches across the country.6 In 1872, the YWCA established their first employment bureau in New York City and held typewriting classes for women to better equip them for the job market. The YWCA continued to spread across the United States, and by 1875, there were over 28 American YWCAs.7
These YWCAs provided a variety of services for women, including prayer meetings, Bible classes, libraries, sewing classes, restaurants, entertainment, and temporary housing.8 The branches provided much-needed assistance for developing knowledge and skills for employment, including guidance on how to dress and prepare for interviews. Providing temporary housing was welcomed by women traveling at this time, as women were often viewed as second-class citizens, especially when traveling alone. Many reputable hotels would not let a single woman enter a hotel or book a room if she was not escorted by a man. By offering boarding rooms, YWCAs alleviated this issue for traveling women.9
In 1907, the YWCA of the USA incorporated as a national organization in New York City and membership reached more than 186,000 women at 608 YWCAs. In 1911, the group moved into a permanent headquarters building in New York, mostly financed by six well-to-do members.10
Segregated YWCAs
The YWCA’s relationships with non-whites and immigrants varied across the nation. Some facilities refused to service African American women, while others worked closely with Black women’s organizations, such as the Phyllis Wheatley Association and the National Association of Colored Women.11 In 1889, the first African American YWCA opened in Dayton, Ohio, followed the next year by the first YWCA branch for Native American women, opening at the Haworth Institute in Chilocco, Oklahoma.12
The Y’s national board discussed the racial segregation issue as early as 1905 when it appointed the first salaried YWCA Colored branch secretary in New York City – Eva D. Bowles – to lead a project to address the needs of Black women in New York. Bowles was recruited by Addie Waites Hunton, the wife of William Hunton, the first Black full-time paid secretary for the YMCA.13 Bowles’ work and influence were pivotal in steering the national YWCA towards integration. In 1913, Bowles led the newly formed subcommittee for Colored Work of the YWCA national board in the recognition of the increasing interest in association work among urban Black women. The YWCA declared its readiness to meet the needs of Black women at the national meeting in 1914; however, it did not set a policy. Due to this lack of national policy, each chapter operated independently with some fully integrating, some meeting with Black boards, while others remained segregated.
During World War I, the national YWCA board received $4 million by the US War Department Commission on Training Camp Activities to work with women and girls on the home front. The YWCA War Work Council designated $200,000 for Colored work and appointed Bowles as secretary for that committee. Recreation centers, industrial work centers, and 15 hostess houses opened near military installations, specifically for Blacks. At the end of the war, 45 cities benefited from this program and YWCA Black membership rose to more than 39,000. With the leftover funds, a Black YWCA building was built in Washington, D.C. to accommodate the growing African American population there. Impressed with Bowles’ wartime efforts, former President Theodore Roosevelt donated $4,000 of his Nobel Peace Prize to be dispersed according to Bowles’ guidance. With her influence and strong community backing, Bowles pressured the national YWCA board for more balanced representation for Black women on national and local boards and committees. The Council on Colored Work urged the YWCA and other organizations to hold national conventions only in cities that would accommodate all members, regardless of race.14 However, it was not until 1946 that the national board agreed to fully integrate the organization, and fighting racial injustice became the organization's core mission.15
The YWCA strove to be at the forefront of social issues both domestically and internationally. In the 1930s, the YWCA took a stand against lynching, and in the 1940s worked to end racially segregated housing throughout the United States.16 In 1946, the YWCA established its Interracial Charter that states “wherever there is injustice based on race, whether in the community, the nation, or the world, our protest must be clear and our labor for its removal, vigorous and steady.”17 However, racial progress in the YWCA was not immediate as the organization still maintained segregationist practices until 1958 when the national board voted to increase its efforts to integrate all branches. Throughout the 1960s, the YWCA made actionable changes to eliminate racism inside the organization and create a more inclusive atmosphere for minority members. In 1965, the Office of Racial Justice was established to initiate a national anti-racial campaign.18 Throughout the rest of the century, the YWCA continued to advocate for racial justice, sex education, physical fitness, and professional development for women domestically and across the globe.
YWCAs in Texas
YWCAs were also established in Texas, including ones for African Americans. Texas cities with Black YWCAs included Beaumont, Dallas, Fort Worth, Galveston, Houston, San Antonio, and Waco.
