The sewing curriculum was a key part of CII’s mission to equip Black youth with industrial skills they could use after graduation to support themselves and their families.

Early Sewing Classes at CII 

CII’s Tuskegee-trained faculty divided Sewing into two courses.  The first two years focused on work done by hand, including making stitches, seams, patches, button holes, and eventual simple garments.  The second course was for students in the two upper grades at the Farm School.  Under the watchful eye of  teacher Anna Long, students designed and created dresses and uniforms, as well as doing the mending for all the students at school.  

Students were expected to be able to make all their own clothes after completing the classwork.  To graduate, a female student had to make a complete outfit, including her graduation dress.

Despite the growing number of textile factories in the North, dressmaking emerged as a viable career option for Black women in the early 20th century.  The W.E.B. DuBois-led Bulletin no. 8: Negros in the United States found that Negro dressmakers in the United States had increased by 65.7%: from 7,586 in the 1890 Census to 12,569 in the 1900 Census.  These increases were mostly in the Southern states. The surge in dressmakers during this period highlighted the increasing economic independence and entrepreneurship among Black women.