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LUCY WILMOT SMITH
Writer
MISS LUCY WILMOT SMITH is a native of Lexington,
Ky., and from Prof. I. Garland Penn's sketch we
learn some facts (which time and space are not to be
considered), as to her worthiness among the leading
Negro women of America. She was born Nov. 16,
1861. Her mother, Mrs.
Margaret Smith, the very
embodiment of ambition, exerted herself arduously and
unselfishly to place every advantage for education in
her way, she being her sole support.
LUCY WILMOT SMITH
We learn that she began teaching in 1877, serving under
the Lexington, Ky., school board, and in 1887 graduated
from the normal department of the State University.
She was for a long time private secretary to Dr.
William J. Simmons, by whose aid she was introduced
to the world of thinkers and writers in newspaper life.
In every department of life she has officiated; whether
as scholar, teacher, society worker, she has proven
beyond the shadow of a doubt the competency of the
female to be trusted with responsibilities.
She is now a member of the State University faculty.
She is a newspaper contemporary and has shown her
peculiar fitness for her art in the demonstration of
controlling special columns in Our Women and Children,
one of the best magazines published by the Negro race.
She has served on the staff of the Baptist Journal;
in fact her newspaper career since 1884, though short,
has been one full of rare experiences, and eliciting
praise from the pens of the best writers of
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the country. Mrs. N. F. Mossell says: "Miss
Smith writes compactly, is acute, clean and crisp in
her acquirements and has
good descriptive powers." "Her style is
transparent, lucid, and in many respects few of her race
can surpass her."
Her success proves the scope of her versatility and
talent.
------------------------
MISS. A. L. TILGHMAN.
Editor of Musical Messenger, Musical
Writer, Talented Vocalist.
THE subject of this brief sketch first saw the light of
day in Washington City, District of Columbia. Her
parents for uprightness and honesty have no piers in the
race. Henry H. and
Margaret A. Tilghman
have always been the centre around which reveled the
good and gay citizens of the national capital. In
1871 she finished the normal department at Howard
University and thereafter taught fourteen years in the
public schools of her native city. Her knowledge
of instruction at once asserted itself, and made for her
the reputation she justly won and merits.
Her musical as well as vocal talent has at all times
won for her the greatest praise both from public and
press.
She sang through New York State, at all times meeting
the public expectations, delighting and captivating all
who heard her with her melody in fact in 1881, the New
York press styled her "The Queen of Song." In this
same year she filled an engagement as leader of the
Saengerfest, at Louisville, Kentucky, and two years
later she was advised to travel, acting as the leading
sopranist in the Washington Harmonic Musical Concert
Troupe.
Her musical qualifications make her a marvel.
Being a graduate from the renowned Boston Conservatory
of Music, makes her less the foe and more the friend of
critics, as for them their work becomes an easy as well
as a pleasing task. She is a race lover and is
restless in new adventures for the development of her
people.
Her Queen Esther Cantata, a
musical concert played under her management, is regarded
by all by far the greatest musi-
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cal effort ever carried to perfection in Montgomery,
Alabama. Her instructions to the many young ladies
of the race guarantees to us the realization of many
accomplished pianists and singers in the South.
At Montgomery she published the Musical Messenger.
On leaving the above named city by reason of her ability
she was invited and accepted the, duties of the musical
department of Howe Institute, New Iberia, Louisiana.
After one year of hard work she resigned her position
and took up residence in Washington City, her home,
where she, through God, is working in the field
of music, teaching and editing the
Musical Messenger.
-------------------------
LILLIAN PARKER THOMAS
Local and Correspondent Editor of The Freeman.
LILLIAN PARKER THOMAS, correspondent editor of
the Freeman, is a striking illustration of the
triumph of perseverance over obstacles incidental to the
experience of all who, unaided and alone, have hewn for
themselves a place on life's rocky and untoward highway.
Associated with her earliest remembrance ahs been an
inspiration, now inviting, anon abating, to some time
write her name among the galaxy of those whose sublime
mission it had been to preserve for the edification and
pleasure of coming generations the elevated and
instructive in literature and thought. As if to
test the validity and strength of this dominant
aspiration, her lot was cast in a portion of the then
new Northwest, where the chimes resonant from the halls
of culture and art vied with the weird haloo of the
untutored aboriginee. The members of her own race
being few, the impetus afforded by association for
rivalry played no part in developing her precocious
talent. As best she knew and could, she builded.
She "shunned delights, and lived laborious days" of
application and study. The schools of Wisconsin,
excellent and notably celebrated, offered superior
facilities for her eager and inquiring mind. The
School Lyceum had in her one of its most ardent
devotees, as did the higher branches of the curriculum
of the schools. Her bow to the
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public as a writer began with a strong, logical protest
against the action of the United States Supreme Court,
declaring the Civil Eights bill unconstitutional.
Her protest appeared in the leading dailies of the
State, and was the recipient of widespread and favorable
comment. The succession of events, since that
time, touching the interest of her race have been
LILLIAN PARKER THOMAS
the animus to many and
varied dissertations on this important theme.
