1 00:00:03,150 --> 00:00:04,335 you 2 00:00:10,926 --> 00:00:12,067 Hello, Stitchers. 3 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. 4 00:00:19,812 --> 00:00:22,094 I'm your host, Lisa Wulfort. 5 00:00:22,094 --> 00:00:28,338 I'm a fourth generation sewing enthusiast with more than 20 years of sewing experience. 6 00:00:28,338 --> 00:00:31,040 I am looking forward to today's conversation. 7 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:35,402 So sit back, relax, and get ready to get your stitch together. 8 00:00:35,583 --> 00:00:36,203 Hey, friends. 9 00:00:36,203 --> 00:00:38,855 Hey, it's Lisa from Black Women Stitch and the Stitch Please podcast. 10 00:00:38,855 --> 00:00:40,962 And this is a very special episode. 11 00:00:40,962 --> 00:00:46,386 because this episode is a celebration of black history through the lens of creative liberation. 12 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. 13 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. 14 00:01:07,620 --> 00:01:10,412 It was December 1946. 15 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. 16 00:01:24,322 --> 00:01:27,564 The jump blues style song was everywhere. 17 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. 18 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. 19 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. 20 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. 21 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 22 00:02:16,597 --> 00:02:21,610 at West 142nd Street across the street from the famous Cotton Club. 23 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. 24 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. 25 00:02:39,546 --> 00:02:42,939 Supporters, local community members, U.S. 26 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. 27 00:02:51,808 --> 00:02:54,119 Evelyn hoped it was her. 28 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. 29 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. 30 00:03:11,772 --> 00:03:19,017 These fair skinned beauties were also called light, bright, and damn near white. 31 00:03:19,297 --> 00:03:20,480 None of those words would 32 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:26,432 ever describe Evelyn, who became convinced that her dark skin would deny her the crown. 33 00:03:26,633 --> 00:03:33,376 The entire field of Miss Fine Brown Framed contestants paled in comparison to Evelyn. 34 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. 35 00:03:41,580 --> 00:03:47,092 Instead, the judges deemed her dress to be too tailored. 36 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. 37 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. 38 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 39 00:04:13,177 --> 00:04:18,240 Negro Pictures, and contracts for a series of commercial endorsements. 40 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. 41 00:04:29,381 --> 00:04:39,447 Unless something drastically changed, the light is right approach that colorism usually affirmed in these situations. 42 00:04:40,008 --> 00:04:46,052 With only an hour remaining till the final round, Evelyn Sanders needed a miracle. 43 00:04:46,433 --> 00:04:48,914 So she would make one. 44 00:04:49,984 --> 00:04:54,237 Evelyn bolted from the Golden Gate Ballroom to the nearest fabric store. 45 00:04:54,237 --> 00:04:59,760 She selected a white stretchy material printed with a large-scale dark abstract design. 46 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. 47 00:05:08,247 --> 00:05:14,170 She noticed that most of the contestants were wearing traditional ball gowns, expected for the final. 48 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. 49 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. 50 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. 51 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. 52 00:05:45,179 --> 00:05:49,162 Ultimately, she created a design that had debuted in France 53 00:05:49,162 --> 00:05:50,883 earlier that summer. 54 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. 55 00:06:01,586 --> 00:06:03,886 Evelyn made a bikini. 56 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. 57 00:06:12,869 --> 00:06:15,680 White Frenchman Louis Royard 58 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. 59 00:06:24,089 --> 00:06:27,270 The slight garment was a radically new creation. 60 00:06:27,270 --> 00:06:31,970 The bikini was the first swimsuit to expose a woman's navel. 61 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. 62 00:06:38,653 --> 00:06:42,324 Choyard called it four triangles of nothing. 63 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. 64 00:06:50,432 --> 00:06:54,274 Royard had a difficult time finding models to promote the bikini. 65 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. 66 00:07:01,716 --> 00:07:03,957 The Vatican declared it sinful. 67 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. 68 00:07:09,376 --> 00:07:14,910 American broadcast regulations long prevented women's navels from being shown on the screen. 69 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. 70 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. 71 00:07:33,677 --> 00:07:37,358 But that is 14 years into Evelyn's future. 72 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. 73 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. 74 00:07:54,165 --> 00:07:56,588 When Evelyn stepped out on stage, 75 00:07:56,588 --> 00:07:59,319 The crowd went wild. 76 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. 77 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. 78 00:08:16,324 --> 00:08:22,956 It is, however, the only one that enlisted an overwhelmingly favorable response. 79 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. 80 00:08:29,795 --> 00:08:35,926 Evelyn's risky gambit had worked, or so she thought. 81 00:08:40,896 --> 00:08:46,848 Evelyn's daring garment activated the crowd, but failed to sway the judges. 82 00:08:47,109 --> 00:08:47,439 Ms. 83 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. 84 00:08:55,032 --> 00:09:01,535 And these men had chosen quote, a light skinned Dixie Belle as their champion. 85 00:09:01,535 --> 00:09:06,857 Now what happens next is how one miracle begets another. 86 00:09:06,857 --> 00:09:09,558 In making her attire for the final round, 87 00:09:09,558 --> 00:09:14,140 Evelyn connected with the black audience of servicemen and community members. 88 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. 89 00:09:24,831 --> 00:09:29,474 Ebony Magazine reports that the audience would have none of it. 90 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. 91 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. 92 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. 93 00:09:56,821 --> 00:10:02,265 Their acclaim for Evelyn and her garment shifted the winds of the contest in her favor. 94 00:10:02,326 --> 00:10:07,660 The judges, recognizing the mood churning through the densely packed crowd, 95 00:10:07,660 --> 00:10:13,714 decided to split the victory between Evelyn and her light-skinned rival. 96 00:10:13,855 --> 00:10:18,958 They were going to award Evelyn the cash and the light-skinned girl the title. 97 00:10:19,459 --> 00:10:26,384 The Golden Gate ballroom crowd, however, did not have a compromising spirit that night. 98 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. 99 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.