Southeastern Region

Mrs. Hannah Tootle

President

2532 Mayberry Loop Road
Moorhead City, North Carolina 28557
252-726-3587/ hanlut@yahoo.com

Current Officers

  • President, Mrs. Hannah Tootle
  • 1st Vice President, Mrs. Laura Jamison
  • 2nd Vice President, Mrs. Carol Cooper
  • 3rd Vice President, Mrs. Linda Means
  • Secretary, Mrs.Sandra Lark
  • Assistant Secretary, Mrs.Mary Collier
  • Financial Secretary, Mrs. Olivia Vans
  • Treasurer, Mrs. Erma J. Johnson
  • Historian, Mrs. Julia McElvy
  • Statistician, Mrs. Edna white
  • Auditor, Mrs. Edna Rivers
  • Chaplain Mrs. Jeanne Polk
  • Parliamentarian (TBS)

Current Southeastern State Presidents

Affiliation
National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs
(Organized 1896- Incorporated 1904)
 
National and Southeastern Motto:
“Lifting As We Climb”
 
Southeastern
Colors: Royal Purple and White
Flower: The Violet
Song: Written by Mary D. King
Brief History of Southeastern Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, Inc.

The Southeastern Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, Inc. came into existence as a part of a national movement to protest a statement that appeared in a London newspaper demeaning the character of Negro women. Concurrently with the protest, the movement identified as the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs was the first known organization proposed to promote programs and activities to elevate the educational, cultural, and social levels of the race.

The Southeastern Region is composed of eight states, namely Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Virginia. The Southeastern Region is now 79 years old, having been temporarily organized at Bethune Cookman College, Daytona Beach, FL in 1919 with Mrs. Mary McLeod Bethune as Chairman.

Six months later, the Association was permanently organized as a meeting at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University), Tuskegee, Alabama with Mrs. Bethune as President. This region was inactive from 1927-1940. In 1940 at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, the Southeastern Region was reorganized and strongly revised by the late Mrs. Bertha L. Johnson of Mississippi, who was elected President.

Women from this region have been pioneers in uncharted areas. The world is better because these women have touched the lives of many, many people.

“Lifting As We Climb”, the National motto, was presented by the Mississippi group of women and was adopted by the National.

The late Margery B. Gaillard, Alabama, presented the first history of Southeastern and was the originator of the “Parade of States”. Mrs. Gaillard presented the first “Bertha L. Johnson Trophy” to Mrs. Addie N. Burger who was then President of the Mississippi State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, Inc.

The early focus of Negro club women was on the mother, home, and child. “Mother, Home, and Child” was also a national slogan which trickled its way into local communities everywhere.

Three planks on which SACWC was built are Intensive Organization, Interracial Relations, and Constructive Citizenship. The Southeastern Association promotes training schools for delinquent Negro girls in every state in the southeastern regional states.

Many distinguished women have served as President of the Southeastern Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, Inc. Women from Mississippi who have served are: Mrs. Rubye Lyells (1955-1959), Dr. Willie Mae Latham Taylor (1972-1975), Mrs. Barbara Bacon Quinn (2000-2004), and now Dr. Evelyn J. Leggette, (2009).

Mrs. Betty Washington is the immediate past present of the Southeastern Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, Inc.