Coming to Indianapolis in 1885, she soon attracted the
attention of the literati of the Hoosier capital, and
was accorded that honest recognition due her sterling
intellectual gifts and tastes. Her fame as a
chaste and polished reader is far from being of the
common "school-house elocutionary" order, and has long
since ceased to be merely local. She has filled
her
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present responsible position upon the Freeman,
the race's greatest journalistic effort, for something
over a year, and has filled it fully and exceptionally,
not through favoritism or the chance of circumstances,
but because her superior and exceptional qualifications
and merit, pure merit, have enabled her to do so, she
being the only lady of her race in this section holding
a position of such journalistic importance. The
special features of the Freeman, such as "Race
Gleanings," "Church," "Stage" and "Friendly Reminders,"
are to be credited solely to her discriminating
compilation and original creation. Her "Friendly
Reminders," as given each week to the Freeman's
thousands of readers, are solely and originally the
children of her own thought and creation, and are worthy
in many instances to be ranked with Tupper's Proverbial
Philosophy. It may be said in a general way of
this talented and growing race woman that what she has
become to be, what she may yet become to be, if all
signs do not fail and opportunity is not suddenly cut
off, is and will be clue solely or mainly to her own
indomitable intellectuality and determination. She
is a credit to her race, an ornament to her sex. The
mantle of mental achievement, that belongs so properly
to her was neither an accident nor a bequest, but one of
her own weaving, with filling thread of energy in warp
and woof. She says:
"We believe that what should most interst women is
woman; despite the glaring indication that her chief
consideration, as well as chief glorification, is man.
Woman's condition to-day, as compared with her condition
in no far remote time, stands out in contra distinction
in favor of the present. But even now she is
environed with untoward odds which operate in many
instances to stultify her aspiration or palsy her
effort, and yet a number sufficient to wield telling
influence have in the last few decades invaded, as one
lord of creation has termed it, the ranks of the arts,
sciences and industries, and have flung into the burning
pile which is fast consuming the yokes of individuals
and nations that theoretic weakling, i. e., that
woman is incapable of mastering economics outside the
domestic realm. The loom, spinning wheel and
quilting frames
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have been exchanged for the desk, the ledger, the brush
and palette, the caligraph and the camera; churn,
milkstool, soap kettle and lye hopper have each and all
been relegated to dust covered obscurity, whence they
are only brought to do service as a corner-stone upon
which some muse shall build his lore of "ye olden time,"
and yet woman has not abandoned the duties incumbent
upon her as wife and mother, nor waived her claim to the
coronet which bears the inscription 'Queen of home,' but
has resolved the routine of household duties, which to
our grandmothers were veriest meniality and which were
often the bane of a cheerless existence, into a
systematized series of domestic functions of which she
is the proud promoter. If the broadening out of
woman's mind by the leaven of science, philosophy and
art bore no other beneficence than the permeating of
this earthly shrine, the home, with the aroma of culture
and refinement and inculcating in the breast of the
inmates of that home love for the good and the
beautiful, the seeker after such knowledge had builded
well. Nature mellows the heart, while the
development of the mind creates a window through which
the erstwhile mental captive may behold and appreciate
the beauties of nature. But in this, a day of
great possibilities, the feminine heart yearns for
broader paths wherein to walk, an intellectual highway
whereon all nations or sex may walk abreast. This
granted, the son and daughter go hand in hand to the
halls of learning and on common ground prepare for the
arena of life and for the time when, should fickle
fortune, whose mandate barrs no creed or sex, decree the
undoing of their success, they have won alike a
safeguard against wreck or ruin as a result of
helplessness."
-------------------------
MRS. C.
C. STUMM.
AMONG the women who have made for themselves names as
writers and pioneer teachers. Mrs. C. C. Stumm
ranks very high. She was born in Kentucky, in the
daughter of Thomas and
Eliza Penman and the
accomplished wife of Dr. Stumm an able minister
of Philadelphia. At quite an
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early age she matriculated at Berea College, where she
procured a fair amount of learning, but by courage and
thirst for knowledge she has studied her way to the top.
Her experience as a teacher, as well as her reputation,
has been won, not only in the public school-room, but in
academies both in Texas and Kentucky. As a
journalist her efforts have been frought with success.
Her writings and editorial work cover many different
States. In Boston the Hub and Advocate,
in Kentucky the Bowling Green Watchman, each have
found in her a ready exponent and versatile writer.
She is at present a resident of Philadelphia, where she
is engaged in journalistic agency for the National
Monitor, published at Brooklyn, N. Y., and Our
Women and Children journal, published at Louisville,
Ky.
-------------------------
MRS.
SERENA LETITIA MOORE.
Artist
BY JOHN C. DANCY
THE subject of this sketch was born at Snow Hill, N. C.
Nov. 11, 1863, and is the daughter of George
Washington and Esther Suggs. At the age
of three years she removed with her parents to Wilson,
N. C., where she early began to attend school and
continued therein regularly until she was 13 years old.
Her principal during these years was the now
distinguished Dr. J. C. Price, president of
Livingstone College. At this age she entered the
St. Augustine Normal and Industrial Institute, at
Raleigh, N. C, under the presidency of Dr.
Smedes and under the tutelage of such teachers as
the now eminent teacher, essayist and speaker, Mrs.
Anna J. Cooper, A. M.. Washington, D. C. After
spending three years here, she spent one year at Scotia
Seminary, Concord, N. C. After this she spent one
year at St. Mary's Academy, Baltimore, Md.
Mrs. Moore professed religion when only
eleven years old and joined the African Methodist
Episcopal Zion Church at Wilson, N C.
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In the fall of 1879 the then young principal of Wilson
Academy, Prof Edward Moore, Ph. D., now of Livingstone
College, met her. He had just graduated from Lincoln
University,
and was recognized as a thorough scholar and brilliant
young man. During that year relations began to grow
between
them, which finally terminated in their marriage Nov.
