"Nettie Langston Napier"(June 17,1861-September 30,1938)

From Oberlin  Ohio Nettie DeElla Langston was the daughter of Carlina M.Wall Langston &

John Mercer Langston.When Nettie was 9 the family moved to Washington,D.C. where she attended public schools and Howard University.She transferred to Oberlin College to complete her education in music,graduating in 1878.That same year she married James Carroll Napier.The couple had one adopted daughter (Carrie Livingston ).The Napier's moved within an elite circle Booker T.Washington was a close friend.Nettie was responsible for establishing Day Homes Club,an African-American woman's organization designed to help meet the needs of poor communities in a manner similar to that of the Phyllis Wheatley Club.The Day Homes Club was formed in 1907 and was later known as Porter Homestead.She gave constant attention to social duties that commanded her attention and was an efficient and consistent worker in enterprises connected with the Congregational church of her city.After the family moved Tennessee,Nettie interested herself in matters of education,never failing to aid by advice and substantial support persons seeking enrollment as students of Fisk University and other schools.Nettie possessed an accoplanish musical education with,a deep,rich contralto voice of  great power and frequently took part in musical entertainments of public and general interest.During the Red Cross campaign in Nashville,Nettie was chosen chairman of  a committee of Race women invited by the whites of the city to cooperate with them for Red Cross Work.Not only was this work carried out during the entire time of the Workd war,other phases of war work were creditably done with Nettie as the leader.She,along with other women,brought the National Association of Colored Women to Nashville in 1897.In 1901,she spoke on their program,her subject being "Women's Domain.On the death of Mary B.Talbert who was president of the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association,Nettie became president of the association and through her efforts the Douglass home at Anacostia,Washington,D.C., became the shrine it was intended to be.James accompanied Nettie at every meeting.On their return from Forth Worth Texas in 1937 the car in which they traveled was struck and they both were injuried,James receiving the worst injury,neither was fatally hurt.Her work for the Douglass Home for which she will be long remembered for its has been most exceptional.Nettie Langston Naplier daughter of the late Congressman John M.Langston of Virginia,& wife of  Hon.James C.Naplier,former register of the U.S. treasury,died in Nashvilles Hubbard Hospital.