Standing portrait of Jessie DePriest taken by renowned black photographer Addison Scurlock on the day of the “Tea Incident,” June 12, 1929. Jessie Williams DePriest by all accounts was a well-educated, gracious, and polite woman. Dressed elegantly in the fashion of the time, her look conveyed style, grace and dignity providing an antithesis to debasing stereotypical depictions of African-Americans. The mainstream press described Mrs. DePriest as a “negress” or “colored lady.” Time magazine recognized Mrs. DePriest’s elegance, describing her as a “slender, middle-aged invited guest wearing an afternoon dress of Capri blue chiffon, a grey coat trimmed in moleskin, a small grey hat, moonlight grey hose, [and] snakeskin slippers” (June 24, 1929).