Willie Otey Kay (b.1894 – d.1992) , Was A Renowned African American Raleigh Designer.

Pictured is dressmaker Willie Virginia Otey Kay c. 1910.

Growing up in Raleigh, Willie graduated from Shaw University in 1912 with a degree in Home Economics. She later went on to forge a living legacy crafting dresses and gowns for both Raleigh's White and Black women. Women from around the state also commissioned her to design dresses for them.

Willie met John Kay while attending Shaw University. In 1915 the two married and moved to Wilmington where John began his medical practice while also co-founding The Community Hospital, a hospital for Blacks.

Sadly, John unexpectedly passed away in 1927 at the age of 37 due to complications from a hernia.

Despondent after John's death, Willie moved with her five children back to Raleigh and started her profession as a seamstress, quickly becoming a household name.

As the civil rights movement progressed, one of Willie's daughters, June Campbell, played an important role in desegregation efforts as she walked her son, Bill, to Murphey Elementary school on September 7, 1960.

That morning, Bill became the first Black child to attend an all-White school in Raleigh.
During a time when integration attempts were met with death threats, Willie took on the courageous task of walking Bill home from school. Bill Campbell went on to become mayor of Atlanta.

During her 60-year career, she became one of the most sought-after dress makers in Raleigh, making gowns for debutantes, governor's wives, and socialites.

She died in 1992 at the age of 98 and is interred in Raleigh's New Hope Cemetery.

Source: N.93.9.66-From the General Negative Collection, State Archives of NC.

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