Germany's Beauty Parlor

Germany’s Beauty Studio appeared in the Green Book from 1947-1955.  It was located at 715 Red Cross Street  in Wilmington, North Carolina. It was listed in the Green Book as “Germany’s--715 Red Cross St.” under the “Beauty Parlor” section.” The shop was owned by Sarah Jane Germany.¹

Germany’s Beauty Studio (also called Germany’s Beauty Parlor) was owned by Sarah Jane Germany. Sarah was born in Georgia in 1899 to Lucious and Sarah Germany. She came to Wilmington in the mid-1920’s and was listed in the 1926 city directory as a maid who lived and worked at Community Hospital. By 1930, Sarah was working as a maid in the home of a white family in Evanston, Illinois.²

Sarah returned to Wilmington between 1935 and 1938. In 1938, she owned a home at 715 Red Cross Street and worked as a beauty operator at Howard’s Beauty Salon, another business listed in the Green Book. By 1940 she owned her own beauty parlor, Germany’s Beauty Studio, located inside her home on Red Cross Street. The only other member of her household was an elderly aunt name Mattie Taylor, her mother’s sister.³

Sarah never married and continued to operate Germany’s Beauty Studio until her death in 1974. Today, 615 Red Cross is a private, multi-family home and is marketed as a duplex.⁴

Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2019

Notes

1. Victor Green, 1947 Green Book, 66; Green, 1948 Green Book, 63; Green, 1949 Green Book, 57; Green, 1950 Green Book, 64; Green, 1951 Green Book, 55; Green, 1952 Green Book, 55; Green, 1953 Green Book, 55; Green, 1954 Green Book, 54; Green, 1955 Green Book, 54.
2. 1900 United States Census, Hazen, Columbia County, Georgia, digital image s.v. "Sarah Germany," accessed from www.ancestry.com; Sarah Jane Germany, October 23, 1974, Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina, Death Certificates, 1909-1976, accessed from www.ancestry.com; Hill’s Wilmington N.C. City Directory 1926, Hill Directory Co., Inc.: Richmond, VA, p. 179, accessed from www.ancestry.com; 1940 United States Census, Wilmington, New Hanover County, NC, digital image s.v. "Sarah Germany," accessed from www.ancestry.com. 
3. Hill’s 1938 Wilmington (New Hanover County, NC) City Directory, Hill Directory Company, Inc.: Richmond, VA, city directory, p. 168; 1940 United States Census, Wilmington, New Hanover County, NC, digital image s.v. "Sarah Germany," accessed from www.ancestry.com; Hill’s 1940 Wilmington (New Hanover County, NC) City Directory, Hill Directory Company, Inc.: Richmond, VA, city directory, p. 162; Hill’s 1942 Wilmington (New Hanover County, NC) City Directory, Hill Directory Company, Inc.: Richmond, VA, city directory, p. 249; Hill’s 1943 Wilmington (New Hanover County, NC) City Directory, Hill Directory Company, Inc.: Richmond, VA, city directory, p. 250.
4. Sarah Jane Germany, October 23, 1974, Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina, Death Certificates, 1909-1976, accessed from www.ancestry.com; listings for 615 Red Cross Street accessed on September 29, 2019 from www.zillow.com and www.realtor.com.