14,
1881, which has proven a very happy and fortunate union.
MRS. SERENA L. MOORE
At school she
was apt in
all her studies, but from very
early life she had a peculiar
taste, aptness and fondness
for drawing, which she has in
later life cultivated, until she
is now able to execute most
excellent oil paintings, especially
portraits. In her parlor
can be seen life-size pictures
of Dr. J. C. Price, Collector
of Customs, John C. Dancy, Bishop C. R. Harris, and
Mrs.
Anna J. Cooper, which would
do credit to many of our best
artists. Her work in water
colors and other forms of the
painter's art does her great
credit.
In 1883 she was elected one
of the teachers of the preparatory department of
Livingston
College. She held this place till the increasing duties
of the
family made it necessary for her to resign in 1885. She
is
the mother of four interesting children and is always
happy in
instructing them, and marking out their pathway in life.
Mrs. Moore is of medium height, of a
lively disposition,
genial nature and beautiful face. Hers is a social
nature, high minded
and ambitious. She always makes it pleasant for her
friends. She delights to entertain, and is known for her
characteristic
hospitality.
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MRS.
A. E. JOHNSON.
Writer
MRS. A. E. JOHNSON, we learn, was born in
Maryland in 1859. Her education was obtained in
Montreal, Canada, but for the reason that she might be
of use to her race as an educator, she moved to
Baltimore in 1874, where she has since resided.
Her marriage with Dr. Harvey Johnson, an eminent
devine, took place in 1877.
MRS. A. E. JOHNSON
A fine sketch of
her appears in the Afro-American Press.
She began writing poetry at quite an early age, but
published little till after her marriage. Since
then she has written much for various reviews, and other
miscellanies. In 1887 she launched upon the
uncertain waves of journalism the Joy, an
eight-page monthly, containing original poems and
matters literary, in fact a symposium of stories, etc.,
by the best cultivated brain of the race.
Her writings are varied; she having a clear conception
of what a poet means, she is reserved in her
compositions, and so deep is her thought that her
productions ward off the minnows in search for those who
inhabit deep water. Her powers of imagination are so
forcible that for every true disciple of her muses there
is painted by the fairy a rare picture.
[Page 211]
MRS.
W. E. MATHEWS.
Eminent Writer.
MRS.
W. E. MATHEWS (Victoria Earle) was born at Fort
Valley, Georgia, May 27, 1861.
Those cruel days of servitude for our subject severed
the parental tie, and by reason of cruelty and outrage
perpetrated in those dark days caused many an
unfortunate to seek refuge in the far North.
Mrs. Caroline Smith,
for that was her mother's name, after repeated attempts
to flee, finally succeeded, making New York her home.
MRS. W. E. MATHEWS.
After a series of years, she returned and found living
four of her children, our subject being one of the
number, whom she freed legally from the clutches of the
law, and took them finally to New York, where she might
educate the little ones committed to her care.
Her opportunities at first proving to be not so smooth
as anticipated, hence she was forced to work for
maintenance. Possessing all of the characteristics
of a true disciple, she labored and studied arduously to
make her way in the world. Such is the life of the
mother; what of the daughter whose life engages the
attention of the literary world?
By perseverance Mrs. Mathews has written
her way into the hearts of America's best enlightened
citizens. The wonderful
fascination she has for the subjects her extensive
writings embrace place her among the highest American
female writers of the age.
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More than a score of leading periodicals, daily and
weekly under the management of both white and Negro
editors' demand the magnetic pulsation that her articles
seem to give. For instance, she has been in demand
on the following: The New York Times, Herald,
Mail and Express, Sunday Mercury,
the Earth and the Phonographic World;
meanwhile acting as correspondent to the National
Leader, Detroit Plaindealer and the
Southern Christian Recorder. Her articles
contributed to the A. M. E. Church Review have proven
the force of her literary genius. The following
leading Negro weeklies have always found her a ready
exponent: The Boston Adcocate, Washington Bee,
Richmond Planet, Catholic Tribune.
Cleveland Gazette, New York Globe, New
York Age, and the New York Enterprise.
She is as busy as a bee, for it has become an
established fact that Mrs. Mathews'
greatest pleasure is in the constant pursuit of her
literary and journalistic duties.
Her high literary attainments abundantly fit her for
achieving marvelous success in literature; her peculiar
fascination for stories have added much to her grand
attainments, as her footprints can be seen in the
Waverly Magazine the New York Weekly, the
Family Story Paper and Ringwood Journal of
Fashion.
Her many literary achievements go to prove that merit
is the watchword for the world. Of course the city
wherein the most of her life has been spent, where she
has proven herself a worthy scholar, meritorious in
every way, and worthy of the reliance placed in her,
naturally offered her the greatest inducements for her
turn of mind. She is a success. The Negro
race should be proud and more courageous in their boast
of their greatest minds.
The Woman's National Press Association finds in her a
worthy member, a giantess, the equal of any of her sex
or society, and places the Negro race, from a literary
standpoint, where it justly belongs in story writing and
literature in general.
She is not only a novelist and press correspondent, she
is an author of a series of text books and school
literature.
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Her
wide scope with the pen proves the assurance of her
versatility and talent, and demonstrates, as well as
proves, the philosophy of industry, that he who would
accumulate must work.
-------------------------
MRS.
CHARLOTTE FORTEN GRIMKE
Educator, Linguist, Writer.
