People who are born with a mission are always a little breathtaking. Their clarity on the purpose of their life and their ability to focus often makes them achieve prominence at an early age.
Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown was such a person. She founded the Palmer Institute in 1902 at age 19. The mission of the institute was to educate black students in elementary and high school in rural North Carolina, and she had a phenomenal reputation. We’ve talked about the Palmer Institute once before.
Some people who rise to the top professionally have an undeveloped personal life, for lack of a better expression. This is often the case with people whose work involves helping others. Perhaps they see anything outside their mission as a distraction. A woman like Charlotte seems to fit that profile but I’m very glad to say she was not.
She married Edward Brown in Sedalia, North Carolina on March 26, 1905. She would have been about 22 years old. I haven’t been able to uncover much information about him, and I suspect she would prefer to keep her private life private. One small surviving memento is Charlotte’s wedding portrait.
North Carolina State Library
Do you know, I love that she didn’t remove her glasses for the photograph. I would have, if it had been my portrait, but there’s something about her wearing them that I find oddly touching.
old spirituals 
I found a possible explanation of why her husband’s photo is not in any archives:
Charlotte Hawkins Brown was married to Edward S. Brown. They married on June 12, 1911. Edward was a teacher studying at Harvard University at the time of their marriage. Their union was brief, as Charlotte was single for most of her life, with her marriage lasting only a couple of years.
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That puzzles me. Why would her wedding portrait be done over six years before her marriage? I did see that when Charlotte passed away, she was a widow so she was single again.
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Interesting discrepancies in wedding dates and being a widow. I would have preferred that she remove her glasses for the portrait. I think they distract from her beauty and that absolutely beautiful wedding dress.
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Her dress is beautiful, I somehow forgot to even mention it!
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is she holding something in her hand? a pocket watch?
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It does look like there’s something in her hand that she’s looking down at. I’m not sure what it is—- maybe a ring? It looks smaller than a pocket watch.
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As a former wedding photographer I find the portrait to be superb. I used a similar pose, usually standing at a window for the available light source. I did not use a flash or strobe to light the picture, I wanted shadows. Typically, the bride holds her bouquet or a single flower. Is Charlotte holding a single, large flower?
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