The Connection

Ninety-one years ago, a young African American woman started a column in the Alexandria Gazette Newspaper, “News of Interest to Colored Readers.” Her column only lasted from Aug. 30, 1927 – June 1, 1928, giving her readers a sense of pride in reading about the everyday life of the community.

Her column covered the news of the Colored community churches, vacations, births, deaths, graduations, social gatherings, and social activities. Estelle’s short abstracts of the activities of Colored residents read like the 21st century tweets. One of her entries was dated 14 March 1928:

“Little Miss June Norton has returned to the city from a visit to relatives and friends in Culpeper and Warrenton, Va.”

Her style of writing was short and to the point. She wrote hundreds of entries during the 10 months of her column.

Estelle Lane was born in 1905 to Sidney D. Lane and Mary Carter. Her parents had 14 children including Estelle; they owned two houses to accommodate their large family. The main residence was on 417 North Henry St. Estelle attended Hallowell School for Girls. She worked on a variety of jobs as a cook, domestic and a laundress during her years in Alexandria. She yearned to become a writer. Her short-lived column took her beyond her life as a domestic worker into an occupation that was respected by her community. For some reason her column ended, and she went from unemployment back to domestic work. Her last job she held in Alexandria was a laundress at Banner Laundry.

Estelle’s close-knit family went through life-changing events that impacted her life. Her father, Sidney was a carpet layer. Unfortunately he did not live long enough to witness his daughter’s column, he died on Aug. 27, 1917. Her sister, Mattie Lane Lewis died at the age of 29 on Oct. 29, 1918. Her brother, Raymond married and moved to 816 Duke St. Her other siblings moved from the family house.

The great migration of African Americans began around the two World Wars. Estelle’s family became part of that great migration. Her brother, Clarence relocated to Philadelphia; her other four brothers, David, Robert, John and Samuel moved to Boston, Mass. Her older siblings encouraged Estelle, their mother and sisters to move to Boston. Her mother and sisters moved in the 1930s to Boston, and Estelle joined them after 1942. Unlike Estelle’s brothers who went to college and had exceptional careers in the legal system and careers with the Federal and State governments, Estelle’s life was not fulfilled. She lost all hopes in pursuing her writing and she continued to do domestic work in Boston. Estelle and her sisters, Ruby and Mary in 1947 lived in the Roxbury area of Boston and worked as maids. Estelle and her sister, Mary never got married.

Estelle was the quiet one in the family, she neither talked about her life in Alexandria nor her column in the Alexandria Gazette. Her surviving relatives never knew that Estelle wanted to become a journalist and for those 10 months from 1927-1928, she was the journalist for the Colored community. The interesting irony was that her niece, Nancy Lane, earned a journalism degree and her great-niece, Janet Lane, worked as a journalist for the Voice of America in Europe and in Washington, D.C., and as a writer for American Express. Many of Estelle’s family members obtained their college degrees that propelled them into the job market.

Today, Estelle has six nieces between the ages of 79-90 years of age who are living in Massachusetts, Maryland, New York and Florida. They had no clue about their aunt’s desire to be a writer. Her column has been read by many people at the Special Collection and Local History Library in Alexandria. It gives researchers a small window into Alexandria’s African American lives in the late 1920s. Estelle never wrote again. She died in the 1960s in Boston.

Char McCargo Bah is a freelance writer, independent historian, genealogist and a Living Legend of Alexandria. Visit her blog at http://www.theotheralexandria.com for more about “The Other Alexandria.”