"Christine Moore Howell (March 19,1899-December 13,1972)

Born in Princeton,New Jersey on March 19.Christine was the daughter of entrepreneur William and Mary Adelaide Williams Moore,both natives of Hillsboro,North Carolina.She had one sister,Bessie,and two brothers-Arthur C. and Willie.At some point William Moore,who was known as ","moved to Princeton,New Jersey,and became a successful owner of a secondhand store located in three buildings on Spring Street.Students from Princeton University sold their clothes to him to earn enough money to finance their trips to New York City.In his business he also sold furniture and antiques,while Adelaide Moore tended to the home and children.It was at this site that Christine would operate a beauty shop business ans laboratory for twenty-eight years.Christine was the first African-American to graduate from Princeton High School.In 1919 she received a diploma from De Laurenberg's in Princeton.For professional study in beauty culture,she attended Warren's Institute in Pittsburgh,Knock School of Beauty Culture in Philadelphia,and Nestlé's in New York City.Christine went abroad for further training and studied at Sidonia Institute in Paris.While there she also made a shop-to-shop study of beauty salons.Returning to the U.S., she had special laboratory training in New Brunswick,under the tutelarge of chemist Louis Du Bois.Christine's Beauty Salon,a skin care laboratory known as Christine Moore Corporation.Her modern laboratory,which she began to operate in 1936,adjoined her beauty salon,and she hired a capable chemist to manufacture the products that she needed.These included products for good grooming as well those required for beauty culture work.She also conducted research in her laboratory and aided in producing hair preparation and cosmetics for African-Americans.Her line of cosmetics became known as Christine Cosmetics.Such products that were suitable for white clientele evolved and were sold mail order throughout the world.Altogether the laboratory manufactured eleven hair-care and beauty products.Only hightly trained,creative staff members who were skilled in the art of enhancing womanhood regardless of race were hired in her salon.Although she had some middle-class African-American customers,her shop had great appeal to those on the white and African-American register,many of whom were limousine driven customers.They included,for example,Mrs.Calvin Coolidge,who came from Northfield,Massachusetts;Mrs.Albert Einstein;Mrs.Samuel Shellebarger (whose husband was author of The Prince of Foxes);An African-American woman doctor;and the wife of a Princeton University professor.When Christine knew that Mrs. Coolidge was scheduled,she was deliberate and relentless in her effort to maintain a quiet and pleasant atmosphere.In addition to Mrs.Coolidge,some customers drove long distances to visit her shop.Some came from as far as Kentucky and visited during their semiannual pilgrimages.For a while, African-American customers were few in numbers,due to the fact that Christine's shop did not straighten hair as many African-American required.The shop specialized in permanent waves.In time,African-American customers grew in number as she began to master the permanent wave and offered more creativity in hair designs than she did when the shop first opened.Her laboratory developed a formula processing agent for African-American hair,removing the curly appearance characteristic of some types of African-American hair.Her experience as a beauty culturists, researcher,and businesswoman inspired Christine to write Beauty Culture and Care of the Hair,published in 1936.A textbook,the work was used in public vocational schools as well as private schools.She helped to improve standards for beauty culture throughout the state of New Jersey.Having become familiar with her reputation,in 1935,Governor Harold G.Hoffman appointed her to the first New Jersey Board of Beauty Culture Control.The board,which she had helped to establish,wielded great power in the beauty culture industry:It created rules and regulations for beauty shops and beauty culture training;issued licenses;and planned and monitoredvexaminations that were given three times a week at the state department located in Newark.All beauty salons,whether white or African-American owned and operated,were subjects to board examination.The appointment came at a time when race relations in New Jersey were poor.The idea of appointing an African-American to a new powerful board aroused considerable protest among whites.As well,membership was extremely limited, with space for only five persons;people petitioned hard to gain one of these posts;and it was unthinkable to give on of those to an African-American.Quoted in Ebony magazine,Christine recalled:"The white people were enraged because I,a Negro,had gained the post.Ugly articles appeared in the  Trenton Times."Christine dissuaded her friends from responding to the attacks.She wanted to handle the matter her way,and she was determined to meet her board responsibility to the best of her ability.This approach would allow her to "win the respect of those who felt that the color of my skin disqualified me,she added.Christine's work on the Board of Beauty Culture Control became a mattervof record.After her initial appointment as a commissioner,she was reappointed three years later and altogether served on the board for fourteen years,from 1935-1949.She was elected chair of the commission and served four terms,a position that paid $ 3,200 as well as expenses.While serving as commissioner,Christine assisted New York and other states as they set up beauty culture departments.The site of her business on Spring Street in Princeton,New Jersey,is shown as the Christine Moore Corporation in Princeton High School's online publication PULSE.It is also one of Princeton's historic landmarks.Christine operated her business from 1920s to the 1940s.In 1924 she married Edward Gaylord Howell,a native of New Haven,Connecticut,and a physician who devoted considerable time to the study and treatment of alcoholism.He had a medical practice in Princeton with a virtually all-white clientele.The Howells lived in New Brunswick,New Jersey,at some point reportedly had a residence both in Princeton and in New Brunswick.Whatever the case,their residence was a mecca for interracial activity,whether social or civic.Christine was a member of the New Brunswick Urban League,Princeton Group Arts,Inc.,NAACP,and the Links,Inc.Christine died in December,and was buried in the Princeton Cemetery of the historic Nassau Presbyterian Church,established in 1757.