Alice A. Tolliver Casneau (died 1953), known professionally as Mrs. A. A. Casneau, was an American dressmaker and clubwoman based in the Boston, Massachusetts area.
Career Casneau was a dressmaker in the Boston area with a recorded land purchase in Everett, Massachusetts.Public Documents of Massachusetts 1899, Volume 1 Boston, Massachusetts: Wright & Potter Printing Co., 1900) p. 709. She was also active in the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs when it held its first national conference in Boston in 1895.LaVonne Leslie, The History of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, Inc. (2012).
In the same year as the Boston conference she gave a paper on "Morals and Manners" at the meeting of the Woman's Era Club."Notes and Comments" The Woman's Era (April 1895): 1. As a successful businessperson, she gave a presentation on "Dressmaking" at the first meeting of the National Negro Business League, held in Boston in 1900. "If there is no market for your wares in the community in which you live," she told the audience, "find a place that needs you, that needs just the talent that God has given you, and when you have found it, fill it."Mrs. A. A. Casneau, "Dressmaking" Proceedings of the National Negro Business League (J. R. Hamm 1901): 78–83; image 78, quote 79–80. She was an associate member of the Massachusetts Branch of the Niagara Movement in 1907.Third Annual Conference of the Niagara Movement (Boston 1907).
Casneau's "Guide for Artistic Dress Cutting and Making" (1895) was a "remarkable"Michelle A. Wilson, "Lois Alexander: In search of Black Fashion Designers – old and new" Tri-State Defender (March 10, 1979): 1. via ProQuest 73-page booklet.Teresa Wiltz, "They Got No Fame or Glory, But They Left Their Mark" Chicago Tribune (February 23, 1995). It was one of the ten titles by black women authors available in the reception room of the National Conference of Colored Women in 1895. Casneau also sat on an organising committee for the conference.
Her work was also featured on the literature table at the New England Hospital for Women and Children.Elizabeth McHenry, Forgotten Readers: Recovering the Lost History of African American Literary Societies (Duke University Press 2002): 231, 242.
During World War I, she served on the executive committee of the Soldiers' Comfort Unit in Boston, a women's group that provided supports for black soldiers stationed in or near Boston.Emmett J. Scott, Scott's official history of the American Negro in the world war (Homewood Press 1919): 389–390. In 1925, she was elected president of the League of Women for Community Service.William C. Magruder, "Boston News: Organizations" Chicago Defender (March 21, 1925): A8. via ProQuest
Personal life Alice Tolliver married Elmer E. Casneau, a barber, in 1887.Marriages Registered in the City of Boston for the Year 1887. They had a daughter, Pearl E. Casneau, born in 1892."Famous Hub Waiter Dead" New York Age (April 14, 1910): 3. via Newspapers.com Alice A. Casneau died in 1953 in Massachusetts.Index to Deaths in Massachusetts, 1951–1955.
References
External links Casneau's Guide for Artistic Dress Cutting and Making (Brooks Bank Note Company Press 1895).