“Neither I nor my family had sufficient income to make significant financial contributions to this cause. We did, however, have commitment, energy and time to contribute.”
These were the words of National Urban League Guild founder Mollie Moon, a Harlem socialite who saw value in the future of the Black Freedom movement - and, with her savvy, found a way to fund it.
Ebony’s Fashion Fair debuted in New York City in 1959, with tickets $3.50 to $12. Moon saw an opportunity to send proceeds to the Urban League, funding cultural, political, and economic work in Black communities.
In a room dripping with diamonds and silk, 3,000 attendees also bore witness to Black designers who’d struggled to break into a mainstream fashion world rife with anti-Blackness and nepotism.
Everyone could feel a sense of Black pride and royalty, the elite aesthetics were pleasurable and practical.
Moon and other Black women raised almost $60 million over 51 years of Fashion Fairs. The Urban League grew to nearly 30,000 volunteers.
Anti-Black capitalism works to limit our access to wealth. But from events like fashion shows and block parties, to pay-what-you-can restaurants and mutual aid societies, we’ve always found creative ways to raise money, gather resources, and meet our own needs.
And in Moon’s case, she made Black Freedom glamorously irresistible.