IT is indeed a pleasure to record
the deeds and usefulness of one who, by her dint and
push, has made her name known to the literary world.
She was born in Philadelphia, of honored parents, whose
genealogy may be traced many generations; in fact, a
grand-daughter of that venerable Mr. Forten, of
Revolutionary fame, who was for many years the friend
and adviser of America's great poet, John Greenleaf
Whittier though Mr. Forten was many years his
senior. As soon as Miss Forten could
conceive of the idea of what an education consisted, and
the use of it, she determined to go where the very best
training was to be gotten, hence she went to Salem,
Mass., entered a school in which she, after graduation,
taught for a number of years. Remarkable to say
that in her department there was not a colored child,
and she experienced no insinuations of disrespect on the
part of the white children who were committed to her
care. Her genius forced open higher avenues of
learning year after year, and served as a convincing
argument that the women of color with equal chances
could do what white women could do. After teaching
a number of years in Massachusetts, the call was made
for volunteers to go South and carry the intellectual
light to the boys and girls; the women and men of to-day
Miss Forten then, as now, being one of the
best educated persons of the race, made her way to Port
Royal, South Carolina, where she gave to the newly
freedmen two of the busiest years of her young life
teaching, working in church and Sabbath-school, and as
forcibly as possible did she delineate upon their duties
to their God, their fellow-men and themselves.
The XIII., XIV and XV amendments to the Constitution
found the Negro as void of under-
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standing then, as the sudden issuance of the
emancipation proclamation found them almost incapable of
the faith, to comprehend their deliverance. Much
had to be accomplished, schools and school-houses had to
be erected, and, true to every instinct of the genius
she possessed, she returned to New England and became
correspondent for the New England Freedman's Aid
Society. This position was the responsive cord to
the "even tenor of her way.'' She had been South,
studied the Negro's rude conditions, taught their
children, labored with them and knew their wants.
God really placed her there. Miss Forten
is an erudite scholar, a forcible writer, and, withal, a
woman of extraordinary powers who would do honor to any
race. At the solicitation of the poet Whittier,
she corresponded with him during her stay South, also
while sojourning there she wrote an article entitled
"Life on the South Sea Isles,'' which occurred in the
Atlantic Monthly, a journal that needs no praise.
At the suggestion of Colonel Higginson,
her knowledge of the French language was brought to the
severest test in the translation of a book (written in
the French language) into English, copyrighted by
Erckmon and Chatrian, and published in
Scribner's Magazine, for which she was long a
correspondent. Unlike very many women writers,
Miss Forten enjoyed the reputation of being a
costly correspondent in that a workman was worthy of his
hire. She has contributed largely of her talents
and time to invigorate and make interesting many of our
newspapers, and all who have come in for a share of such
of her favors have shown it in their journalistic
success. Her association with such minds as
Whittier and Longfellow has been inspiring in
effect, and given her an insight very keen to appreciate
the true, the beautiful; for this rare enjoyment, she
has been caused to feel and know the difference between
the exalted and the humble, and as compared with the
literary work of the exalted, she claims to have done
very little; but those who know her best freely assent
in crowning her with the laurels she has so beautifully
won.
After leaving Boston, she came South to Washington, D.
C, where she spent a number of years in the cause of
educa-
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tion. The high school was her workshop, and the
material turned out year after year daring her
activities there proved most wonderfully her fitness as
a teacher—a leader—and it is the boast of the whites in
Massachusetts, as well as the Negroes in Washington, D.
C, that Charlotte Forten was their
teacher. Here this lady met Rev. Dr.
Grimke, and surrendered her lifework, leaning
upon him, who became the mainstay of her eventful life.
He is a husband, a model for men; she a wife, an example
of purity and chastity; a teacher of Christian piety;
yea, a copy for our girls, who can make for themselves a
record.
-------------------------
LUCINDA
BRAGG ADAMS.
Musician and Writer
THE subject of
our sketch is the accomplished daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Geo. F. Bragg. She was born in the Old
Dominion, in the city of Petersburg, and so
circumstanced that she could enjoy the advantages of
becoming a musician, at quite an early age.
Proficiency indeed seems to be her second nature.
Her force of character and magical art seem to go
hand in hand, and altogether fit her for the highest
realms of music and song. She possesses every
feature of the high art. Her compositions are full of
her soul, portraying in every line the uppermost tenor
of her soul.
She has won the meed of praise from the papers of
Virginia and in an article on music, which appeared in
the A. M. E. Review, she seems to have
concentrated all her genius, as, indeed, her friends far
and wide paid such glowing compliments that she has more
than ever confined her talents and time to music.
She is assistant editor of the Musical Messenger, of
which Miss A. L. Tilghman is its accomplished
editor. Mrs. Adams is the author of
'Old Blanford Church,' which she, for the friendship
existing between her family and Hon. John
Mercer Langston's, together with her high
regard and conception of his rare ability, dedicated to
him.
[Page 216]
Prof I. Garland Penn, in his Afro-American
Press. says: "She is a woman of indomitable
will, and a writer of superior ability. The
Messenger, with Mrs. Adams' aid, will be a
paper of commanding influence in Afro-American
journalism."
-------------------------
MRS.
MARY E. BRITTON (MEB)
THE subject of
our sketch is an ardent student of metaphysics and a
firm believer in phrenology, and had her phrenological
character written out by Prof. O. S. Fowler.
He describes her predominant characteristic as
"ambitious to do her level best." He speaks of her
as "thoroughly conscientious, and actuated by the
highest possible sense of right and duty; as frugal and
industrious, adapted to business."
