Time marches on, and with it, the memories of two of Pittsburgh’s Black fashion trailblazers.

Amy Stephenson, a fashion designer on the North Side, and William Pryor Sr., a master furrier in the Hill District, founded some of the first Black-owned businesses in Pittsburgh.

The two were friends and often were at fashion shows together. Occasionally, Stephenson would drape a fur of Pryor’s over the mannequins wearing her one-of-a-kind gowns in her shop windows.

“They were interested in me learning to make furs, but I was not interested in learning furs,” Stephenson, now 99 years old, said. “I always wanted to sew. I always sewed for people when I was in school.”

Her first sewing machine was a Treadle. She sewed outfits for her family members and friends. A photo of her brother, Roger Humphries, taken in 1942 by Charles “Teenie” Harris, is now in a collection at the Carnegie Museum of Art. Stephenson created the suit he’s wearing in the picture just for him. The image shows him sitting in a classroom playing a drum set.

After graduating from Allegheny High School, Stephenson attended Pratt Institute in New York around 1944, where she learned much of her sewing technique.

“From then on, I wanted my own shop,” Stephenson said.

Upon returning to Pittsburgh, she said she would sew for people after work to make extra money.

Opening her shop took some time. She quit her job and initially had a small operation in her basement on Federal Street on the North Side. She had about four employees in the 1970s. Stephenson purchased several sewing machines with a Small Business Administration grant to help minority businesses.

In 1990, Stephenson opened Amy’s Fashions, which became a multi-generational family affair with uncles, aunts and cousins, as well as her daughter Sharon Watkins, who now serves as financial empowerment manager in the office of the mayor.

”We had a number of clients and made dresses for wives of Steelers players,” Stephenson said. “My specialty was one-of-a-kind dresses. There were no duplicates. You would help me design your gown.”

Stephenson also eventually created menswear and everyday wear. She sourced fabrics from New York often and brought Italian designs to Pittsburgh.

Prom season was big for Amy’s Fashions.

In addition to the fashions, Watkins said she and Stephenson were the first African American women that Major League Baseball licensed for a product — they manufactured hundreds of baseball holders and bat bags to hold autographed memorabilia for the statue dedication to Roberto Clemente. However, the product was never showcased for reasons Watkins said were discriminatory.

Still, Stephenson stayed encouraged. She said she’d still be sewing now if not for the arthritis in her hands.

“I made an item, from my brain, from my thoughts — that was the best part for me,” Stephenson said. ”I would get up early in the morning and go to my sewing room.”

Pryor opened Pryors Furs in 1947 and operated for 50 years. Like Stephenson, Pryor first operated the business out of his home, in Washington, Pa. Later, he moved the business to Wylie Avenue in the Hill District, and in 1954 purchased the building at 2435 Centre Ave.

Luther Sewell Jr., 87, founded the publishing company The LJS Group in 1962 and operated for 30 years in the Hill District. Through his publication Talk Magazine, Sewell highlighted African Americans in the Pittsburgh area.

“When I was growing up and starting my business in the Hill District, there were a lot of businesses on Herron and Centre avenues,” Sewell said. “I knew Mr. Pryor very well. We talked quite a bit and we wrote about his coming up — and that some Black people wouldn’t bring their furs to him. They would take them to Kaufmann’s, and Kaufmann’s would call him and tell him they had work for him,” Sewell said.

Pryor began working at Kaufmann’s with furs before setting out on his own.

“He was a great guy — he didn’t get into the Black elite society in the Hill at the time because they did not accept his wife, who had a deeper complexion,” he said.

In the 1940s, “There was a Black elite in Pittsburgh and they only accepted light-skinned people, so he refused to go into that society,” Sewell said.

“He was so good that he was referred to all the time as one of the best furriers in Pittsburgh, but because he was African American, of course, he never got the notoriety,” said Ernest Bey, 69. “He would do the work of the beautiful furs that woman wore and never got his just due. He was extremely well regarded.”

When Pryor passed away in 2000, the business was left to his son, William Pryor Jr.

Pryor Jr. has since also passed away. William Pryor III was not able to be reached for comment.

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