Various African American travel guides listed locations of Black YWCAs across the nation, including The Bronze American National Travel Guide, Chauffeur’s Travelers Bureau Guide, GO Guide to Pleasant Motoring, Grayson’s Travel and Business Guide, Negro Motorist Green Book, and the Travelguide. In Texas, the branches listed in the travel guides included:
- Beaumont, Frances Morris branch, 1305 Gladys Street, later 653 College Street
- Dallas, Maria Morgan branch, 2503 North Washington Street (3525 State Street)
- Fort Worth, Colored branch, 2923 Ave K, later 1916 Crump Street
- Galveston, Blue Triangle branch, 2823 Avenue K
- Houston, Blue Triangle branch, 506 Louisiana Street, later 1419 Live Oak Street
- San Antonio, Pine Street branch, 328 North Pine Street
- Waco, Blue Triangle branch, 220 Forrest Street, later 301 Cherry Street
The "Black YWCAs in Texas" map shows only the facilities listed in the travel guides. A red pin indicates that the building is still extant; a black pin shows that it was demolished. Each pop-up window will show branch name, geographic coordinates, state of existence, location, travel guide/s in which it was listed, and other details as known.
YWCA in Dallas
The YWCA organization was established in Dallas when a provisional committee formally organized the Young Women’s Christian Association of Dallas on February 21, 1908. In March 1909, the YWCA of Dallas received a state charter and officially became affiliated with the national YWCA as a non-profit organization that would provide respectable accommodations for young women seeking work in Dallas. Meetings and activities were held in various places until 1919 when a fundraising campaign started to raise money for the construction of a permanent facility to keep up with membership and program increases. The Dallas YWCA raised $800,000 for the new facilities, allowing for the expansion of the organization’s programs, including the establishment of the “Girl Reserves” program for young girls.19 At the time, the organization was only available for white women and girls.
A white women’s group called the Church Women United (CWU) in Dallas formed in 1912, led by Maria Morgan Smith, who served as president for 10 years. The CWU was a national movement where Christian women could “express their faith by prayer, advocacy and service" and work "with other local organizations to promote awareness of many social issues.”20 In 1926, the CWU held a gathering of women to address the growing needs of the Black community, including training for girls and a day nursery for young children of working Black women. During this meeting, Frederica Chase Dodd pitched the idea of a YWCA branch with a designated paid worker with the focus of serving Black women and girls. As a result of this meeting, CWU “adopted the Homemakers Industrial School located at State Street and Washington Avenue as a project. The school trained African-American girls in homemaking skills and the boys how to make a living.”21
Meanwhile, the National YWCA conducted a survey, resulting in the Central Association of YWCA Board assuming responsibility of a Black branch in Dallas. Chase Dodd and Ethelyn Chisum with other Black women worked with CWU to form a new YWCA branch for African Americans.20 Maria Morgan Smith and the CWU donated the Homemakers Industrial School building and land at 2503 State Street to the YWCA in 1927. The first paid employee hired at the Black YWCA was Doris Wooten in 1928.
Maria Morgan YWCA
In 1935, the new executive director Marion Hill Dillard Crump initiated a building fundraiser in order to accommodate the organization's growing membership and activities, with a large amount of the funds coming from the Methodist Churches of Dallas, the Black community, and the Downtown YWCA.23 By 1939, a sufficient amount of money had been raised to replace the existing wood-frame house with a larger, more modern stone-clad building. Completed in 1940, the new building cost $14,000 and had a new address of 3525 North Washington Street, although it was still on the same parcel.24 It was renamed the Maria Morgan branch of the Dallas YWCA.
When Crump retired in 1972, the YWCA had over 1,500 members.25 The Maria Morgan YWCA remained in operation at the Washington Street location until the organization moved to a new facility at 1800 Bonnie View Road on October 27, 1975. By providing a wide variety of educational opportunities, the Maria Morgan YWCA was an essential resource for the development of Black women and girls in Dallas during the Jim Crow era and beyond.
Maria Morgan YWCA's Notable Women
Many women made the existence of the Maria Morgan Branch YWCA possible. Below are short biographies of a few key women.
