Mary H. Dickerson

Mary H. Dickerson and her husband Silas arrived in Newport from New Haven, Connecticut around 1865. By 1872, Mary established a “Fashionable Dressmaking Establishment” at 5 Travers Block servicing the needs of Newport’s summer residents. She owned numerous businesses and pieces of real estate around Newport and became a leading advocate for African American women’s rights. In 1896, Dickerson helped found the National Association of Colored Women’s Club and in 1903, she established the first federation of African American Women’s Club in Rhode Island.