Dress was donated by Joseph A. Thomas-Hazell Jr. The three piece circa 1870s dress was brought to Colorado circa 1903 by his great aunt Clara Davis. It is believed to have belonged to Clara's mother (name unknown) while a slave in Talladega, Alabama. In 1855 she married David White, also a slave in Talladega. Then in1865, seven months after the Civil War ended, their home became the first classroom for the newly founded Talladega College, a school for children of recently freed blacks. Some of Clara's indirect family owned property in Dearfield, Colorado. Believing the climate would be beneficial for the health of her daughter Gertrude who was suffering from tuberculosis, she came to Denver, where she and her daughter settled circa 1903.