Founded in Brooklyn in 1908 by Alice Wiley Seay, the Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs (ESFWC) is the umbrella organization of New York State African-American women's groups. The women who started the ESFWC had two main goals: to do "uplift work among girls and young women" and to care for the aged Harriet Tubman and her Auburn, Cayuga County, New York home. Although the organization failed to acquire Tubman's home after her death, it has devoted itself to preserving historic sites associated with African American leaders such as Frederick Douglass. The organization consistently contributed to charitable causes and scholarship funds benefiting African-American girls and young women, and after the Second World War began sponsoring beauty pageants and organizing girls' clubs. In the 1960's, the ESFWC also began to organize boys' clubs. Throughout its history, the group has aided African-Americans of both sexes, has been staunchly opposed to all forms of racial prejudice and supported the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Urban League, and the civil rights movement. The ESFWC has long been affiliated with the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC), which was founded in 1896, sending funds to the organization and delegates to the annual convention.
Early presidents included Frances Reynolds Keyser, Mary B. Talbert, and Maria C. Lawton. The federation is affiliated with the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs and the Northeastern Federation of Women's Clubs.
From the description of Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs, Inc. records, 1938-1991. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122599411