Frederica K. Chase Dodd
Frederica K. Chase was born in Dallas on November 3, 1893, to Frederick K. and Fannie L. Chase. Frederica’s mother was a schoolteacher. Her father was an influential civic leader and attorney, who had launched a mayoral campaign for the city of Dallas in 1893, making him one of the first urban Black mayoral candidates in Texas.26 He died on September 3, 1893, just a few months before his daughter was born. Her mother was a schoolteacher, and education was an integral part of Frederica’s childhood. In 1910, she graduated from the Dallas Colored School No. 2 (later renamed Booker T. Washington High School). She continued her education at her father’s alma mater Howard University, a historically Black university founded in 1867, located in Washington, D.C. During her studies at Howard, Chase and 21 other young black women founded the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority on January 13, 1913. Today, the sorority is an international service organization with over 300,000 members worldwide. Chase also served as president of the campus YWCA branch. She graduated with honors in 1914 and returned home to Dallas to teach English at her alma mater Booker T. Washington High School.27
Frederica Chase married John Horace Dodd on June 20, 1920. He was a Howard University Medical School graduate, a Dallas physician, and president of the Lone Star Medical Association. As was customary among middle-class American women, Chase Dodd stopped teaching after marriage, and she became active in various community organizations. She helped found an after-school group that became the Maria Morgan YWCA branch. Her memberships included the Priscilla Art Club, the National Association of Colored Women, the Recreation Club, the Kant Agree Club, the Reading Circle, and the Dallas Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
Chase Dodd returned to work in the early 1930s when her husband was admitted to the Terrell State Hospital due to a debilitating illness, where he remained until his death in 1945. Chase Dodd attended Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University) School of Social Work in Atlanta, Georgia, and became one of the first Black social workers in Dallas. Throughout the Great Depression, she worked for the Dallas Welfare Bureau, a city social welfare office, where she assisted unemployed African Americans with food and clothing donations. Due to the overwhelming needs of the community, she was quickly promoted as the director of the Negro Community Welfare Agency that served as an employment office. Under Texas Governor Miriam Ferguson, she worked for the Texas Relief Commission. In 1936, Chase Dodd accepted a position as a counselor for the Family Services of Dallas, and she remained employed there until her retirement in 1961.
Frederica K. Chase Dodd died on January 21, 1972. Her memorial service was held at New Hope Baptist Church, followed by her burial in Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Dallas. In tribute to Chase Dodd’s importance to the founding of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, the Dallas Alumnae Chapter established the Frederica Chase Dodd Scholarship and the Frederica Chase Dodd Life Development Center south of downtown Dallas. Chase Dodd’s work was recognized by both the United States Congress and the Texas State Legislature for her part in founding Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.28
Ethelyn Mildred Taylor Chisum
Ethelyn Mildred Taylor was born on June 9, 1895, in Dallas to William Henry and Virgie M. Taylor. In 1913, she graduated from Prairie View State Normal and Industrial College (now Prairie View A&M University) and started teaching at public schools in Rock Creek (Smith County), Waxahachie, and Dallas. On September 23, 1923, Ethelyn Taylor married John O. Chisum, an optometry student, and stopped teaching, but did secretarial work on the side. Chisum returned to teaching in 1932 as a teacher at Booker T. Washington High School and was promoted to dean of the school in 1941. During these interim years, she earned a bachelor’s degree in 1936, followed by a master’s degree in 1959 from Prairie View State College. She retired as dean in 1965. However, her retirement was short-lived, as in 1967, Chisum went to work at Southern Methodist University (SMU) to facilitate its Upward Bound program, where she stayed until she retired again in 1982 due to poor health.
Throughout her career, Chisum participated in various professional organizations. She helped found the Maria Morgan branch of the YWCA in 1927 for Dallas African American women and girls, and was a longtime board member. She was active in the Dallas Teachers Council, the Dallas Negro Division to Improve the Texas Teachers Retirement Plan, and the Dallas Personnel and Guidance Club. Chisum maintained memberships in various community associations, including the National Association of Women Deans and Counselors, Priscilla Art Club, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, North Dallas Democratic Women’s Club, the Texas Personal and Guidance Association, the Teachers State Association of Texas, the Texas Commission on Race Relations, the North Park-Cedar Springs Civic League, and Prairie View Alumni Association.29
Ethelyn Mildred Taylor Chisum died on January 27, 1983. Her files are housed at the Dallas Public Library as the John O. and Ethelyn M. Chisum Collection, which chronicles their lives, as well as lives of other African Americans in 20th century Dallas.
