Speaker: 00:00:03

you

00:00:10,926 --> 00:00:12,067

Hello, Stitchers.

00:00:12,067 --> 00:00:19,812

Welcome to Stitch Please, the official podcast of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group

where Black Lives Matter.

00:00:19,812 --> 00:00:22,094

I'm your host, Lisa Wulfort.

00:00:22,094 --> 00:00:28,338

I'm a fourth generation sewing enthusiast with more than 20 years of sewing experience.

00:00:28,338 --> 00:00:31,040

I am looking forward to today's conversation.

00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:35,402

So sit back, relax, and get ready to get your stitch together.

00:00:35,583 --> 00:00:36,203

Hey, friends.

00:00:36,203 --> 00:00:38,855

Hey, it's Lisa from Black Women Stitch and the Stitch Please podcast.

00:00:38,855 --> 00:00:40,962

And this is a very special episode.

00:00:40,962 --> 00:00:46,386

because this episode is a celebration of black history through the lens of creative

liberation.

00:00:46,386 --> 00:00:55,992

Today, I want to take you back 70 years or so to a beauty contest winner named Evelyn

Sanders, a woman who in 1946, sewed her way into history.

00:00:55,992 --> 00:01:06,999

At a time when bias tried to limit her opportunity, Evelyn used fabric, thread and bold

ideas to confront colorism and present her beauty on her own terms.

00:01:07,620 --> 00:01:10,412

It was December 1946.

00:01:10,412 --> 00:01:17,676

The hit song, Fine Brown Frame performed by Buddy Johnson and his orchestra was the

soundtrack of the summer.

00:01:24,322 --> 00:01:27,564

The jump blues style song was everywhere.

00:01:27,564 --> 00:01:36,431

Evelyn could hear its trilling trombone and peppy piano belting from the jukeboxes in

uptown New York City or in her own adjacent town in Long Island.

00:01:36,431 --> 00:01:43,195

The black press, especially the gossip columns, had adopted the phrase to describe the

next best pretty young thing.

00:01:43,195 --> 00:01:53,492

When Buddy Johnson crooned his praise, swooning over the babe with that fine brown frame,

the song surely described the 23-year-old Evelyn.

00:01:53,780 --> 00:02:05,218

So when the band leader announced a nationwide competition for the official title of Miss

Fine Brown Frame, Evelyn signed up to see for herself.

00:02:05,359 --> 00:02:16,597

She selected a yellow green fitted dress that illuminated her dark brown skin and ventured

from Freeport, Long Island to Harlem's Golden Gate Ballroom, located at 640 Lennox Avenue

00:02:16,597 --> 00:02:21,610

at West 142nd Street across the street from the famous Cotton Club.

00:02:21,654 --> 00:02:30,820

It was also on the same block as the similarly famous Savoy Ballroom where Buddy Johnson

recorded Fine Brown Frame with his 16-piece orchestra.

00:02:30,820 --> 00:02:39,146

The spot was crammed for the finals as contestants flocked to Harlem from as far away as

Georgia and as close as the Bronx.

00:02:39,546 --> 00:02:42,939

Supporters, local community members, U.S.

00:02:42,939 --> 00:02:51,264

servicemen, radio personalities, and journalists all gathered to see the brown bombshell

from Buddy Johnson's song materialized.

00:02:51,808 --> 00:02:54,119

Evelyn hoped it was her.

00:02:54,880 --> 00:03:01,865

After the semifinal round, however, the very brown Evelyn worried that she wouldn't get a

fair chance at the title.

00:03:02,265 --> 00:03:11,131

The word fair is used deliberately to refer to the preferred complexion for 1940 era's

black beauty contestants.

00:03:11,772 --> 00:03:19,017

These fair skinned beauties were also called light, bright, and damn near white.

00:03:19,297 --> 00:03:20,480

None of those words would

00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:26,432

ever describe Evelyn, who became convinced that her dark skin would deny her the crown.

00:03:26,633 --> 00:03:33,376

The entire field of Miss Fine Brown Framed contestants paled in comparison to Evelyn.

