"Nancy Greene, Emma Greene, 1904"
Item
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Title
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"Nancy Greene, Emma Greene, 1904"
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Description
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This photograph is a tintype of Nancy Kate Greene (1875-1926) and her daughter Emma Epps (née Greene) (1902-February 27, 1989), likely taken in Princeton, New Jersey. Invented in the 1850s and produced into the 1900s, tintypes were photographs on thin iron metal that were often hand-colored and mostly used for portraits (Library of Congress, n.d.).
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Nancy Kate Greene (née Banks) was born into a large family, with nine sisters and three brothers (Historical Society of Princeton at Updike Farmstead 2020; The Princeton Recollector 1983). She is recalled dearly by her daughters in an article entitled “Green[e] Girls Grew Up On Good Food and Good Deeds,” for her cooking, baking, kindness, generosity, and community-orientedness (The Princeton Recollector 1983). With the help of 15 young Black girls and her daughter Emma, Nancy founded the Witherspoon branch of the Princeton’s Colored Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) in 1919-1920 (Town Topics 1989; Bretnall 1983). Emma had just graduated at this time as valedictorian of her high school in Danville, Virginia, which she attended due to discrimination and segregation in the north (Town Topics 1989). Together Nancy and Emma educated local girls– supporting their educational journeys, exploring nature, and teaching sewing and typing (Town Topics 1989; Bretnall 1983).
Emma Epps (née Greene) was a civically engaged lifelong Princeton resident, who was “outspoken on many issues, particularly those involving the black community” (Town Topics 1989). She was said to have “spoke[n] out against injustice to blacks in days when it was a fearful thing for a black to do” (Bretnall 1983). She was a “contemporary childhood neighbor” of Paul Robeson (Jerome and Taylor 2005, 32). Emma was a self-employed caterer and involved member of Christ Congregation Church (Town Topics 1989). She volunteered for 56 years with the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs, 50 years with the NAACP, 49 years with with Auxiliary board of the Neuro-Psychiatric Institute of Skillman, 44 years with the Friendship Club, 26 years as a Friendly Visitor with the Skillman Training Institute, 19 years as a Friend of the Princeton Public Library, and 11 years as a pink lady with the Princeton Medical Center (Town Topics 1989). In 1983 she received the Robert E. Clancy Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service (Historical Society of Princeton at Updike Farmstead 2020). In 1948, she married chef F. Douglas Epps (1884-March 21, 1981) born in Hampton, Virginia, resident of Princeton for over 64 years (Town Topics 1981; Town Topics 1989).
Missing from this photograph is Nancy’s husband Joseph Henry Greene (1871-1935) and their other younger daughter Elsie Phox (née Greene) (1906-November 3, 1984). The Greene sisters' family ancestry is as follows: maternal grandfather was Masai Indian, paternal grandfather part Seminole, two aunts and one uncle were born into slavery, and grandmother was enslaved (Town Topics 1989; The Princeton Recollector 1983).
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Rights
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This work is believed to be in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States. For more information, see http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/
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Creator
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Unknown
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Date
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1904
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Format
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Image
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Spatial Coverage
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Princeton, NJ
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Contributor
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Historical Society of Princeton
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Extent
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1 image
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Identifier
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F_14_059
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Date Created
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1904
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Subject
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African Americans--New Jersey--Princeton
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Young Women's Christian Association--History
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African Americans--Civil Rights
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Women--Civil Rights
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African Americans--Women--Activists
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African Americans--Women--Clubs
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Princeton (N.J.)--History.
