A MEMOIR OF ISABEL WASHINGTON POWELL

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Isabel, a native of Savannah, Georgia, and better known as Belle, shook up New York like an earthquake.  She was a red haired vixen with fair skin and lovely features who always got noticed.  She shimmied her way to the front of the chorus line at Harlem’s famous Cotton Club and dazzled audiences both on and off Broadway.  But when she married the most prominent African-American preacher of the day, the late Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Belle shook the Harlem landscape down to its roots.  Her first marriage to noted Washington, D.C. society photographer, Preston Webster, failed but resulted in the birth of her only child, Preston Jr.

 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. was a rebel with a cause.  He not only pastored the largest African-American church in the country, he also used the pulpit to rain fire and brimstone down at politicians and businesses who denied blacks civil rights.  He was “Mr. Civil Rights” before Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders of the time emerged.  Belle was a tireless first lady standing beside her Bunny Boy.  She organized meetings, stood in picket lines, and served her community like nobody’s business.  She had a special love for children and those less fortunate that was unparalleled.

      After nearly twelve years of marriage, Belle and Adam divorced.  Once she recovered and got back on her feet, she dedicated her time to helping developmentally challenged children.  She also loved to entertain friends and was known for her bloody mary recipe.  Belle had a perpetual smile on her face and made strangers feel welcomed with her hospitality and warmth.  Whether she was in New York at a high society function, on the island of Martha’s Vineyard at the Bunny Cottage, helping the homeless, or tutoring one of her young students, she was always just Belle, down to earth, not pretentious, and always ready with a warm hug.