‘This is Black girl magic’: Washington Rhinestone Club honors legacy, academically minded debutantes at annual ball
Kiel Walker, queen of the 2019 Washington Rhinestone Club Debutante Ball, graduated with the highest GPA in high school among the debutantes, which earned her the honor of being queen.
The Washington Rhinestone Club was formed in 1952 when founder Naomi Murray realized that Black women in Seattle were not taking advantage of the higher-education resources in the city.
With four other academically minded, young Black women, Murray founded a debutante program unlike any other at the time — one with the primary goal of encouraging young Black women to enroll in college. To become debutantes, these young women begin participating in educational workshops with WRC starting their junior year of high school.
At the annual ball — held after the debutantes’ first quarter or semester in college — community sponsors, alumni and WRC members provide scholarships of varying amounts to the debutantes.
In 2018, 12 women were presented as Washington Rhinestone debutantes at a ball held in December.
Read more.
-Written by Crystal Paul, The Seattle Times
Shown is the 24th-annual Washington Rhinestone Club Debutante Ball, held at the Washington Plaza Hotel. (Peter Liddell / The Seattle Times)
Debutante Queen Johnson dances with her escort and brother, Sejhe Jackson, at the Washington Rhinestone Club Debutante Ball on Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019, at the DoubleTree Suites at Southcenter.
Kiel Walker, queen of the 2019 Rhinestone ball, is a freshman kinesiology student at Texas Woman’s University and a third-generation debutante.
Debutantes get ready for the WRC ball at the DoubleTree Suites at Southcenter.
Debutante Queen Johnson, right, gets her petticoat fixed under her dress as she and the other debutantes get ready to be presented at the 2019 Washington Rhinestone Club Debutante Ball.
Debutante escorts enter at the start of the Washington Rhinestone Club Debutante Ball.
Kimberley Love, mother of Rhandi Rosemond, watches her daughter during her last dance at the Washington Rhinestone Club Debutante Ball.
Debutante Breona Denae Devers smiles as she sees her father during her entrance at the 2019 WRC ball.
Debutante Queen Johnson dances with her escort and brother Sejhe Jackson at the WRC ball. Johnson is the first person in her family to debut with the Washington Rhinestone Club.
Kiel Walker, queen of the 2019 Washington Rhinestone Club Debutante Ball, catches her crown after throwing her toasting glass as a celebration of her “coronation” at the WRC ball.
Washington Rhinestone escorts end the WRC ball with a dance.
Debutante Nia Tate curtseys during her entrance at the WRC ball.