00:03:33,616 --> 00:03:41,579

She'd chosen a chartreuse ensemble in the hopes that the garment would highlight her

natural assets and propel her to victory.

00:03:41,580 --> 00:03:47,092

Instead, the judges deemed her dress to be too tailored.

00:03:48,074 --> 00:03:55,878

Evelyn felt relieved to squeak by in the preliminary round, but feared that this would be

the end of her journey.

00:03:55,937 --> 00:04:01,401

She would have no chance at the prizes, which could improve her life and jumpstart her

modeling career.

00:04:01,441 --> 00:04:13,177

The contest offered $300 in cash, a silver loving cup, four weeks of well-paid theater

engagements with the Johnson band, a film contract with the association producers for

00:04:13,177 --> 00:04:18,240

Negro Pictures, and contracts for a series of commercial endorsements.

00:04:18,753 --> 00:04:28,479

Looking around the backstage dressing room, however, Evelyn thought that her fine brown

frame would be defeated by a light brown frame.

00:04:29,381 --> 00:04:39,447

Unless something drastically changed, the light is right approach that colorism usually

affirmed in these situations.

00:04:40,008 --> 00:04:46,052

With only an hour remaining till the final round, Evelyn Sanders needed a miracle.

00:04:46,433 --> 00:04:48,914

So she would make one.

00:04:49,984 --> 00:04:54,237

Evelyn bolted from the Golden Gate Ballroom to the nearest fabric store.

00:04:54,237 --> 00:04:59,760

She selected a white stretchy material printed with a large-scale dark abstract design.

00:04:59,781 --> 00:05:08,126

With less than 60 minutes before final judging, Evelyn would aim for victory with a

needle, thread, and nerve.

00:05:08,247 --> 00:05:14,170

She noticed that most of the contestants were wearing traditional ball gowns, expected for

the final.

00:05:14,171 --> 00:05:19,444

A few young women made last-minute wardrobe changes to stand out from those in formal

attire.

00:05:19,808 --> 00:05:28,144

Evelyn knew she was behind the eight ball of anti-black colorism effectively in last place

after the semi-final.

00:05:28,685 --> 00:05:37,032

She knew she had to make something dramatic and compelling that would propel her past the

24 fairer competitors.

00:05:37,693 --> 00:05:44,858

She needed a look that would enhance her frame without being too tailored, like the dress

she'd worn earlier in the competition.

00:05:45,179 --> 00:05:49,162

Ultimately, she created a design that had debuted in France

00:05:49,162 --> 00:05:50,883

earlier that summer.

00:05:50,883 --> 00:06:01,025

Now it's unclear whether the similarity was deliberate or coincidental, but Evelyn

stitched a garment that highlighted every inch of her fine brown frame.

00:06:01,586 --> 00:06:03,886

Evelyn made a bikini.

00:06:04,687 --> 00:06:12,522

The bikini was named for Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands that was the site of the

first public nuclear bomb testing in 1946.

00:06:12,869 --> 00:06:15,680

White Frenchman Louis Royard

00:06:15,786 --> 00:06:23,768

sought to capitalize on the widespread publicity of the nuclear bomb tests by giving his

design the same name.

00:06:24,089 --> 00:06:27,270

The slight garment was a radically new creation.

00:06:27,270 --> 00:06:31,970

The bikini was the first swimsuit to expose a woman's navel.

00:06:31,970 --> 00:06:38,513

It didn't require much fabric as only 30 square inches were used to make the first one.

00:06:38,653 --> 00:06:42,324

Choyard called it four triangles of nothing.

00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:50,152

and proclaimed that a two-piece bathing suit was not a bikini unless it could be pulled

through a wedding ring.

00:06:50,432 --> 00:06:54,274

Royard had a difficult time finding models to promote the bikini.

00:06:54,274 --> 00:07:01,716

He ultimately turned to those that specialized in nude modeling when the fashion models

refused to wear his design publicly.

00:07:01,716 --> 00:07:03,957

The Vatican declared it sinful.

00:07:03,957 --> 00:07:09,258

It was banned from beaches in parts of France and Germany for decades on the grounds of

immorality.

