[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 119 (Tuesday, July 24, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1610-E1611]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




HONORING THE LIFE OF DOROTHEA TOWLES CHURCH, FASHION MODEL AND DESIGNER

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                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 24, 2007

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I would like to recognize, honor, and pay 
tribute to the significant, groundbreaking achievements of the talented 
Dorothea Towles Church, who overcame the many obstacles placed in her 
way to become the first successful black fashion model. She was the 
seventh of eight children, born on July 26, 1922 in Texarkana, Texas. 
She began her college education at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, 
majoring in biology. However, after moving to Los Angeles to live with 
her wealthy uncle after the death of her mother, she transferred to the 
University of Southern California and received a master's degree in 
education. While present in Los Angeles, she began to generate an 
interest in acting but was discouraged by the lack of black actors in 
the entertainment industry. Instead, she became a model for black 
magazines and fashion shows in the area.
  Dorothea Church's unprecedented success came at the young age of 
twenty-seven when she was vacationing in Paris to listen to her sister, 
Lois Towles, sing with Fisk University. Church's great beauty and 
striking presence were extraordinary. Her beauty and talent were 
indisputable and she made a breakthrough in the most famous and 
prestigious fashion market in the world when she was signed by 
Christian Dior as a high-fashion model. For the first time in her life, 
Church was not impacted by racial intolerance. Church once stated, ``If 
you're beautiful, [the French] don't care what color you are.''
  Even though many racial barriers were overcome, Church still had to 
deal with the innate prejudices that many people had towards African-
Americans. Church had been forbidden to model and display high 
fashioned pictures in predominantly black magazines. The industry's 
excuse was that it was meaningless to display such photographs because 
the black community was not interested in the clothing. Or perhaps they 
didn't believe the black community could afford such clothing. Either 
way, Church used her power and prestige and was able to open the door 
for other aspiring black models by extending her appearances in the 
white fashion magazines to appear in a newly founded black owned Ebony 
magazine.
  Dorothea Towles Church, the gorgeous and influential fashion model, 
couture designer, and black activist, bridged a divide between the 
races in high-fashion that appeared to be insurmountable. Church was an 
inspiration to all African-Americans who ever had an impossible dream. 
After her death from heart and kidney disease on July 7, 2006, there 
has been a renewed appreciation of Church's triumphs and 
accomplishments. She was, and continues to be a perpetual role model 
who brought pride to her people and community and who continues to 
serve as an important role model to young women with dreams today.

                [From the New York Times, July 23, 2007]

    Obituaries: Dorothea Towles Church, Black Model in 1950's Paris

                            (By Eric Wilson)

       New York.--Dorothea Towles Church, the first successful 
     black model in Paris, who discovered personal liberation on 
     the runways of Christian Dior and Elsa Schiaparelli in the 
     1950s, died July 7 in Manhattan. She was 83.
       Her death was confirmed by Michael Henry Adams, a curator 
     at the Museum of the City of New York, where she is among 
     those to be featured in an exhibition called ``Black Style 
     Now,'' which will open Sept. 7.
       Church's success was historic in an industry that had 
     resisted using any but white models to represent beauty on 
     magazine covers, in advertisements and on runways. Church was 
     responsible for breaking down some of those barriers and was 
     revered in France during the five years she modeled there.
       ``If you're beautiful, they don't care what color you 
     are,'' she said of the French in postwar Paris.
       ``I got invited out all the time,'' she said in Barbara 
     Summers's 1998 book ``Black and Beautiful.'' ``I was the only 
     black model in Europe and I just thought I was an 
     international person.''
       Her easy acceptance in Paris was reported at home in black 
     publications, in articles about the designers she knew and 
     about how she once dyed her hair platinum at Dior's request.
       But her growing fame did not eliminate prejudice on the 
     part of some designers. At

[[Page E1611]]

     Schiaparelli, she once overheard someone describe her as 
     Tahitian. While she worked for Pierre Balmain, she recalled, 
     he would not allow her to borrow dresses for a photograph for 
     Ebony magazine, fearing that would offend his white 
     clientele. She took the clothes later on the pretext that she 
     would wear them to a party, and the magazine then 
     photographed them.

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