“To Tell Our Story”: Mary Townsend Seymour and the Early Years of Hartford's Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 1917–1920

On June 3, 1888, a fifteen year old African American female walked into the City of Hartford's Halls of Record, located at Pearl and Trumbull Streets, stopped at the counter of the town clerk's office, and asked to see the volume of birth records covering the year 1873. The attendant retrieved the book and turned to the page the young woman requested, entries for May 10th. The entry had no first name, nor was there a maiden surname for the mother. The young lady asked the employee to fill in the missing information. Her birth name was Mary Emma Townsend. Her mother's first name was Emma, and Mary Townsend made certain that the assistant recorded her mother's maiden surname, “Smith.” In the far right hand column, the attendant recorded a note: “Name given by herself[.] Mary Emma Townsend Seymour 6/3/88.”1An auspicious appearance on the stage of young adulthood, Seymour was self-assured and socially confident for her age, gender and race. These were attributes that continued to blossom and flourish in later years. In 1917, Mary Seymour helped to found the Hartford chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and for several years after that she was one of the chapter's most dedicated workers and chief representative in the city. Along with other African American women throughout the nation, Mary Seymour was part of a vanguard who, as explained by one historian, “organized and operated the structures of the [early civil rights movement], the groups that got things done, while men were spokespersons who interacted with white male leadership.” In some local settings, African American women also emerged as key spokespersons.2Mary Townsend Seymour was both a nuts and bolts laborer and a spokesperson for the Hartford branch or the NAACP. Instead of dealing primarily with Hartford's white male leaders or through the black male Interfaith Alliance of ministers, she collaborated with a small group of influential elite white women reformers, including Katharine Houghton Hepburn, Aimee Porritt, and Josephine Bennett, Caroline Ruutz-Rees, and men such as the Reverend Rockwell Harmon Potter of First Church in Hartford. She acted as their equal, boldly marching in suffrage parades and organizing meetings. She learned how Hartford worked and through the local NAACP branch, became an important representative for the city's African American community. Seymour's role as a leader in the NAACP also led to her playing a part in the woman's rights movement. During the Progressive Era, African American and white women formed organizations, some integrated, like branches of the NAACP, which pushed for changing gender roles in America. The club woman movement, for instance, begun in the 1890s among African Americans represented the extension of female influence outside of the home to reform social evils and fight the stigma of racial prejudice.3My first encounter with Mary Townsend Seymour was while researching letters between the Hartford branch of the NAACP and its headquarters in New York. In this correspondence, Seymour touched on the subjects of racial prejudice, separate public accommodations for Negroes, women's suffrage, radical politics, and unionizing. In two other letters found in the records of the Americanization Division of the Connecticut Council of Defense, Seymour addressed the issue of black loyalty and service during World War I. Through these letters, one gets an insider's view of issues that divided Hartford's African American community and political issues that were debated in Hartford during and after the Great War. The power of Mary Townsend Seymour's letters inspired me to learn more about his remarkable woman. This paper is an attempt to provide a brief explanation of her origins, the society in which she came of age, and how both shaped the young African American leader who became such an integral part of the Hartford chapter of the NAACP.Mary Seymour's humble beginnings hardly foretold the role she would play in Hartford. She was the last child of Jacob and Emma Townsend, both of whom were born in New York, her father in Flushing and her mother in Brooklyn. According to Seymour's birth record, Jacob was a thirty eight year old cook and Emma was thirty five. Hartford city directories support that he was a cook, and list her as a seamstress. By Mary's fifteenth birthday, the year that she had boldly walked into Hartford's Halls of Record, her father had not been listed in the city directory for a decade. Her mother was living in Windsor and very ill, dying barely two months after Mary had corrected her birth certificate. During that same visit to the Halls of Record, Mary Townsend gave her last name as, “Seymour.” Though too young to be legally married, and in contradiction to later marriage records, she may have been living with the black Seymour family of Hartford and simply assumed their last name.In 1891, Mary married Frederick Seymour, then 25, and officially became a Seymour. She was 18, though the marriage record lists her as 22. Frederick had worked in the catering business and by the time he married Mary Townsend had obtained employment as a postman, a prize job for African Americans of the time. In 1892, Mary gave birth to their only child, Richard, whom they called, “Richie.” Tragically, within the year he died. As a result, the Seymours were, ironically, free to dote on members of their extended family and to work for the social causes that later defined Mary's life.4The Seymour family was headed by Lloyd Garrison Seymour, undoubtedly named after the white abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison. During the Civil War, Lloyd attained the rank of First Sergeant in Company E of the 29th Volunteer Infantry, one of many Connecticut regiments of color that supplied over 100,000 black troops for the Northern cause. After the war he returned to Hartford and was a sexton at the Baptist church. Lloyd was a prominent veteran who marched at the head of annual parades on the Fourth of July. In 1866, he petitioned Governor William A. Buckingham to form an African American Connecticut militia unit. When this did not occur, he formed a volunteer unit composed of black veterans, the Hartford Union Guard (Colored), for which he was elected Captain. In 1879, the General Assembly finally created the Independent or Fifth (Colored) National Guard Battalion, with Hartford as the site of one company. Once again, Lloyd Seymour was elected by the other troopers to be company Captain.5If Mary Seymour did in fact reside with the Seymours while a teenager, she most certainly witnessed early on the pride with which Lloyd Seymour held his military service. He had fought in battle to help sustain the Union and with such commitment naturally came the steadfast belief that African Americans were equal to whites and should be treated as such. Lloyd's self-respect and commitment, as well as that of other black soldiers from Connecticut who had served the nation, undoubtedly influenced Mary's own sense of worth and willingness to fight for her beliefs.Throughout her life from 1873 to 1916, Mary Seymour was also witness to significant changes in Hartford. The city became the home of major which many a for and as well as a worth a The of the city also The first were the who in the to and were in the by a of and By the city's at with and their of the The changing were by the for By Hartford was home to over that from and to and workers created an on the home in Hartford. a of in the that Hartford had the in the for a city of its The also with as well as and their and did not in well with the time and work of or the and of the As a result, there were many between the and old of an the helped to the of the African American who had made Hartford their home and who, like Lloyd Seymour, had helped to the the black in the city had been one of the By World War African Americans in Hartford at a or and between and the the Hartford in an the city's black as and worked service as business and and created with Hartford's white the these black which were through their own black such as the the Baptist the Union Baptist African Church on Pearl and of the black community their to the a of a were not a of the to the had black and the sense of community among Hartford's African Americans undoubtedly a hand in the of for like Mary Seymour to in her later support of both black rights and the woman's movement. the for the of Hartford's branch of the NAACP came as a of to World War I. The war in in had a on the Northern in the then Hartford was home to the other and a of war By 1916, these were important for the in their with the Though this was for the local both some in Hartford to to their and from within one to fill the war in other of the was the and was by the to that led to the of the NAACP branch in to workers from New York, after an the National in New York. the as one of its the of African its came to Hartford in the of the of The between the and the with the first Great of African Americans from the into of the and to the of for the an and in the of created by the the of living and for their on this and the of Connecticut the male from black in the for at the Hartford. The was a The who came were by the in as with the and not only in Hartford's and in home to who also to by the that the city would and Hartford black community was not with the of to the city. later to the NAACP, Mary Seymour that her African Americans the to in other to Hartford in the of and that one black had a of these his from the that they were a and from the for and to held the of in such that became to that was and in the city on the stage was for white and for the beginnings of the NAACP in Hartford. In 1917, after with members of a a through the The Hartford of held for who worked during the and that the city of separate for black and white He that separate were for the African own that in during the year whites had made the of and The from the Interfaith Alliance of black In the of this did not to the the separate for African was these that the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was The had been formed in by black and white who with the for African who that should only their and be in a with which they in a of black the that should be in the and that young should to a would be from this that leaders would and by 1916, and whites were local throughout the the headquarters two Hartford black Reverend of the Church on Pearl and William for their in organizing a local came of this in 1916, Mary Townsend Seymour and other women a in Hartford to for an The group and a local branch of the NAACP. months in the of the Seymour and the the very for a local chapter in Hartford. On 1917, Frederick and Mary Seymour in their at New a of important including of The which to of the Mary a and the and also a black and as well as about other for who to form a Hartford branch of the NAACP. The group elected William as and Mary Seymour as On 1917, and in this time at the first public held at the First to the to the chapter of the this was an auspicious the of the Hartford branch a was far from the in the on the This Seymour the job of and the local branch, including and certain that were that they had and that