Estelle Brown Hamilton

Estelle Brown Hamilton (November 28, 1883 – August 19, 1933), known as Mme. Estelle, was an American entrepreneur and educator, president of the Nu-Life Beauty College in Harlem in the 1920s.

Estelle Brown Hamilton
Born
Estelle Brown

November 28, 1883
Savannah, Georgia
DiedAugust 19, 1933
New York
NationalityAmerican
Other namesMme. Estelle, Estelle Hamilton Daniels
OccupationEntrepreneur, educator

Early life

Estelle Brown was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1883, the daughter of Abraham Brown and Marion Marshall Brown. She married in 1902, to William Henry Hamilton; he died in 1909, and she moved to New York to train as a beautician.[1][2]

Career

As "Mme. Estelle", Hamilton was president of the Nu-Life Beauty College in Harlem,[3][4] training hair stylists in the science and culture of black skin, scalp, and hair.[5] By 1924, she had "hundreds of agents... all over the country", graduates of her program who sold her goods and used her methods.[2] She was the first president of the National Beauty Culturists' League, and in 1928 addressed over 500 league members at the annual convention in Chicago, on the importance of complying with a new wave of state regulations of the beauty industry.[6] Her business suffered with the onset of the Great Depression, and with the coincidence of two injuries to Hamilton herself: she was burned in her laboratory, and she was "struck by a taxi".[7]

Hamilton was also a noted social hostess in Harlem in the 1920s.[8][9] In 1925 she hosted a benefit concert at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, for an "old folks' home" in Harlem.[10] She retired to Jamaica, Long Island, in 1931.[11]

Personal life

Hamilton married again, to William W. Daniels. She died in New York in August 1933, aged 49 years,[12] leaving a daughter, Wilhelmina L. D. Clarke. Adam Clayton Powell Sr. presided at her memorial service.[11] Clarke renewed her mother's trademark to a hair pomade in 1936.[13][14]

References
  1. Mather, Frank Lincoln (1915). Who's who of the Colored Race: A General Biographical Dictionary of Men and Women of African Descent ; Vol. 1. pp. xxvii.
  2. "Mme. Estelle Came to New York a Widow". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1924-11-15. p. 12. Retrieved 2020-02-23 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Extends Season's Greetings". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1931-12-26. p. 13. Retrieved 2020-02-23 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Beauty Culture School Growing; Many Features". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1924-05-24. p. 13. Retrieved 2020-02-23 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Mme. Estelle Graduates 44". The Chicago Defender. October 4, 1919. p. 4 – via ProQuest.
  6. Calvin, Floyd J. (1928-07-20). "New State Laws Face Beauty Culturists". The Pittsburgh Courier. p. 17. Retrieved 2020-02-23 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Prosperity Coming Back". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1931-07-25. p. 11. Retrieved 2020-02-23 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Out of Town Society". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1925-10-03. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-02-23 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Mme. Estelle Entertains". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1926-01-09. p. 11. Retrieved 2020-02-23 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Old Folks Concert Benefit -- Mme. Estelle". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1925-09-26. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-02-23 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Mme. Estelle, Noted Beauty Expert, Dies". The Chicago Defender. August 26, 1933. p. 3 – via ProQuest.
  12. "Mme. Estelle Dead". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1933-09-02. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-02-23 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. Index of Trade-marks Issued from the United States Patent Office. The Office. 1937. p. 200.
  14. Office, United States Patent (1936). Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office. The Office. pp. iv.
    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.