Nancybelle Valentine's family tree

This information is based on interviews with Nancybelle and her mother, a 2001 newspaper interview with her mother, and searches of the 1880 and 1930 US Census data. The one area of uncertainty is the information on Nancybelle 's grandmother. Her name was Rovutter Daniel Wilson, but she was known as Annie within her family. I found a census record for an Ann Daniel that largely corresponded to the information Elder Nancybelle gave me about her grandmother. Thus, the lines drawn from her images are wavy to denote this uncertainty.

If you have trouble reading the text on the image, try this page.

The images of Nancybelle and her sister are by James Vanderzee.

Hatmaking with Dad

Learn more about this project

Finally got the scratch interactive segment done. It's still pretty rough, but I'm learning.

Draft interfaces for the Nancybelle Valentine story

Flash interface for the project (click the center image for sample presentation of content): Scott Hoover, Eve Roytshteyn, Nia Haqq

Flash 20th century timeline: Gemma Waylett

I'm going to use these student-created interfaces to flesh out the hard-wired 2-D prototype of the Nancybelle story.

Rev. Don Ransom on Elder Nancybelle

Love from the church

As you can see, we worked with this video in a number of ways...the sound still needs to be edited to mute the drums more

Lenora Southerland on Nancybelle Valentine

Elder Nancybelle talks politics

Elder Nancybelle and Rev. Brahma discuss their church

More detail here.

Elder Nancybelle remembers her father, the hatmaker

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A Liz Claiborne sketch from her early collections

From Nancybelle Valentine's personal collection. Photgraphed by Robert Burnett. Used with permission.

Sidebar: Family and childhood photos

These photographs date from 1917 to the late 1940s, and include pictures of Nancybelle's grandparents, aunts, uncles cousin and sister. One section features photographs of Nancy and her sister taken by legendary photographer James Vanderzee.

The music is from La Boheme -- Nancybelle's favorite opera. She often heard opera on the radio during her childhood. The singer is Enrico Caruso.

Clip: Steven Fullwood on African American gay life in the mid-20th century

Clip: How Liz Claiborne treated employees

Clip:"Everything was functional"

Clip: Michelle Tourse on Elder Nancybelle

Clip: Advice for aspiring fashion industry professionals

Trailer for "Fashioned by Love: The Life of Nancybelle Valentine"