they were The She did the work of a and among of influence and She also with the New office, in to is important to that the NAACP had an the of whites in later became a of in the early years these were in to the and sustain the were prominent Hartford whites who in the living on the that and Reverend Rockwell Harmon Potter was of First Church and with the Hartford and many social and her Josephine Bennett, were local suffrage and Mary was an and of local Hartford branch of the NAACP was one of or in Hartford during the World War in to the African American Great On the a about the by black and white women in and in the same year with the of the had on and to a on the site for African members that the would in more for their in the of 1916, the of black and formed a Colored in to black women and to and that would provide a the from whites and a in a home on for its and The had to a their of the In of 1917, a to members to and in playing for social and the through The and its to black and to and to the to in Hartford. women from the who had worked in and from the black community the a of is not that Hartford's black women became members of the the local branch of the NAACP and the of such to the on the part of Hartford's African Americans to play an important role in the of their own black as well as the city's community as a The within and among these groups naturally led to a sense of and at were the by race. Mary Seymour and Josephine Bennett, the in the suffrage and a through their work in the among leaders also to the in which these were a of in Mary Seymour's in the NAACP that support the she was by in her community and the of her of Seymour's also her willingness to and as a black woman in a white the also the of and during World War first of Seymour's work into the issue of racial and how Hartford's black community steadfast in their and loyalty to America. Though of may have to fight and her in the of to for a of that did not that in the war would be treated on an equal In for the headquarters for and was at the old Halls of Record, this is not black they were from whites and from Union in many including Seymour, the war the of for and while of African Americans at home had to these of American in Hartford and the nation, as they had during the Civil War, to the in The that was in and was time to again, to with own white black assistant to of War that were to fight also after the with that is no on the part of the War to at this time to the may not have been for like Mary Seymour the issue was at public and in continued in the and such as the to black African Americans of the to the born in to they have the of their own as is no that the very issue that had inspired of the Hartford NAACP, the had as was for had for a time and the battle for in served to the at Reverend of Church and one of the of the NAACP branch, the black over in and He a white of ministers, social city and white elite female that African American community was and have war and the two and members have for the in and from gave a in their for the Colored women for the In of the in Hartford is Seymour also the of black in the war and the of continued racial in America. In May she two letters to Caroline Ruutz-Rees, who in and had most Seymour through the Connecticut Association on which served as a of the had to Seymour about the of the Hartford of The for War The was formed by whites and in New for the of African American soldiers by white organizations, and the Hartford and one of had formed on By May its had to and Seymour that members and their war had to an for on the and had who had returned from The also held most the to and to black at in the black at for instance, from the Hartford The also and the Hartford was a to be held at the of May at the Guard in these many by the Hartford Seymour was also to the of She that of and had their to the and the American had been in of the fact that made for in this and of in Seymour also at in which of were their racial became certainly such were not the of in America. Seymour the of Mary a black woman in In a to Seymour's correspondence, the a of the After a white who had been a white to African American to for the of the men was In her she that she would in the of the This the which Mary and head with her from a that the The then her with and the after the had too a that was to and her eight old According to the to its head with a The its by of into This to Mary while her was in the New the Infantry, in Seymour the of the that while Mary was in the to the for his Seymour to this she of color got to be with by of who have the of their to about one of her letters to Ruutz-Rees, Seymour in the that her race. The by and in his and was an of the black that Seymour of throughout her would have as the on a at or or or in about for Seymour the such as more and Seymour had the the and its the of the and of and Mary Seymour also on the service that she provide to in the Hartford After black men for to the black and Seymour addressed this issue in by with the of the with African American to her the for rights and Seymour women who were for from the by and then the these white women had on to in Hartford. Seymour the of these for was the mother of her of a while in the American in The woman between and a as as she and her to the black were Seymour on old and worked in a these women the She that was for the workers to their The of the was from the and he with or of the women not the and on the of the and the Seymour that the were the was to they were Seymour, with the help of her Josephine Bennett, that a of black female workers was the of and with the women about the organizing in was not a or The