Her career as a writer began with an address prepared
for her school exhibition.
Her next article was a race appeal, which appeared in
the Cincinnati Commercial.
MRS. MARY E. BRITTON
Mrs. Amelia E. Johnson says of her: "She
has an excellent talent for comparing, explaining,
expounding and criticising, and has made no small stir
among the city officials and others for their unjust
discriminations against worthy citizens." We say
of her as others; many and varied have been her
treatises on the race question. She is one of the
leading women writers of the South. More than a
dozen Negro journals have been forced onward toward the
high mark, owing to the quality of her contributions.
All Louisville, (Ky.) is alive to the fact that within
its borders there is one plucky woman and she is our
Meb. Her educational work in Louisville speaks
for itself
[Page 217]
The citizens join in one unanimus voice in accrediting
her with all the estimable qualifications of a noted
lady, a useful and tireless worker and a model of our
latter day civilization.
-------------------------
MISS PAULINE POWELL.
Eminent Pianist and Artist
THE
subject of this sketch was born in the city of Oakland,
county of Alameda, June 27, 1872, and is the only
daughter of the late William W. Powell and
Josephine Powell, old and respected residents of the
city of Oakland. She was educated in the
public schools of Oakland and always stood very high in
her studies. She graduated from the grammar
school, where she remained one year, when she was taken
out by her parents to pursue her studies in music and
painting.
MISS PAULINE POWELL
Miss Powell has been studying
music and the piano for seven years under the best
masters of the profession, and among her most prominent
teachers was the late Prof. McDougall, who
took an extra interest in her progress in that
particular study, and to his teaching she owes the most
of her success as a brilliant performer upon the piano
and her knowledge of music, both vocal and instrumental.
Although Miss Powell is well advanced in
the musical profession, being one of the most brilliant
performers upon the piano that we have in the city of
Oakland, either white or colored, she still pursues her
studies in music, and has for her
[Page 218]
instructor Miss De Gomez, lately of
the Conservatory of Music at Berlin, Germany. She
has also pursued her studies in painting for five years,
having a natural gift and taste for the profession.
Though she has never had a great deal of teaching in
that profession from the great masters of the art, yet
she has produced some as fine paintings as those who
have ranked as prominent artists in the great studios of
Europe and America. Miss Powell had
several paintings on exhibition at the Mechanics'
Institute fair in 1890 in this city, which received
great praise from the committee of award and those who
admired works of art amongst the thousands that visited
the pavilion during the season. They were the
first paintings ever before exhibited by a colored
artist in this State at any of the art exhibitions, and
speak well for the push and energy exhibited by the
young lady in showing the capabilities of the race in
the arts and sciences.
Miss Powell resides with her mother,
Mrs. Josephine Powell, at 579
Sixteenth street, corner of Jefferson, in the city of
Oakland, who owns a handsome cottage of six rooms, of
modern build and improvements. The family consists
of three—the mother and her son and daughter, Mr.
William Powell and Miss Pauline
Powell, who are bright examples for emulation, as
far as refinement, love of mother and home are
concerned. They are a blessing to their widowed
mother.
Read what the San Francisco Examiner says of her
performances:
Miss
Powell gave a beautiful piano solo, after which
Miss Winslow gave a recitation and another
exhibition of Delsarte movements. The very
excellent work done by the Misses Powell
and Winslow has been one of the most attractive
features of the assembly. Miss Pauline
Powell was born and educated in Oakland. She has
been making music a special study; and has given several
recitals in San Francisco with great satisfaction to her
friends. She interprets classical music with fine
taste and exquisite finish. She has made a most
happy success here by her refined and cultured
performances, and all Chautauquans and their friends
have generally bestowed their congratulations upon her,
and prophesy for her a brilliant future as a pianist.
Another brilliant testimonial of her talents:
Miss Pauline
Powell's piano performances were from memory,
brilliant in execution and perfect in harmony. Her
"Fantasie Impromptu, C sharp
[Page 219]
minor," by Chopin, and "Rondo
Erilliante," by Weber, were played in a
masterly style, and evoked continued applause.
— P. G. Review.
Miss Powell was born in Oakland, Cal.,
and as a native daughter reflects credit on the golden
State. She has a natural genius for music, and
interprets the classic music of the great masters with
evidences of thorough instruction and rare natural
genius. She invariably plays without her notes and
entirely from memory, which is high proof of her talent.
— San Francisco Call.
ASSISTED BY C. KELLOG, THE BIRD WARBLER, AND THE
MISSES POWELL AND
WINSLOW, PIANIST AND DELSARTIST.
(From Tuesday's Daily.)
The grand entertainment Saturday evening as per program
was held at the M. E. Church, and really overreached the
excellency of the merits claimed for it, Dr.
Hirst presiding. At the conclusion of a few
preliminary remarks by the Doctor, Miss Powell,
who has won our hearts, was announced, and gave a "Rondo
from Mendelssohn," the brilliant execution of which
could not be well excelled. — P. Q. Review.
-------------------------
MRS.
OCTAVIA V. R. ALBERT
Author of The House of Bondage
OCTAVIA VICTORIA ROGERS, wife of the Rev. A.
