02/01/2022
Mae Reeves
Born: October 29, 1912, Vidalia, GA
Died: December 14, 2016
was a pioneering milliner who was famous for her custom-made hats. She was active in her field from 1940 until 1997. Mae’s Millinery(the art of hat making)
Mae Reeves created her hat business during the great depression and Jim Crow era!!!
In this photo is Donna Limerick daughter of May Reeves wearing her favorite hat designed by her mother.
“For black women who grew up in the Jim Crow era, hats were a way for them to take ownership over their style, a way for them to assert that they mattered,"
Every city, once had at least one popular, black-owned hat shop where African-American customers could often find better service than at white-owned stores.
"When I see older women who still wear hats to church on Sunday or bring them out on special occasions, it's just a reminder to revere that generation and the ways they asserted dignity when to be black and to be a woman was something that brought about ridicule,"
We celebrate you Queen!!!!