00:07:09,376 --> 00:07:14,910

American broadcast regulations long prevented women's navels from being shown on the

screen.

00:07:15,091 --> 00:07:24,386

The bikini became more known when the hit song, Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot

Bikini became its anthem in 1960.

00:07:27,254 --> 00:07:33,656

And even that wasn't pro bikini since the song was about someone who was deeply

embarrassed by wearing one.

00:07:33,677 --> 00:07:37,358

But that is 14 years into Evelyn's future.

00:07:37,698 --> 00:07:45,941

In 1946, Evelyn didn't call her garment a bikini, nor did Ebony Magazine, who reported on

the contest.

00:07:46,202 --> 00:07:53,945

Yet the response to Evelyn's swimsuit was as explosive as when it emerged on the beaches

of San Tropez earlier that year.

00:07:54,165 --> 00:07:56,588

When Evelyn stepped out on stage,

00:07:56,588 --> 00:07:59,319

The crowd went wild.

00:07:59,379 --> 00:08:08,101

According to Ebony Magazine, the audience instantly and noisily voted heard the finest

brown frame seen in many years.

00:08:08,242 --> 00:08:16,324

Evelyn's quickly sewn swimwear was not the only bathing suit on stage for the Miss Fine

Brown Frame final round.

00:08:16,324 --> 00:08:22,956

It is, however, the only one that enlisted an overwhelmingly favorable response.

00:08:23,062 --> 00:08:29,553

as the black audience commenced to clapping their fingers down to the nubs, Ebony says, in

support.

00:08:29,795 --> 00:08:35,926

Evelyn's risky gambit had worked, or so she thought.

00:08:40,896 --> 00:08:46,848

Evelyn's daring garment activated the crowd, but failed to sway the judges.

00:08:47,109 --> 00:08:47,439

Ms.

00:08:47,439 --> 00:08:55,032

Fine Brown Frame was meant to be selected by the assembled panel of local black

celebrities and radio personalities.

00:08:55,032 --> 00:09:01,535

And these men had chosen quote, a light skinned Dixie Belle as their champion.

00:09:01,535 --> 00:09:06,857

Now what happens next is how one miracle begets another.

00:09:06,857 --> 00:09:09,558

In making her attire for the final round,

00:09:09,558 --> 00:09:14,140

Evelyn connected with the black audience of servicemen and community members.

00:09:14,142 --> 00:09:24,370

Many of the men and women in the crowd, looking at the archival photos at least, were the

same complexion as Evelyn, and they knew a fine brown frame when they saw one.

00:09:24,831 --> 00:09:29,474

Ebony Magazine reports that the audience would have none of it.

00:09:30,296 --> 00:09:38,482

And they articulately let Maestro Johnson know that for once, the white standards of

beauty would not be forced upon them.

00:09:39,116 --> 00:09:48,173

Evelyn's bikini had so transfixed the Golden Gate Ballroom that the audience took the

matter of the contest into their own hands.

00:09:48,234 --> 00:09:56,040

Their raucous applause, cheers, and whistles made it clear to the judges that Evelyn's

fine brown frame was the best.

00:09:56,821 --> 00:10:02,265

Their acclaim for Evelyn and her garment shifted the winds of the contest in her favor.

00:10:02,326 --> 00:10:07,660

The judges, recognizing the mood churning through the densely packed crowd,

00:10:07,660 --> 00:10:13,714

decided to split the victory between Evelyn and her light-skinned rival.

00:10:13,855 --> 00:10:18,958

They were going to award Evelyn the cash and the light-skinned girl the title.

00:10:19,459 --> 00:10:26,384

The Golden Gate ballroom crowd, however, did not have a compromising spirit that night.

00:10:27,045 --> 00:10:34,900

Fists shot up from the audience in response to the suggestion that Evelyn deserved only a

partial win.

00:10:35,658 --> 00:10:48,395

Ebony Magazine describes the contest's conclusion with an air of reluctant inevitability,

saying, so finally, to tremendous acclaim, Evelyn Sanders was crowned Miss Fine Brown

100

00:10:48,395 --> 00:10:56,870

Frame, probably the darkest and one of the most exotic beauty contest winners in Harlem in

a decade.

