‘Black Beauty as an Act of Resistance’: School in Overtown shaped careers, ambitions of many young women | Opinion

Next Sunday, May 14, the Dunns Josephine Hotel at 1028 NW Third Ave. will have a Mother’s Day Brunch to honor the Sunlight School of Beauty Culture and the generations of young Black women who attended it. The school in Overtown opened in 1936 and had closed by the mid-1970s.

The brunch will be at the Overtown Performing Arts Center, 1074 NW Third Ave.

“We are doing this brunch to recognize the contributions of Black beauty culture. And the impact that it has in our community,” said Metris Batts, chief operating officer at the hotel.

“Our theme is, ‘Black Beauty as an Act of Resistance.’ We chose the theme because we learned that back in the day, many Black domestic workers wanted a better life. Many of them could not afford to go out of town to college, so Sunlight School of Beauty Culture was their way out.

“The brunch is only a part of the event. Inside the hotel, we have created a 1940’s-style beauty salon to honor Sunlight,” Batts said.

Imani Warren, the creator of the project, said, “The mission of this project is to educate, engage, and contribute to the local community regarding the Sunlight School of Beauty Culture and its overwhelming efforts of supporting Black commerce, Black economic and Black women’s businesses through exhibition, programming and archiving.”

Memories of Sunlight School

When I was a child skipping along Northwest Second Avenue in Overtown, one constant landmark was the Sunlight School of Beauty Culture. Back then, it was located at Northwest Eighth Street and Second Avenue, just east of Greater Bethel AME Church.

It was the place where young Black women, who wanted a career in beauty, went to learn from the “masters,” David and Lurel Julius, founders of the school. One of those young women was the late Doris Rogers Dorsett, who was one of my late mom’s best friends.

Doll, as we affectionately called her, was the one who “did” my hair at Easter time and on other special occasions. I can still hear her saying to me, “Hold your ear…” so as not to burn it with the hot comb she used to straighten my kinky hair.

I am still friends with Doll’s surviving children — Nellie Dorsett Green, Floyd, Nathaniel and Virginia Dorsett Payne.

Lydia Walker is another graduate of the school.

An enterprising young woman, Walker, now 102, devised a plan to help fund her education at what was then Florida A&M College in Tallahassee, where she studied nursing. She did this by learning the beauty trade at the Sunlight School.

Later, at FAMC, Walker’s dorm room was one of the more popular on campus. It was where the female students went to get their hair “done.”

I spoke to my friend Lydia recently. At 102, she is still sharp and eager to talk about the days when he was in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC).

It was during World War II, and Walker was stationed at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

The army was segregated, and the Black women had no beauty parlor on base. They had to go into town on their own time off. Often that created a problem, Walker said, because of transportation and time restrictions: The WACs needed to be back on base at a certain time.

Because she was already “doing” the hair of some of her WAC friends in the barracks, Walker said that she went to her commanding officer and told the officer about the lack of a place on the base for Black women to help keep up their appearance.

“The white WACs had a fully equipped beauty salon on the base. There was nothing for us,” Walker said. “After explaining our plight, the commanding officer made it possible for the Black WACs to have a room on base and set it up with shampoo bowls and stoves to heat straightening combs and curlers.”

Walker was then in business — one that she took with her when she served in Germany before receiving an honorable discharge and returning home. In Miami, she also went to work as a nurse at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

I met Walker more than 40 years ago. We became great friends, and it was Walker, then a nurse at Jackson, who gave me the tip that the late U.S. Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., was a patient there. She arranged for me to see him. Although the congressman was in too much pain to be interviewed, he was polite and promised me an interview when he felt better. He died a few days later.

Walker — along with Dr. Gwen Robinson (daughter of David and Lurel Julius), Dr. Enid Pinkney, Dr. Bertha Sneed and LuElla Grayson — will be given special recognition at the Mother’s Day Brunch on May 14.

Tickets to the event are $50 each and can be purchased by calling the hotel at 877-571-9311.

Charmettes name scholarship winner

Congratulations to Nadleen Laleau, who is the 2023 recipient of the Charmettes Miami Dade Chapter’s scholarship award. The annual award was to be presented May 6 at the organization’s scholarship breakfast held at the Marco Polo Resort in Sunny Isles Beach.

Laleau earned an associate’s degree from Miami Dade College and will graduate this spring from Florida International University with a degree in business administration and human resources management.

The theme of the event: “Celebrating Generational Excellence.” I was honored to be named a co-host along with my goddaughter Joy Oglesby.

In addition to the scholarship award, The Charmettes, Inc. also acknowledged the accomplishments of several humanitarians who have served the community for several generations.

The honorees are Lori Hadley Davis, mortuary science, Hadley Davis Funeral Home; Heather Pascal Binns, retired educator, and Agenoria T. Paschal, educator, Broward County Public Schools.

Also, the Rev. Dr. Alphonso Jackson Sr., pastoral care, Second Baptist Church; the Rev. Alphonso Jackson Jr., pastoral care, New Shiloh Baptist Church; the Rev. Arthur Jackson III, pastoral care, Antioch Baptist Church; Elder Kenneth Duke, mission work, New Jerusalem Primitive Baptist Church; and the Rev. Dr. Kelon Duke, missions, New Jerusalem Primitive Baptist Church.

Also, Arthur Nelson Sr., travel and tourism, longshoreman; Arthur Nelson, travel and tourism, longshoreman; and Thomas Nelson, travel and tourism, longshoreman.

Alvena Johnson was honored as Charmette of the Year.

The Charmettes is a national civic organization with 20 chapters throughout Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, D.C. In 2022, the organization donated $50,000 to the University of Miami/Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center in honor of Dr. Sophia George and her breast cancer research.

Klezmer concert with the Heavy Shtetl Band

United Jewish Generations, a Chabad organization based in North Miami Beach, will present a Grand Klezmer Concert at 1:30 p.m. on May 9, at the Hallandale Cultural Community Center, 410 SE Third St., in Hallandale.

The concert will feature Zevy Steiger and Aryeh Leib Hurwitz, both world- renowned cantors, and the Heavy Shtetl Klezmer Band. The cantors and the band will delight the audience with authentic klezmer and other great Jewish music.

The Heavy Shtetl Band is the brainchild of Alexander Mikhaylovsky, a violinist from Odessa, Ukraine.

He was only 4 when he learned to play the violin. He graduated from music school with a gold medal and entered the Odessa Music College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in music. He later attended the University of Music and Pedagogy in Russia, where he received a master’s degree in music in 1990.

Mikhaylovsky has performed with various musical groups including The Miami Symphony Orchestra, the Latin American Chamber Orchestra, the Florida Grand Opera, and the Miami Ballet.

“We want everyone to be able to enjoy this beautiful music with the highest-caliber musicians,” said Rabbi Menachem Smith, director of United Jewish Generations.

Tickets for the concert are $10 per person and up, and can be purchased online at, www.UnitedJewishGenerations.com/Klezmer, or by calling 954-458-6000.

Reach out to Bea.hines@gmail.com with news for this column.