Rosemary Reed Miller

Rosemary Reed Miller
Born Rosemary Reed Miller
(1939-06-22)June 22, 1939
Yeadon, Pennsylvania
Died August 2, 2017(2017-08-02) (aged 78)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Nationality American
Education Temple University
Occupation Business Owner, Historian
Spouse(s) Paul E. Miller (1935-1974), married until his death[1]
Partner(s) John Howard
Children Paul “DJ Spooky”,[2] Sabrina

Rosemary Reed Miller (born 22 June 1939 in Yeadon, Pennsylvania – deceased 2 August 2017) was the owner of Toast and Strawberries, a landmark boutique in Washington, DC. She was also a published author on African American dressmakers from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries.

Biography

Rosemary Reed Miller was the daughter of Byron and Eloise Miller. She graduated from Temple University. She became a press reporter in Jamaica and Puerto Rico. She did freelance work for the Washington Post, Washington Star, Afro-American Newspapers, Miami Herald, and the Amsterdam News.[3]

In the 1960s, Miller was an informational officer for the Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. and part-time jewelry accessory designer.[4]

In 1967, Miller opened Toast and Strawberries as a wholesale showroom for various fashion and jewelry designers, and “to pay the bills,” transformed the showroom to a retail boutique. The store featured emerging and established designers from around the world. According to Miller, "we felt it was important to show that talent had no limits - male, female, white and black."[5] Clients included singer Aretha Franklin and actress Heather Locklear.[6]

In August 1974, Black Enterprise Magazine profiled Miller in an issue focused on Black Women in Business and Public Life, noting that the D.C. retail operations had generated $190,000 in annual sales in 1973.[4]

Through the years, Miller promoted designers through various community fashion shows. For example, in 1974, Miller participated in the National Council of Negro Women's 8th annual fashion show. In 1979, Toast and Strawberries fashions were showcased before 500 quests at the D.C. chapter of the American War Mothers annual fundraising fashion show.[7] Toast and Strawberries developed a program to educate others about the history of African American women in dressmaking and designing and to demonstrate how the craft assisted as a venue for economic support and potential independence.[5]

The boutique, which became a local landmark, closed in 2005, in part because of increasing rent.[6] She died on August 2 2017 in her home in Wahington DC.[8]

Awards

  • 1981: "Small Business Person of the Year" for Washington, D.C. by the U.S. Small Business Administration.[9]

Publications

Private life

She married the dean of Howard University School of Law Paul Miller. They had 2 children together. He suddenly died in 1974 at age 38.[3][1]

References

  1. 1 2 Times, Special To The New York (16 July 1974). "Prof. Paul E. Miller Dead; Ex‐Dean of Howard Law, 38". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  2. ↑ Beckman, Rachel (7 February 2008). "From Hip-Hop's Paul D. Miller: New York City, Remixed". The Washington Post. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Rosemary E. Reed Miller". Mcguire-services.com. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  4. 1 2 Graves, Earl G. (August 1974). "Making It: The $190,000 Storefront". Black Enterprise. Earl G. Graves, Ltd.: 13. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  5. 1 2 Reed Miller, Rosemary E (2006). Threads of time: the fabric of history : profiles of African American dressmakers and designers, 1850-2002. T & S Press. ISBN 0970971303. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  6. 1 2 Barbaro, Michael; Chediak, Mark (10 August 2005). "Fixture of Dupont Retail to Close". The Washington Post. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  7. ↑ Company, Johnson Publishing (23 May 1974). "The Washington Scene". Jet. Johnson Publishing Company. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  8. ↑ Elasfar, Dara (August 20, 2017). "Rosemary Reed Miller, Washington boutique owner, dies at 78". Washington Post. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  9. ↑ Johnson Publishing, Company (4 June 1981). "People". Jet Magazine. Johnson Publishing Company: 24. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  • "The artist as entrepreneur / Rosemary E. Reed Miller ; interviewed by Elaine Heffernan. | Pacifica Radio Archives". www.pacificaradioarchives.org. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  • Martin, Michel. "Wisdom Watch: Author Chronicles History of Black Designers". NPR.org. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
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