E. P. Albert, D. D., was born in Oglethorpe, Macon
county, Ga., of slave parentage, Dec. 24, 1853, and was
educated at Atlanta University, in that State. She
and Dr. Albert first met at Montezuma, Ga., where
they taught school together, in 1873, and on Oct. 21,
1874, they were united in holy wedlock. They had
an only daughter, who survives her mother. She
united with the African Methodist Episcopal Church under
the preaching of Bishop H. M. Turner, at
Oglethorpe, Ga., and was converted and united with the
Methodist Episcopal Church, under the pastorage of the
Rev. Marcus Dole, at Union Chapel, New Orleans,
in 1875. Her own husband baptized her at Houma,
La., in 1878, during the first year of his ministry.
She was an angel of mercy whose loving spirit will long
be cherished by all who knew her but to love her.
Now she rests from her labors, and her good works do
follow her. Peace to her precious memory!
THE COMPILER.
[Page 220]
The following pages, giving the result of conversations
and other information gathered, digested, and written by
Mrs. Octavia V. Rogers, deceased wife of the
Rev. A. E. P Albert,A. M., D. D., first
appeared in the columns of the Southwestern Christian
Advocate, some months after her death, as a
serial story under the name of The House of Bondage.
It was received with such enthusiasm and
appreciation that no sooner was the story concluded than
letters poured in upon the editor from all directions
urging him to put it in book form, so as to preserve it
as a memorial of the author, as well as for its
intrinsic value as a history of Negro slavery in the
Southern States, of its overthrow, and of the mighty and
far-reaching results derived therefrom.
No special literary merit is claimed for the work.
No special effort was made in that direction; but as a
panoramic exhibition of slave-life, emancipation, and
the subsequent results, the story herein given, with all
the facts brought out, as each one speaks for himself
and in his own way, is most interesting and life-like.
The conversations herein given are not imaginary, but
actual, and given as they actually occurred. No
one can read these pages without realizing the fact that
"truth is often stranger than fiction." As such we
present it to the public as an unpretentious
contribution to an epoch in American history that will
more and more rivet the attention of the civilized world
as the years roll around.
An only daughter unites with the writer in sending out
these pages penned by a precious and devoted mother and
wife, whose angelic spirit is constantly seen herein,
and whose subtile and holy influence seem to continue to
guide and protect both in the path over which they since
have had to travel without the presence and cheer of her
inspiring countenance.
To her sacred memory these pages, the result of her
efforts, are affectionately inscribed.
EDITORIAL ROOMS
Southwestern Christian Advocate
NEW ORLEANS, LA., November 15, 1890. |
A. E. P.
ALBERT,
LAURA T. F. ALBERT |
[Page 221]
THE INTRODUCTION TO HER BOOK, COMING AS IT DOES
FROM ONE OF
AMERICA'S GREATEST CHURCHMEN, WE COULD NOT
REFRAIN INSERTING IT.
The story of slavery never has been and never will be.
fully told. In the last letter that John
Wesley ever wrote, addressed to Wilberforce, the
great abolitionist, and dated Feb. 24, 1791, and this
only six days before his tireless hand was quieted in
death, he wrote these words: "I see not how you can go
through your glorious enterprise in opposing that
execrable villainy (slavery and the slave trade), which
is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human
nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very
thing you will be worn out by the opposition of men and
devils; but if God be for you, who can be against
you? Are ail of them together stronger than God?
O, 'be not weary in well-doing.' Go on in the name
of God, and the power of his might, till even American
slavery, the vilest that ever saw the sun, shall vanish
away before it."
It is because American slavery was "the vilest that
ever saw the sun" that it is, and will remain forever,
impossible to adequately portray its unspeakable
horrors, its heart-breaking sorrows, its fathomless
miseries of hopeless grief, its intolerable shames, and
its heaven-defying and outrageous brutalities.
But while it remains true that the story can never be
completely told, it is wise and well that the task
should be attempted and in part performed; and this for
the reason that there are some who presume that this
slavery, "the vilest that ever saw the sun," has been,
and is still, of divine appointment; in short, that from
first to last it was a divine institution. It is
well to remind all such people that the Almighty Ruler
of the universe is not an accessory, either before or
after the fact, to such crimes as were involved in
slavery. Let no guilty man, let no descendant of
such man, attempt to excuse the sin and shame of
slave-holding on the ground of its providential
character. The truth is that slavery is the
product of human greed and lust and oppression, and not
of God's ordering.
Then it is well to write about slavery that the
American people may know from what depths of disgrace
and infamy
[Page 222]
they rose when, guided by the hand of God, they broke
every yoke and let the oppressed go free. Finally,
it is well to tell, though only in part, the story of
slavery, so that every man, woman and child of the once
enslaved race may know the exceeding mercy of God that
has delivered them from the hopeless and helpless
despair that might have been their portion if the Lord
God Omnipotent had not come forth to smite in divine and
righteous wrath the proud oppressor, and bring his long
suffering people out of their worse than Egyptian
bondage.
This volume, penned by a hand that now rests in the
quiet of the tomb, is a contribution to the sum total of
the story that can never be entirely told.
In her young girlhood the author had known the accursed
system, and she knew the joy of deliverance. With
a deep, pathetic tenderness she loved her race; she
would gladly have died for their enlightenment and
salvation. But she has gone to her reward, leaving
behind her the precious legacy of a sweet Christian
influence that can only flow forth from a pure and
consecrated life.
May this volume go forth to cheer and comfort and
inspire to high and holy deeds all who shall read its
pages!
BOSTON, MASS., Nov. 15, 1890.
To more fully demonstrate her powers as a writer, and to
prove the worth of her contribution to Negro literature
we insert the following:
CHAPTER XVIII.
