• Comment: In accordance with the Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use, I disclose that I have been paid by my employer for my contributions to this article. Halimaliha (talk) 16:31, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

Estella Crosby (1890-1978) was an African-American businesswoman, beautician and community organizer.[1] She was born in Alexandria, Virginia and moved to South End, Boston where she married Adrian Crosby and became active in local Republican politics.[2] She bought a row house on 11 Greenwich Park with her husband in 1925.[3] She ran a dry goods store on Hammond Street with her husband for 20 years.[4]

Estella Crosby organized Boston's Neighborhood Scottsboro Defense Club in 1933 which supported the defense of the Scottsboro Boys, nine African-American boys who were on trial for the rape of two white women in Scottsboro, Alabama.[3] The Scottsboro Defense Committee, founded by the American Communist Party and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, led marches across the country.[5] The marches led to the formation of local clubs that supported the defense of the Scottsboro nine.[5]

Estella co-founded the Boston unit of the National Housewives’ League of America with Geneva Arrington and E. Alice Taylor in the 1930s.[1] Estella chaired the annual convention of the National Business League in Boston in 1955.[4] She was also an active member of the League of Women Voters, the International Institute, the Boston City Federation, the Boston Trade Association, the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, founded by Harriet Tubman and Ida B. Wells among others, and the General Federation of Women’s Clubs of Massachusetts.[6]

She was the vice president of the Council of Elders of Roxbury in her later years. She ran a women’s clothing store in South End until she passed away in 1978.[7]

Her home is featured on the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail.[1] In 2023, she was recognized as one of "Boston’s most admired, beloved, and successful Black Women leaders" by the Black Women Lead project.[8][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Home of Estella Crosby". Boston Women's Heritage Trail. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
  2. ^ "Estella Crosby: birth, move and marriage". The Boston Globe. 1978-01-18. p. 43. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
  3. ^ a b Shannon, Hope J. (2014). "Estella Crosby". Legendary Locals of Boston's South End. Mount Pleasant: Arcadia Publishing Inc. ISBN 978-1-4671-0112-7.
  4. ^ a b Hayden, Robert C. (1991). African-Americans in Boston : more than 350 years. Boston Public Library. Boston : Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston.
  5. ^ a b "The Scottsboro Defense Committee | American Experience | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2025-03-19.
  6. ^ "Estella Crosby: Organizations". The Boston Globe. 1978-01-18. p. 43. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
  7. ^ "WM Reference: Estella Crosby Death". The Boston Globe. 1978-01-18. p. 43. Retrieved 2025-03-19.
  8. ^ "Black Women Lead". Greater Grove Hall Main Streets. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
  9. ^ Sullivan, Mike (2023-10-04). "Portraits along Blue Hill Avenue honor Boston's Black women leaders". CBS Boston. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
Allikas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Estella_Crosby
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