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Maria J. Spotts owned the Crescent Hairdressing College on Dryades Street, “the largest and most thoroughly equipped Hairdressing College in the country, owned and managed by colored people.” Ads for the college which appeared in the New Orleans Item in 1921 and 1922, list the cost of a complete course at $45.

Maria J. Caldwell married Cyrus P. Spotts, a brick mason, in November, 1885, at the age of 23. In the 1900 federal census, she gave her occupation as “trained nurse,” and in New Orleans city directories prior to 1908, she is listed as a midwife. In 1908, however, she is identified as a hairdresser, and her city directory entries continue to show her as a hairdresser at various addresses on Dryades Street until 1926. She died on February 2, 1956, at the age of 58.

(Woods Directory: Being a Colored Cusiness, Professional and Trades Directory, 1914)