NEGRO GOVERNMENT.
Kuklux—Reign of terror—Black
laws—Reconstruction—Colored men in
constitutional conventions and State
legislatures—Lieutenant-Governor
Dunn—Honest Antoine Dubuclet—Negro problem—What the race
has accomplished since the war—Emigration and
colonization.
If the Kuklux treated the missionaries in that manner
you must not imagine that they left the colored people
and their children unharmed. Thousands of colored
men and women throughout the South were in like manner
whipped and shot
[Page 223]
down like dogs, in the fields and in their cabins.
The recital of some of the experiences of those days is
enough to chill your blood and raise your hair on ends.
The horrors of those days can scarcely be imagined by
those who know nothing about it. Why, madam, you
ought to have been down here in 1868. That was the
year in which Grant and Colfax ran for
president and vice-president, against Seymour and
Blair. A perfect reign of terror existed
all over the South; and the colored people who attempted
to vote were shot down like dogs everywhere. There
was such a reign of terrorism in many States of the
South that the Congress of the United States refused to
count the bloody electoral votes of several of the
Southern States. Two years before that, in July,
1866, there was a constitutional convention in New
Orleans, to frame a constitution whereby the State of
Louisiana might be reconstructed and re-admitted into
the Union. On the 30th day of that month, I
believe it was, a fearful riot was instituted by those
fire-eaters, and the result was that the streets of New
Orleans were flooded with Negro blood. Hundreds of
them were killed without any knowledge of the murderous
intentions of their enemies. They lay dead on
every street and in the gutter, and were taken out and
buried in trenches by the cart-load in all the
cemeteries. The children at school were also the
object of the same murderous spirit. When we sent
our children to school in the morning we had no idea
that we should see them return home alive in the
evening.
"Big white boys and half-grown men used to pelt them
with stones and run them down with open knives, both to
and from school. Sometimes they came home bruised,
stabbed, beaten half to death and sometimes quite dead.
My own son himself was often thus beaten. He has
on his forehead to-day a scar over his right eye which
sadly tells the story of his trying experience in those
days in his efforts to get an education. I was
wounded in the war, trying to get my freedom, and he
over the eye, trying to get an education. So we
both call our scars marks of honor. In addition to
these means to keep the Negro in the same servile
condition, I was about to
[Page 224]
forget to tell you of the 'black laws,'
which were adopted in nearly all of the Southern States
under President Andrew Johnson's plan of
reconstruction. They adopted laws with reference
to contracts, to the movement of Negro laborers, etc.,
such as would have made the condition of the freed
Nearro worse than when he had a master before the war.
But, in the words of General Garfield upon
the death of President Lincoln, 'God reigns, and
the government at Washington still lives." It did
live, and, notwithstanding Andrew Johnson,
it lived under the divine supervision which would not
and did not allow the Southern States to reconstruct
upon any such dishonorable, unjust plan to the two
hundred thousand Negro soldiers who offered their lives
upon the altar for the perpetuation of the Union and the
freedom of their country. And the whole matter was
repudiated by Congress, and the States were
reconstructed upon the plan of equal rights to every
citizen, of whatever race or previous condition.
It was then declared that, whereas the stars on our
national flag had been the property of only the white
race and the stripes for only the colored, now the stars
should forever be the common property of both, and that
the stripes should only be given to those that deserved
them.
"Under this new plan of reconstruction many colored men
entered the constitutional conventions of every Southern
State; and in the subsequent organization of the new
State governments colored men took their seats in both
branches of the State governments, in both Houses of
Congress, and in all the several branches of the
municipal, parochial, State and national governments.
It is true that many of them were not prepared for such
a radical and instantaneous transition. But I tell
you, madam, it was simply wonderful to see how well they
did. And, although in the midst of prejudice and
partisan clamor a great deal of the most withering
criticisms have been spent upon the ignorance, venality
and corruption of the Negro carpet-bag reconstruction
governments inaugurated by our people, I believe time
will yet vindicate them, and their achievements will
stand out in the coming years as
[Page 225]
one of the marvels of the ages . "Who of
all the officers of any State government can compare
with the unassuming, dignified and manly Oscar J.
Dunn, Louisiana's first Negro lieutenant governor,
or with Antoine Dubuclet, her honest and
clean handed treasurer for twelve years? His
successor, E. A. Burke, a white man, representing
the virtue and intelligence of our 'higher
civilization,' is to-day a fugitive from the State for
having robbed that same treasury of nearly a million
dollars. Alabama has had her Vincent, Tennessee
her Polk, Mississippi her Hemingway; Kentucky, Maryland,
and nearly every one of the Southern States have had
their absconding State treasurers, with hundreds of
thousands of dollars of the people's money unaccounted
for, since the overthrow of the Negro governments of the
South. Such is the contrast that I like to offer
to those people who are constantly denouncing the Negro
governments of reconstruction times in the South.
"If our people did so well when only a few years
removed from the house of bondage, wherein they were not
permitted to learn to read and write under penalty of
death, or something next to it, what may we not expect
of them with the advances they have since made and are
making?"
"I declare, colonel, I would not miss this interview I
have had with you for a great deal. I was so young
when the war broke out that I had no personal knowledge
of many of the things that you have told me, and I
assure you that you have interested me with their
recital. I understand that you occupied several
very important positions in State affairs during the
period of 'Negro supremacy,' as the white people call
it, and I know you must have made some valuable
observations growing out of the downfall of those
governments and the condition and tendencies of things
since. Tell me just what you think of our future
in this country, anyway. Tell me whether we are
progressing or retrograding, and whether you think it is
necessary for us to emigrate to Africa, or to be
colonized somewhere, or what?"
