Born: 5 July 1918, United States
Died: 13 September 2005
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Fannie Mae Bragg
African-American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and community activist Fannie Mae Duncan is best known as the owner of The Cotton Club, an early integrated jazz club in Colorado Springs, Colorado, that was named after the famous club in Harlem.
Born Fannie Mae Bragg, she was one of seven children in a family of Oklahoma sharecroppers, all of whom helped with the work from a young age. Her father died in an accident the year she turned eight. The family later moved to Colorado Springs, where she became the first in her family to graduate from high school.
After marrying, Duncan opened a soda fountain at the Haven Club for African-American soldiers at Camp Carson. She was able to convince the city manager to issue her a business license to open a USO center on the base – a rarity for an African-American at the time, much less an African-American woman.
Duncan opened The Cotton Club in 1948, attracting performers like Duke Ellington, Etta James, Lionel Hampton, Mahalia Jackson, Billie Holiday, Muddy Waters, and Count Basie. Hotels in the city refused to host African-American guests, so she purchased a historic mansion to house performers and other guests, including Medgar Evers. The club remained in operation until 1975.
Duncan was also active in the community. She was the first woman in several local civic organizations, and co-founded the local chapter of the Sickle Cell Anemia Association as well as the philanthropic 400 Club. She helped raise money for medical research, and donated Colorado Springs’s first iron lung.
Duncan was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 2012, for “her courageous stand fostered the peaceful integration of Colorado Springs.” An annual multicultural event, Everybody Welcome – echoing a sign she kept in The Cotton Club’s window – honors her legacy.