Doris Wooten Kirkman Wesley
Doris Wooten was born on December 1, 1902, to Webb and Bettie Wooten in Fort Worth. She served as a YWCA branch secretary in Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, and Cincinnati. While she was at the Fort Worth branch, she helped raise over $13,000 in funds in 1920 for the construction of a YWCA building.30 Wooten relocated to Houston by 1923 and became the branch secretary of the Houston YWCA and lived at the YWCA boarding house at 406 Saulnier Street in the Fourth Ward area.31 On January 23, 1927, Doris D. Wooten married Carlton Kirkman. However, the marriage was short-lived as she returned to her maiden name and moved to Dallas by 1928, serving as secretary at the Maria Morgan YWCA. After the hiring of Wooten at the Dallas YWCA, numerous “committees were organized, and immediate plans were made to repair and decorate the building.”32 Under her leadership, the branch grew quickly and had 220 members by 1929. The YWCA sponsored a variety of events such as “Race Relations Sunday, Negro Health Week, summer camps, cooking classes, interior decoration, sex education, and home nursing.”33
By 1931, Wooten moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, working as the branch secretary of the West End Colored YWCA. She remarried in 1933 to Houstonian Carter Walker Wesley, and they moved back to Texas, living in Houston by 1934. Carter Wesley was a civil rights attorney who collaborated with prominent lawyer and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall on a brief that resulted in granting Blacks the right to vote in Texas primary elections. He also helped plan the landmark Sweatt v. Painter court case against the University of Texas. He served as president of the Safety Investment Company and worked at the Houston Informer publishing company, a Black newspaper firm, where he rose in the ranks to become publisher. He owned the Dallas Express newspaper and was a founder of the National Newspaper Publishers Association.34 Wooten Wesley ended her YWCA career and worked with her husband at the Houston Informer, first in advertising and later as vice president and treasurer. They remained married for 36 years until Carter died in 1969, and they had two children together, along with his son from a previous relationship.35
Dr. Yvonne Ewell
Yvonne Amaryllis Ewell was born on September 19, 1926, to Valcris and Marjorie Ewell in Frankston, Texas,36 and grew up on a farm in Frankston while attending a school for Black children. Coming from a line of educators on her mother’s side of the family, she received a higher education at Prairie View A&M College (now Prairie View A&M University) for her Bachelor of Arts degree and at the University of Colorado for her Master of Arts degree.37 In 1947, Ewell began teaching at the Black elementary school in Ladonia, Texas.38 She relocated to Dallas in 1954 to teach at the Phyllis Wheatley Elementary School, beginning her illustrious career in the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) at a time when “teacher lounges, restrooms, and water fountains were still segregated.”39
Ten years later, Ewell became the first African American woman appointed as the district-wide elementary school consultant.40 In 1970, she was awarded the prestigious Fulbright-Hays scholarship to study abroad for five weeks in East Africa. In 1978, Ewell broke another barrier when she was appointed as associate superintendent in Dallas, making her the highest-ranking African American school district administrator in Texas, under superintendent Nolan Estes who assigned her to the East Oak Cliff district. Estes described her as a “person of great vision.... For her, children were non-negotiable. For her, they came first, everything else played second fiddle.”41 During her tenure as associate superintendent, Ewell “attracted national attention for implementing several innovative programs and was a highly sought speaker on the lecture circuit.”42 Ewell received an honorary doctorate from HBCU Bishop College in 1979.41
When the East Oak Cliff district of Dallas ISD dissolved in 1981, Dr. Ewell transitioned into operating as a court-appointed DISD desegregation monitor from 1981 to 1984. She officially retired in 1985, ending her impactful three decade-long career at DISD. Over 400 guests attended for her retirement party, “including Dorothy Height, president of the National Council of Negro Women in Washington D.C.”44 However, that was not the end of her involvement with Dallas schoolchildren as she was elected to the Dallas School Board in 1987, and served for 11 years, up until her death in 1998.
Outside of her professional career as a teacher, educator, and administrator, Dr. Ewell was also active in the Dallas community, participating in numerous organizations. She was heavily involved in the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) on both local and national levels, as she held several positions within the organization, including the Nominating Committee for the Maria Morgan YWCA, Metropolitan Dallas YWCA Board of Directors, and the national YWCA board.45 She helped host the 1979 national YWCA conference held in Dallas that promoted the health and welfare of all.46 Dr. Ewell also participated in Black-affiliated groups, including the Tri-Racial Committee, National Council of Negro Women, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), South Dallas Business and Professional Women’s Club, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, National Black Educators Association, Texas Black Caucus of School Boards, National Political Congress of Black Women, and the Munger Avenue Baptist Church, not to mention a number of other social, civic, and non-profit organizations.47
As a trailblazing community leader, Dr. Ewell dedicated her life to her students. Her primary goal was to ensure African American and other minority students received the best possible opportunities to succeed in Dallas public schools. Throughout her career, she utilized her intellect and influence to motivate city leaders “to work harder and aim higher for the good of children and all of Dallas.”48 In 1995, a magnet school opened in East Oak Cliff that was named the Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center (now School for the Talented and Gifted at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center) in recognition of her work on the magnet school project and her immense contributions to DISD.
Dr. Yvonne Amaryllis Ewell died on April 27, 1998, of pancreatic cancer at Methodist Medical Center in Dallas. Though she never married and never had children of her own, she advocated for thousands of schoolchildren through her decades of service in the Dallas school system. Her memorial service was held in the Hall of State at Fair Park, where over a dozen people gave tributes to her service. She “was remembered as a leader whose influence reached beyond education to politics, religion and community service.”49 Dr. Ewell is buried in Mount Olive Cemetery in Frankston, Texas.50