Caroline Remond Putnam
Caroline Remond Putnam (1826–1908) became known as an African-American businesswoman in Salem, Massachusetts, together with two of her sisters. They made their mark in a fashionable salon, the largest wig factory in the state, and the growing field of hair-care products for African-American women.[1] Born free in Salem, the sisters and their siblings were devoted to anti-slavery activism.
Caroline Remond Putnam | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1826 Massachusetts, USA |
| Died | 1908 |
| Occupation | Hair Salonist |
| Spouse(s) | Joseph H. Putnam |
| Children | Amy Matilda Remond Charles Lenox Remond Jr. Wendell Phillips Remond Albert Ernest Remond |
| Parent(s) | John Remond (father) Nancy Lenox (mother) |
| Relatives | Sarah Parker Remond (sister) Charles Lenox Remond (brother) Cecilia Remond Babcock (sister) Marchita Remond (sister) |
Early life and education
Caroline was one of seven children born to parents Nancy (Lenox) Remond, a cake maker and decorator, and John Remond of Salem, who became a merchant and caterer there. Their parents supported anti-slavery causes and encouraged the children's education.
She had four older sisters: Susan Nancy Remond, who married James Shearman, an oyster dealer; Sarah Parker Remond, who became an anti-slavery speaker; Cecelia, and Maritcha.[2]
Together with her older sisters Cecilia and Maritcha, Caroline ran the Ladies Hair Work Salon in Salem. They also owned and operated the largest wig factory in the state. Their Mrs. Putnam's Medicated Hair Tonic was sold widely as a medicine to stop hair loss.[3][1] Caroline Remond married Joseph H Putnam. Her sister Cecelia married James Babcock.[2] (According to another source, Cecilia was also married to a Putnam man.)[1]
The sisters had two brothers: Charles Lenox Remond, who became an abolitionist and orator. He was one of the agents in the Massachusetts Salem Society who traveled with William Lloyd Garrison, and was active in the abolitionist movement. HE and his sister Sarah sometimes lectured together on tour. Their brother John Remond married Ruth Rice.[2]
Activism
In May 1865, Caroline Remond Putnam was chosen as a vice president of the Salem Anti-Slavery Society, which was organizing an anniversary celebration with the end of the Civil War and emancipation of many slaves behind Union lines. It had been fighting for equality for all black people and, in the coming years, supported the constitutional amendments passed by Congress abolishing slavery, granting citizenship to slaves, and granting the franchise to men without regard to race.
Caroline along with other woman also backed women suffrage. She attended conventions of the Suffrage Association, which was made up of a majority of white women.
References
- Rooks, Noliwe M. (1996). Hair Raising: Beauty, Culture and African-American Women. Rutgers University Press. p. 24.
- Grimké, Charlotte Forten (1988). "People in the Journals". In Stevenson, Brenda E. The Journals of Charlotte Forten Grimké. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. xli–xlix. ISBN 0-19-505238-2.
- Dorothy Sterling, ed., We Are Your Sisters: Black Women in Nineteenth Century America (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1984), 96.
Further reading
- P. Gabrielle Foreman. "Recovered Autobiographies and the Marketplace: Our Nig's Generic Genealogies and Harriet Wilson's Entrepreneurial Enterprise". in JerriAnne Boggis, Eva Raimon and Barbara White (eds), Harriet Wilson's New England: Race, Writing, and Region. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 2007.
- Peggy Jean Townsend. Charles Walker Townsend, Milo Adams Townsend and Social Movements of the Nineteenth Century. 1994.