Black women’s Atlanta literary club marks 90th year

When African-American women gathered that first night all those years ago, it was more out of necessity than a love of books.

It was 1922, and Atlanta was a different place then. African-Americans were banned from visiting public libraries, and restaurants, bars and movie houses were segregated.

But Nellie Thomas, a Tuskegee graduate who had also studied in New York, had seen enough of the world to know the vast possibilities it held. She wanted that for her children — for all children. So she and 11 other black women banned together to promote positive development through cultural, civic and social activities.

They called themselves The Mothers Social and Literary Circle.

Decades later, with open access and a world of information on the Internet, members still meet, still bound by history and a concern for their children and community.

On Saturday they will gather at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art to celebrate the club’s 90th anniversary and the women who kept this guerilla movement of knowledge alive.

It will be an invitation-only event featuring contemporary black women visual artists, including Chakaia Booker, Sonya Clark and Martha Jackson Jarvis. Works by Jewel Simon, a former Mo-So-Lit member and the first African-American graduate of the Atlanta College of Art (now the Savannah College of Art and Design), also will be included.

Anne Collins Smith, curator of collections at the museum, welcomed the chance to partner with the club.

“The exhibition, Material Girls: Contemporary Black Women Artists, was inspired by Alice Walker’s 1974 seminal essay, ‘In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens,’ ” Smith said. “Partnering with Mo-So-Lit succinctly aligns with the museum’s outreach efforts.”

How it began

Mo-So-Lit, as the club is known, was founded when Atlanta was experiencing an influx of African-Americans hungry for jobs, decent housing and education for their children.

Fredericka F. Hurley, who at 92 is Mo-So-Lit’s oldest surviving local member, vividly recalls those stifling years for black people.

“There were so many things we were aware of but couldn’t share,” said Hurley, a retired elementary school principal. “You could go to Rich’s but you couldn’t eat at the restaurant. You could buy a hat but you couldn’t try it on.”

It was Oct. 25, 1922, when Thomas, the club’s founder, called 11 young mothers to her home near Atlanta University, members say.

The women wanted to create a way to stay informed on local and world affairs, and, more importantly, to share information about child rearing and health issues. Eventually they expanded their agenda to include music, poetry and uplifting the poor, particularly children.

“Mo-So-Lit was part of Atlanta’s cultural renaissance so that the women would have a vehicle to obtain information and share with each other their concerns for their families while they educated themselves,” said Thelma Wyatt Moore, a former Fulton County Superior Court judge and 25-year Mo-So-Lit member.

Every fourth Friday, club members gathered in each other’s homes — around tables covered with white linen cloths and their best china — to focus as much on the future as on the present.

Membership was and is cross-generational.

For instance, Estrelita Smith’s ties to Mo-So-Lit begin with her mother-in-law, Grace Boggs Smith, and extend to her daughter.

Estrelita Smith, 69, said it’s interesting discussing issues with women of an older generation.

“As children and very young adults we tend to believe that our parents are outdated in their thinking,” she said. “Interacting in a multi-generational group in a setting such as that provided by the circle, we realize that our worries, joys, mistakes, and especially our hopes are the same.”

How it continues

While much as changed since Mo-So-Lit was founded, much has stayed the same.

Members still must be invited to join, and they still meet primarily in each other’s homes at 6 p.m. on the fourth Friday of the month. There are 18 active members currently, and the only criterion is motherhood.

But instead of telephone calls and handwritten notes, members are more inclined to communicate via email. And instead of 10 cents in annual dues, they pay $50.

Hurley, Wyatt Moore and Jocelyn Jackson, vice president of the club and a retired Morehouse professor, remain some of Mo-So-Lit’s most devoted members.

Despite the changing times, they say, what has remained is the club’s mission to uplift the black community. The club does this through volunteerism and financial support — making annual donations to Morris Brown College and the Carrie Steele Pitts orphanage, and holding book drives to promote literacy and mentorship.