Eartha M. M. White (1876-1974)

September 09, 2015 
/ Contributed By: Euell A. Dixon

|Eartha Mary Magdalene White

Eartha M.M. White

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Eartha Mary Magdalene White, a prominent African American resident of Jacksonville, Florida, was widely known for her humanitarian and philanthropic endeavors in the northeastern part of that state. White was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on November 8, 1876. Her mother died shortly after childbirth, and, at a very young age, she was adopted by Lafayette and Clara English White.

White began her education at the Stanton School in Jacksonville, now Stanton College Preparatory School. Upon graduation in 1893, she moved to New York City, New York where she attended the Madam Hall Beauty School and Madame Thurber’s National Conservatory of Music. The latter affiliation led to a position with the Oriental American Opera Company, the first African American opera company in the United States. She sang soprano under the direction of J. Rosamond Johnson. After a highly successful opening on Broadway, the troupe toured for a year throughout the United States and Europe.

Upon returning to Florida at age twenty, White continued her education at Florida Baptist Academy in Naples, Florida, graduating in 1898 with a teaching degree. Upon graduation, White engaged in her first philanthropic endeavor. She built the first public school for black children in Bayard, Florida, donating the land and lumber and teaching there for the next sixteen years even as she taught at The Stanton School in Jacksonville.

White also became a successful entrepreneur, managing several businesses including a dry goods store, an employment and housecleaning bureau, a taxi company, and a steam laundry. She also became a licensed real estate broker, the first woman employee of the Afro-American Life Insurance Company in Jacksonville, and a charter member of the National Negro Business League and the Jacksonville Business League.

Although it is estimated that she became a millionaire, she donated much of her wealth to finance her humanitarian work. That work included creating Oakland Park, the first public park in Jacksonville for black people; founding the Boy’s Improvement Club; and establishing an orphanage for African American children, a home for unwed mothers, and a nursery for children of working mothers. She also worked with prison inmates and founded the Colored Citizens Protective League.

In 1904, White and her mother, Clara White, established the Clara White Mission which fed the homeless and hungry in the Jacksonville community. After her mother’s death in 1920, White continued the work of the mission which at one point was Jacksonville’s largest employer of black people.

During World War II, White worked in the Women’s National Defense Program. She also donated a building and provided American Red Cross services to enlisted men. In 1967, at the age of ninety-one, she established a one-hundred-and-twenty-bed facility for welfare patients—the Eartha M. M. White Nursing Home in Jacksonville.

Among White’s many accolades were an honorary doctor of law degree from Edward Waters College, an honorary doctor of humanities from Florida Memorial Institute, the Better Life Award of the American Nursing Home Association, the Booker T. Washington Symbol of Service Award from the National Negro Business League, and the Lane Bryant Award for Volunteer Service. In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon appointed White to the President’s National Center for Voluntary Action. Florida Governor Reuben Askew honored her at age ninety-five as “Florida’s Outstanding Senior Citizen.” Eartha White died of heart failure at age ninety-seven on January 18, 1974. She was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame in 1986.

About the Author

Author Profile

Multiple business owner Euell Dixon (formerly Nielsen) was born on November 3, 1973, in Sewell, New Jersey. The youngest daughter of scientist and author Eustace A. Dixon II and Travel Agent Eleanor Forman, Euell was an early reader and began tutoring at The Verbena Ferguson Tutoring Center for Adults at the age of 13. She has owned and operated five different companies in the past 20 years including Show and Touch, Stitch This, Get Twisted, Dimaje Photography, and Island Treazures.

Euell is a Veteran of the U.S. Army (Reserves) and a member of the Order of Eastern Star, House of Zeresh #103. She is also the 3rd Historian for First African Presbyterian Church, the nation’s oldest African American Presbyterian church, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Additionally, Euell is also a photographer, storyteller, fiber artist, and a historical re-enactor, portraying the lives of Patriot Hannah Till, Elizabeth Gloucester, and Henrietta Duterte. Euell has been writing for Blackpast.org since 2014 and was given an award from the site in 2016 for being the only African American female who had almost 100 entries at the time. Since then, she has written over 300 entries. Euell currently lives in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Dixon, E. (2015, September 09). Eartha M. M. White (1876-1974). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/eartha-m-m-white-1876-1974/

Source of the Author's Information:

Making Waves, Female Activists in Twentieth Century Florida, Edited by
Jack E. Davis and Kari Frederickson, (University Press of Florida 2003),
Encyclopedia of Social Work, (Oxford University Press, April 2008),
Florida Memory, State Library & Archives of Florida, “Images of
Women’s History in Florida,”
https://www.floridamemory.com/photographiccollection/photo_exhibits/women/
;
University of North Florida, Thomas G. Carpenter Library, Personal
Papers & Primary Resources Collections, Eartha M.M. White
Biographical Highlights,
https://www.unf.edu/library/specialcollections/manuscripts/eartha-white/Eartha_White_Biography.aspx.

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