Uplifting Our "Downtrodden Sisterhood": Victoria Earle Matthews and New York City's White Rose Mission, 1897-1907

Not only had she established in February 1897 a settlement house located on the Upper East Side, the White Rose Mission, to help these young women arriving in New York City, but Matthews's long history of prominence and activism in the black community gave her great credibility. Another interracial group, the Committee for Improving the Industrial Conditions of Negroes in New York City (CIICN), was by 1908 sending agents to the docks to meet African American women, although its major purpose was providing greater employment opportunities and vocational training for black workers.