Cloteele T. Raspberry

Cloteele T. Raspberry was born in Texarkana, Texas, on September 26, 1910. Her parents moved to Kansas City when Cloteele was young, and she attended Wendell Phillips Elementary School. She graduated from Lincoln High School in 1927. During high school she stood out in her sewing class. In 1928, she attended a junior college for one year. While pursuing sewing in her home, she taught night classes in sewing at the Brooklyn Center and at the local YWCA. 

In 1955 Raspberry earned an associate’s degree from Isabelle Boldin’s School of Fashion Design. She was a member of the National Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers (NAFAD). While a member of this organization, Cloteele travelled every year to different cities to participate in the Fashion Designers Showcase. She had at least one garment featured in each city, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Chicago.

Raspberry was chosen as a NAFAD junior leader along with her colleagues Bessie Fowler and Bea Washington. They mentored girls and young women aged fourteen to eighteen who were members of the organization. The young women staged their own fashion shows, with proceeds going to a scholarship for the graduating seniors.

She was also a twenty-five year member of the Urban League Guild in Kansas City and taught Sunday School at Paseo Baptist Church for thirty-five years. 

Cloteele Raspberry died on March 6, 1994.