city's did not on though in World War its military and came from outside of Hartford to to a as the Hartford was a site in which to was to a and The Hartford Association a of and these with local In the workers by workers racial and gender to the black Seymour and to their at a of the NAACP. the women to at the of the was the Union of New City and the a representative who in organizing this small local within the In by Seymour's and with Hartford's Union organizing the black there were within the black community. According to Seymour, black in the city from their and she a that she and were Seymour and were for a time. black women and Mary Seymour served as of the and its headquarters was at New her with some the did not last into the Seymour and organizing with led to as on the which to for the of racial by that black and white workers had to and for their of Mary Seymour's in for black rights returned her to the a Hartford chapter of the NAACP. for who had had been a of in The issue with the of World War the formed a Council of to help with the of white that they who and were to the and became to life in the of the by their own Council formed several that worked through in and was the Division of Seymour naturally of black In her with black Seymour learned that many were and she of Hartford's Americanization about the to for African In a to the NAACP Seymour explained that Mary who had the to the Hartford branch, and that he had the Hartford the to Seymour was was were Americanization in and were for the Seymour with an from the New World which that were African Americans for of to as she and the to for the black Townsend Seymour's to racial with other social As explained in the NAACP and one of the was between of black and women's is no the Seymour both of these causes On for instance, she the New City headquarters of the NAACP to her about an in the New World in which the leader of the National that there no of black women in to the the woman suffrage were that black women were in was organizing the white women in and of no or among the Seymour at such a and that the National was to the to black women in to for the was the of the woman's suffrage the racial between African American and white women in both the and black women were as in of the as their white white women were not in equal rights for The had to with to that the The battle had been for and in had with the National American Association and formed the National in to and in to support the and civil during the in World War and into the in in as well as at the and that the These women of and When these women to and served a in on a The the among the in the and helped to from and to Once the the the battle for to that were to and held to a of to The far as to African Americans a in a suffrage as not to white and led to the racial that Mary the same that Seymour the NAACP headquarters in New York, the of and the to of the that the only was to see the of an gender as a to the she was their own business as as did not with the and She that the had as a for that the to gender did not have to on Mary Seymour to Mary a of the NAACP her in for the suffrage in Hartford. Seymour that she had that she to her in the World about the of African American Seymour to to Josephine Bennett, a who not the of the Bennett, explained Seymour, was to and on the a Seymour also about Houghton Hepburn, of who was a of the of the In Seymour's she was in some not to be too far on the In Seymour's was in sense of the the National came to one the General Assembly was to on the suffrage In to and local the had a to the who had been and into were in their and as one of the their the they to the Hartford The Hartford the of the by its of the and the which the and the of the were from the the of and gave of women then to the and held a to Mary Seymour was there the Hartford NAACP. In her to she the she gave for in the name of the Hartford branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored that the be to National at the asked Seymour to the and she was very to have the to very with Seymour explained that her public of support was the of these women would at this time to women of the who more they She was more other at the and were The Hartford the for were by women workers and many of the were small The Hartford at Seymour also in her that one of the of to her over with and for the to and a woman that Seymour with whom she found to be and According to many women in the black women to of women that black women would the as far as their was the men in her for woman's suffrage Mary Townsend Seymour two important of her belief in social and political both racial and gender These were important in her and she to be a and how should her from to should that she worked to influence the of city black women the black and as well as a group of elite women who the stage of Hartford's public for many years. She was an of these women and other such as Mary Mary Seymour was a woman who, was a about her she the many of her during these brief years to Her within a year and the NAACP branch to which she had time and was by the that she New to and over for brief Mary Seymour an important in Hartford. did not a In her to Mary Seymour the and that came with her work at the been on and that to fight in and work that with She Association is to they not a and is a to help me in in this Seymour in Hartford on She was to in her mother Emma, her and their “Richie.” a years in the Hartford branch of the NAACP her on its The Hartford and Hartford her The that she had worked for including the of the and the the work of a dedicated is that that there men and women who to and work for that not as on the of