101

00:10:58,131 --> 00:11:04,640

In the magazine's story about the contest, Evelyn is pictured in her bikini smiling to an

adoring crowd.

102

00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:10,435

She is flanked by a few finalists, lighter skinned women in gowns and traditional bathing

costumes.

103

00:11:10,435 --> 00:11:18,421

But the stage is mostly stuffed with men in suits, smiling at Evelyn or playing to the

enthusiastic audience.

104

00:11:18,461 --> 00:11:23,885

Buddy Johnson presents a joyous Evelyn with the Miss Fine Brown Frame trophy.

105

00:11:23,886 --> 00:11:29,229

Evelyn's bikini won her the title, but its benefits were another matter.

106

00:11:29,530 --> 00:11:34,670

According to Ebony Magazine, she was having a tough time fighting for her queendom

107

00:11:34,670 --> 00:11:38,870

now that her Golden Gate supporters were not around to back her.

108

00:11:39,090 --> 00:11:39,510

Now, Ms.

109

00:11:39,510 --> 00:11:44,490

Fionn Brown-Frame was meant to win $300, of which Evelyn received $200.

110

00:11:44,510 --> 00:11:48,370

The title also included appearances at the famed Apollo Theater.

111

00:11:48,710 --> 00:11:55,610

Now, Evelyn got her stint at the Apollo, but only after a famous comedian advocated on her

behalf.

112

00:11:55,670 --> 00:12:01,530

Evelyn would ultimately secure an attorney to receive the contest's prizes.

113

00:12:02,650 --> 00:12:04,152

This reluctance

114

00:12:04,152 --> 00:12:14,977

To give a dark skinned beauty queen the same benefits that would easily be given to a

light skinned Dixie Belle, the one that the judges wanted, was a sign of the anti-black

115

00:12:14,977 --> 00:12:17,527

colorism that prevailed in the era.

116

00:12:17,928 --> 00:12:22,309

This reluctance makes Evelyn's victory that much sweeter.

117

00:12:22,450 --> 00:12:31,673

Dismantling colorism makes her place in history as the first to wear a bikini in Ebony

magazine that much more meaningful.

118

00:12:32,376 --> 00:12:40,170

thinking and death stitches upended the colorist hierarchy that would have erased her from

the competition entirely.

119

00:12:40,270 --> 00:12:45,974

Instead, she has a multi-page spread and one of the leading black periodicals of her day.

120

00:12:45,974 --> 00:12:50,816

She won the contest and secured her place in history.

121

00:12:51,076 --> 00:12:54,658

And this is why I say that black women stitch liberation.

122

00:12:54,858 --> 00:12:59,080

Evelyn Sanders made her achievement possible.

123

00:12:59,421 --> 00:13:01,824

Her creativity and quick thinking

124

00:13:01,824 --> 00:13:05,696

secured a beauty title against the field of preferred candidates.

125

00:13:05,696 --> 00:13:11,619

She stitched her way into a position that the judges did not want her to have.

126

00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:20,505

She exposed and dismantled the colorism that had long prevailed and continues to operate

as a beauty standard.

127

00:13:20,905 --> 00:13:27,389

Evelyn was the darkest beauty queen Harlem had seen in 10 years.

128

00:13:28,070 --> 00:13:29,070

Also,

129

00:13:29,132 --> 00:13:37,485

The first bikini to be in Ebony magazine would not be one of the light bright girls that

appear in most of its ads.

130

00:13:37,786 --> 00:13:48,110

Instead, it would be a dark skinned black woman comfortable in her own skin named Evelyn

Sanders, who stitched her place in history.

131

00:13:48,930 --> 00:13:52,572

This is how black women stitch liberation.

132

00:13:52,792 --> 00:13:57,914

This is how we use sewing to give ourselves what others would deny us.

133

00:13:58,464 --> 00:14:05,157

Sewing is the technology by which inert material can be brought to life and increase its

longevity.

134

00:14:05,377 --> 00:14:09,498

For me, sewing is more than a basic life skill.

135

00:14:09,619 --> 00:14:12,600

It is a stitch of liberation.

