Biographical Database of Black Women Suffragists
Biography of Emma Miles, 1860-1936
By Katie Pettine, student, Rosemont College
Emma Miles was born sometime between 1860 and 1863 in Virginia. She had a sister named Sallie Miles, whom she lived with for much of her life on Fleet Place in Brooklyn, New York. Neither sister married, and Emma worked as a laundress. Her sister Sallie was a charter member of Ruth Tent, No. 19. When she got sick later in life, the club members showered her with groceries and money. A service was held for Sallie on February 19, 1930 after she passed away.
Emma Miles was actively involved with clubs and philanthropy in Brooklyn. As an advisor to the Silver Lock Club in 1907, she worked to raise funds for the Home for Aged Colored People in her borough. The Silver Lock Club was one of the pioneer clubs of Brooklyn to help this Home, and Miles later became treasurer of the club in 1930. She was also the third vice president of the Mortgage Relief Club of the Concord Baptist Church, where she attended the twelfth annual fair and bazaar held at Metropolitan Hall in 1908. In July 1913 she served as a delegate to the statewide meeting of the Empire State Federation of [Colored] Women's Clubs, at which meeting the Federation adopted a woman suffrage resolution. As a member of the Concord Baptist Church, Emma Miles superintended and served at a dinner for the retiring pastor Mr. Dodson in November 1920. Then, in 1921, Miss Miles entertained at a meeting of the Linen Shower Club, of which she was a member. The club raised money and food for a Thanksgiving dinner for the Aged Home, which they provided every year since their founding. In 1925, she attended the Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs in Newburgh, New York.
In 1923, Emma Miles gave a testimonial for CINOT medicine in a newspaper ad, where she stated that she suffered from back pain for many years. She said of the herbal medicine, "It gave me back my health." She passed away on January 21, 1936 in Kings County, New York.
Sources:
1920 United Stated Federal Census, in Ancestry.com, 2010.
1900 United States Federal Census, in Ancestry.com, 2004.
"Society, Club & Fraternal Doings," New York Age (New York, New York), Mar. 1, 1930, accessed via newspapers.com.
"The News of Greater New York," New York Age (New York, New York), Oct. 17, 1907, accessed via newspapers.com.
"Female Smokers are Criticised," New York Age, July 10, 1913, p. 1.
"Brooklyn News," New York Age (New York, New York), Mar. 5, 1932, accessed via newspapers.com.
"Silver Lock Club Installs New Officers," New York Age (New York, New York), Dec. 6, 1930, accessed via newspapers.com.
"The News of Greater New York," New York Age (New York, New York), Apr. 2, 1908, accessed via newspapers.com.
"Dodson Retires from Concord S. S.," New York Age (New York, New York), Nov. 20, 1920, accessed via newspapers.com.
"Linen Shower Not To Be Disbanded," New York Age (New York, New York), Dec. 10, 1921, accessed via newspapers.com.
"Brooklyn Personals," New York Age (New York, New York), July 18, 1925, accessed via newspapers.com.
"Pains in My Back Made My Life Miserable, Says Local Lady," Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York), Sept. 4, 1923, accessed via newspapers.com.
New York, New York, Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948, in Ancestry.com, 2014.
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