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Christiana Carteaux Bannister
Christiana Carteaux Bannister (1819-1902) was a business entrepreneur, hairdresser, and abolitionist in New England.

Biography
Christiana Carteaux Bannister was born Christiana Babcock in 1819 in North Kingston, Rhode Island. She was born to African American and Native American Naragansett parents and was a descendant of enslaved Africans who worked the plantations of South County, Rhode Island, during the eighteenth century. As a young woman, she moved to Boston where she worked as a wigmaker and hairdresser. Her first marriage was to Desiline Carteaux, a clothes dealer of Carribean origin. Her second marriage was to [|Edward Bannister]in 1857, who became one of the most successful Black artists because of Christiana Carteaux Bannister's financial and emotional support. In 1869 the Bannisters moved to Providence, Rhode Island, and Christiana continued her business as a hairdresser as well as her activism. Christiana died in 1902 and is buried in Edward Bannister's plot in the North Burial Ground. A bronze bust of Christiana, based on a portrait of her painted by Edward Bannister, was dedicated at the Rhode Island State House in 2002.

Marriage to Edward Bannister
In 1853 Christiana and Edward met when he applied for work as a barber in her Boston salon. They married on June 10, 1857. Edward contributed much of his success to Christiana for her critical eye and her business sense. In 1901, Edward suffered a heart attack while and church and died.

Hairdresser's Business
As a young woman, Christiana moved from Rhode Island to Boston where she began her career as a wigmaker. She was professionally known as Madame Carteaux, Women's Hairdresser and Wigmaker. She was a successful business entrepreneur, and self-styled "hair doctress," generating income by hairdressing and selling her own hair products. From 1847 to 1871 Christiana Carteaux Bannister maintained several salons in Boston including Cambridge, Boston, and Winter Streets. When Christiana Carteaux Bannister and Edward Bannister moved to Providence, she opened another salon in Providence.

Abolitionist Connections
In Boston, the Bannisters lived and worked with Lewis Hayden and participated in the Boston Underground Railroad. The Bannister hair salons became popular meeting places for African American and white abolitionists.

Other Activism
During the Civil War, Christiana Carteaux Bannister was an advocate for equal pay for Black soldiers. In November 1864, she organized a fair sponsored by the Boston Colored Ladies Sanitary Commission to benefit the African American regiments, the 54th and 55th Massachusetts and the 5th Massachusetts Calvary, who served for a year and a half without pay rather than accept less than the white soldiers were paid.

In Providence, she founded the Home for Aged Colored Women when she learned about the struggles of African American women who worked as domestics but were too old to work and often became homeless. The home moved from Transit St. to Dodge St. and was renamed Bannister House, Inc.