Rhinestones still glittering: Debutante ball emphasizes African-American education
They were dressed in billowing white ball gowns and wrapped in the arms of elegant men in tails. This was their debutante ball, the night they were "presented" to society.
"It was like a Cinderella dream," remembers Smith, who was born in Wenatchee and raised in Seattle. "I mean, who would've thought we'd be wearing gowns, dancing in the Smith Tower — especially in those days?"
This was no Cinderella story — and it was certainly no ordinary debutante ball.
It was the first dance held by the Rhinestone Club, a pioneering society of Seattle African-American women that awards scholarships to women enrolled in some form of higher education.
The Rhinestone Club will celebrate its 50th anniversary with tonight's debutante ball at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seattle.
While the club started as a vehicle for debuting young black women to an often unwelcoming mainstream society, its goal of guiding honorees toward successful careers keeps the organization vital today.
When the group formed in late 1952, young African-American women were not allowed to participate in the white coming-out ceremonies that were then in their heyday.
Traditional debutante balls, held in the U.S. since the 1700s, involve upper-class young women being presented to society, accompanied by dates and sometimes by their fathers. Seattle's Christmas Ball was first held in the late 1940s at the Four Seasons. This year's, a much quieter affair than during its peak in the '50s and '60s, was held there last Sunday.
Upper-class blacks for decades had held their own debutante balls in the South and on the East Coast. But these gatherings aroused curiosity and some disdain among lower-income blacks, who felt excluded.
Seattle has been home to other types of African-American clubs, including The Benefit Guild, a community group for women, and Jack and Jill, a local chapter of the selective national club for boys and girls.
But the Rhinestone Club was the first true debutante organization for Seattle's black community, its veteran members say, and the small group of career women who founded the Rhinestones wanted their event to be less class-based and do more than simply present young women to the world.
They decided to select only those young women enrolled in higher education. Encouraging good character and career development were more important than social advancement.
"Often, young black women in Seattle went to work after they got out of high school," said Frances Stephens of Bellevue, one of the original club members. "But we wanted to be sure that women here took advantage of the chance to attend college."
More than 900 young women have been selected as Rhinestone debutantes since the group started, and true to the group's intent, many have gone on to become professionals.
"It was a way for girls to step up, learn how to carry themselves and become better people than what they would've become otherwise," said Smith, a retired display supervisor for the former Lerner department-store chain.
Probably the most notable inductee was former state Rep. Peggy Maxie, who represented Central Seattle. Alverita Little, founder of a namesake girls' club in Seattle's Leschi neighborhood, also was a Rhinestone deb.
"We have doctors and lawyers and teachers, even ministers," said retired teacher Gertrude Jackson, who joined the Rhinestone Club in 1958 and became its historian. She was drawn to the group because of its education focus.
"We felt, and we still feel, that if the girls get into college, chances are they will continue," she said.
Tonight, 14 young women will be presented at the ball. Each year, the inductee with the highest grade-point average from high school is crowned queen. This year's winner is Nicole Hatcher of Kennewick, who's attending Washington State University. She'll receive a $2,000 scholarship.
The ball will be an extremely formal, elegant affair, as always.
"We used to toast them with champagne," Jackson said with a conspiratorial smile. (Many inductees were under 21.) "Now, we just have cider."
Said Stephens: "For my family, it is still one of the highlights of the Christmas season. It's something that we do and look forward to every year."
The Rhinestone Club hosts a luncheon after Easter and cooks meals for seniors during the holidays to stay connected to the community.
Members of the club, however, say they have had trouble attracting young women to the fold in recent years. Now, the obstacle may be racial progress.
Black women have more options for schools, college aid, careers and lifestyles today.
And the families of so many potential Rhinestone candidates live outside the historic center of Seattle's black community — the Central District — that the Rhinestones now must recruit from greater King County and beyond.
"African Americans used to have their own society, but we are so scattered now," Jackson said. "So if we don't have friends or parents to let us know about upcoming graduates who can attend our orientations, then we miss them."
One of the ball organizers, Aleta Felder, is offering to pay the expense of participating in the ball for girls who are qualified but can't afford to go.
"If I can help, I will," she said. "A lot of people helped me along."
Felder estimated the cost of a dress and accessories to be $500.
She's making a special appeal to young women who don't dwell in traditional African-American social settings, such as churches, where the club is well known, and the city's growing African-immigrant communities.
No one in the club is predicting its demise, though. Members are simply trying to adapt.
"I just hope," Jackson said, "we get ladies to continue on with the club after we are gone."
Tyrone Beason: 206-464-2251 or tbeason@seattletimes.com.