136

00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:18,802

As the poet oracle Alexis Pauline Gumb says, freedom is not a secret.

137

00:14:18,943 --> 00:14:20,443

It is a practice.

138

00:14:20,924 --> 00:14:26,906

Sewing is vital to how I practice freedom, create new space and refresh old ones.

139

00:14:27,104 --> 00:14:35,879

Sewing is the way that I express bodily autonomy by creating things that I want,

regardless of what retailers say I'm meant to have.

140

00:14:36,119 --> 00:14:45,164

Sewing lets me visually communicate kinship when I make my signature matching outfits for

the multiracial family for my spouse and kids.

141

00:14:45,464 --> 00:14:52,788

Sewing gives me unique garments to symbolize renewal for Easter and fresh starts for the

first day of school.

142

00:14:53,068 --> 00:14:56,362

I've practiced stitching freedom by making bras

143

00:14:56,362 --> 00:15:09,611

outerwear, jeans, dresses, quilts and duvet covers, umbrellas, sneakers, sandals, tents,

50 leaven pairs of drawers, and even a dress for a 20 foot tall protest puppet.

144

00:15:09,952 --> 00:15:23,811

I find possibility in the humming joyful rhythm of the sewing machine, feeding the fabric

under the dancing needle, stitching something that would not otherwise exist if I did not

145

00:15:23,811 --> 00:15:25,302

choose to make it.

146

00:15:25,632 --> 00:15:28,823

is an affirmation of my creative capacity.

147

00:15:29,784 --> 00:15:40,728

Sewing connects me to the six generations of my Black Southern family who stitched

beautiful and fulfilling lives from the scraps of America's broken promises.

148

00:15:41,389 --> 00:15:45,550

Evelyn Sanders' victory wasn't just about winning a title.

149

00:15:45,570 --> 00:15:50,712

It was about making space for herself in a world that sought to marginalize her.

150

00:15:50,973 --> 00:15:54,934

Her bold, creative act of stitching her way into history

151

00:15:55,042 --> 00:16:02,247

was a powerful reclamation of her beauty and autonomy that defied the colorist norms of

the time.

152

00:16:02,768 --> 00:16:15,368

This is how black women use stitching as a freedom practice, by using sewing to create

what others would deny us, transforming materials into garments of self-expression.

153

00:16:16,918 --> 00:16:22,200

As you know, the slogan of the Stitch Please podcast is that we will help you get your

stitch together.

154

00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:38,157

And were I to ask Evelyn Sanders this question, I imagine that she might say, believe in

yourself, trust yourself, trust your creativity and believe that even though the odds seem

155

00:16:38,157 --> 00:16:44,750

stacked against you, that you have the ability to right wrongs.

156

00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:48,331

you have the ability to prevail.

157

00:16:48,331 --> 00:16:55,375

Look back at our history to learn lessons that can benefit us now and in the future.

158

00:16:56,616 --> 00:17:03,700

The Stitch Please podcast is filled with stories from Black women who show how sewing is

more than a life skill.

159

00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:08,142

It's a practice of autonomy, creativity, and possibility.

160

00:17:08,322 --> 00:17:13,415

Through their voices, you'll discover how stitching can be more than meets the eye.

161

00:17:13,718 --> 00:17:22,622

I hope you'll join us for the next episode or explore our archive of more than 250

episodes and we'll help you get your stitch together.

162

00:17:23,123 --> 00:17:30,246

You've been listening to Stitch Please, the official podcast of Black Women Stitch, the

sewing group where Black Lives Matter.

163

00:17:30,246 --> 00:17:38,210

We appreciate you joining us this week and every week for stories that center Black women,

girls, and femmes in sewing.

164

00:17:38,210 --> 00:17:45,336

We invite you to join the Black Women's Stitch Patreon community with giving levels

beginning at $5 a month.

165

00:17:45,336 --> 00:17:50,511

Your contributions help us bring the Stitch Please podcast to you every week.

166

00:17:50,511 --> 00:17:51,862

Thank you for listening.

167

00:17:51,862 --> 00:17:57,026

Thank you for your support and come back next week and we'll help you get your stitch

together.