Fannie Mae Duncan

July 5, 1918 - September 13, 2005

Fannie Mae Duncan was born on July 5, 1918 to Herbert and Mattie Brinson Bragg, tenant farmers in Luther, Oklahoma. An exceptionally bright and active child, Fannie Mae was a daddy's girl. She far preferred helping her father manage their roadside fruit and vegetable stand rather than picking cotton. Sadly, Herbert died as a result of inadequate medical care following an automobile accident, leaving Momma a widow with seven children. The older three - Francis, Vernon, and Johnny - had to drop out of school to support the family. Francis, the oldest, went to live with relatives in Manitou Springs, Colorado and worked as a maid for R.P. Aldridge, a Colorado Springs mercantile store owner. After two years of sending all her earnings back home to Momma in Oklahoma, Francis was able to bring the whole Bragg family to Colorado Springs in 1933.

Unaware that Colorado Springs founder, Union Army General William Jackson Palmer, decreed from the beginning that all children would go to school together; Fannie Mae entered [North] Junior High, her first experience of attending an integrated school. The three younger children - Selena, Herbert Jr, and Cornelius - were enrolled in Garfield Elementary. From the beginning, Fannie Mae excelled in academics, became friends with classmates in the affluent North End, and was a star on the basketball court. She also worked as a maid for Russian Count Benjamin Lefkowsky.

Graduating from Colorado Springs High School in 1938, Fannie Mae was the first in her family to receive a high school diploma. She had hoped to attend Langston University to earn her nursing degree, but funding was an issue so she became a maid for District Attorney Earl Foard, and she married Ed Duncan in 1939.

With the advent of Pearl Harbor in 1941, soldiers flooded into Camp Carson (located South of Colorado Springs). Meanwhile, Fannie Mae landed a job as manager of the soda fountain at the Haven Club, a facility for black soldiers. After two years of on-the-job training and experience, Fannie Mae persuaded City Manager Earl Moseley to give her a business license so that she and her husband could run the USO cafe concession at the Servicemen's Center on Colorado Avenue in downtown Colorado Springs.

Then she got her big break. The 2-story building across the street at 25 W. Colorado Avenuecame up for sale. It had been owned by Denver resident Lon Douglas, but upon his death Alice, his widow, decided to sell property. With a loan from Ed's former employer, Broadmoor socialite Mrs. D. Arthur Jones, and the money the couple had saved so that Fannie Mae ccould one day attend college. Fannie Mae and Ed purchased the building and the rest is history.

After opening Duncan's Cafe and Bar downstairs, Fannie Mae began developing a night club upstairs. Starting with a lounge, she created the Cotton Club and hired waitresses of every race, ethnic group, and nationality to serve her multi-racial clientele. "Everybody Welcome" was the catch phrase for hospitality at Fannie Mae's Cotton Club in the Fifties and Sixties.

EVERYBODY WELCOME

While many cities across America experienced violence during the volatile Civil Rights Movement, Fannie Mae poster her famous sign in the front window of her establishment and opened her doors to the public. People flocked to her nightclub to enjoy the best entertainment in town.

It might be said the integration in Colorado Springs happened to the best musical accompaniment of the day. Fannie Mae's Cotton Club was the only place in the city where jazz lovers could see great musical talent of the day - Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Etta James, and Fannie Mae's talented sister Selena. She even gave comedian Flip Wilson his start.

Concerned about her musician's safety when they traveled back to Denver each night after the early morning show to find lodging, Fannie Mae even purchased Dr. James Hart's 42-room mansion that was scheduled for demolition, and she had it moved to lots she purchased at 615 North Corona, where it still stands today.

For 28 years Fannie Mae served the public, welcoming everyone who walked through her door. Though the Cotton Club is long gone, a victim of urban renewal in 1975, Fannie Mae's legacy will live on and inspire other to make Everybody Welcome in Colorado Springs, both residents and visitors alike.