"Well, madam, I must confess that some of your
questions are extremely hard to answer. Indeed,
some of them are to-
[Page 226]
day puzzling some of the profoundest philosophers and
thinkers in this country; and I doubt very much whether
I could assume to answer them dogmatically. One
thing, however, I can tell you, without fear of
successful contradiction, and that is that no people
similarly situated have ever made the progress in every
department of life that our people have made since the
world began. Why, just think of it!
Twenty-seven years ago we did not own a foot of land,
not a cottage in this wilderness; not a house, not a
church, not a school-house, not even a name. We
had no marriage tie, not a legal family—nothing but the
public highways, closely guarded by black laws and
vagrancy laws, upon which to stand. But to-day we
have two millions of our children in school, we have
about eighteen thousand colored professors and teachers,
twenty thousand young men and women in schools of higher
grade, two hundred newspapers, over two million members
in the Methodist and Baptist churches alone, and we own
over three hundred million dollars' worth of property in
this Southern country. Over a million and a half
of our people can now read and write. We are
crowding the bar, the pulpit and all the trades, and
every avenue of civilized life, and doing credit to the
age in which we live.
"I tell you, madam, I am not much disturbed about our
future. True, I cannot and do not pretend to be
able to solve the Negro problem, as it is called,
because I do not know that there is really such a
problem. To my mind, it is all a matter of
condition and national and constitutional authority.
Get the conditions right and my faith is that the
natural functions, security to 'life, liberty and
happiness,' will follow. My advice to my people
is: 'Save your earnings, get homes, educate your
children, build up character, obey the laws of your
country, serve God, protest against injustice like manly
and reasonable men, exercise every constitutional right
every time you may lawfully and peacefully do so, and
leave results with God, and every thing will come out
right sooner or later.' I have no faith in any
general emigration or colonization scheme for our
people. The thing is impracticable and
undesirable. This is
[Page 227]
the most beautiful and desirable country that the sun
shines upon, and I am not in favor of leaving it for any
place but heaven, and that when my heavenly father
calls, and not before. Of course, in localities
where inhumanities are visited upon our people to such
an extent that they cannot live there in peace and
security I would advise them to remove to more agreeable
sections of the country; but never would I advise them
to leave the United States. Another thing: I do
not think we ought to ever want to get into any
territory to ourselves, with the white people all to one
side of us or around us. That's the way they got
the Indians, you remember, and we know too well what
became of them.
"My plan is for us to stay right in this country with
the white people, and to be so scattered in and among
them that they can't hurt one of us without hurting some
of their own number. That's my plan, and that is
one of my reasons why I am in the Methodist Episcopal
Church. God's plan seems to be to pattern this country
after heaven. He is bringing here all nations, kindreds
and tongues of people, and mixing them into one
homogeneous whole; and I do not believe we should seek
to frustrate His plan by any vain attempts to colonize
ourselves in any corner to ourselves."
With this the colonel left, expressing himself
delighted with his visit, as I am sure I was.
Between Mrs. Stowe's " Uncle Tom's Cabin " and
Mrs.Albert's "House of Bondage" there is a
most beautiful contrast; the former dignifies the Negro
as a fugitive and asserts his rights to be a fugitive;
the latter shows up the unrelenting patience of the
Negro and his unrivaled faith in the Giver of all good.
Again, the former is scenic, presenting a most beautiful
as well as lasting, yet touching landscape; while the
latter is just what its title identifies—"The House of
Bondage."
[Page 228]
-------------------------
MADAM
SISSIRETTA JONES.
The Black Patti of Her Race.
THE subject of this sketch was born in Providence, R. I.
When quite a wee child she proved beyond the shadow of a
doubt her fitness for the stage as a race
representative, and has among other things maintained
her ground, never weakening and giving down, but
nourishing a faith fit only for the righteous, which has
led her gently into the pleasant and peaceful paths of
success.
MADAM SISSIRETTA JONES
Some say that greatness
is sometimes thrust upon us; others, more liberal, say
that it is inborn; others argue that it is acquired.
We say that this is an instance where classical musical
ability reigned uppermost, controlling and directing the
possessor as the mainspring of all her infantile life;
but on becoming cognizant of this state of affairs, she
was advised by good Northern friends to turn her whole
attention to the pursuit for which her heart and mind
thirsted. Hence, after a few weeks with the
classic masters, the whole Negro race was applauded for
the advent of one among us, and sufficiently black to
claim our identity, that was destined to move the world
in tears. Year after year our subject has won new
conquests, and in only a short season she is termed the
Black Patti. Is this an instance of
acquired greatness, thrusted greatness or inborn
greatness? We loth to say inborn or thrust.
For every achievement made by our race that seems to
attract the attention of the world we are caused to feel
that were it not for God's intervention, etc., etc.
When
[Page 229]
Negroes are smart, as a rule, a characteristic spirit
seems to predominate in them when very small. Her
career, while brief, is nevertheless full of bright
successes. We append below a few press comments:
At the concert given by the World's Fair Colored
Concert Company at New York, February 13th, Mme.
Sissiretta Jones is said to have surpassed
all former appearances. Among the boxholders were
Judge and Mrs. Andrews, Colonel and Mrs.
Ingersoll, Mrs. Jeannette M. Thurber, Mr.
and Mrs. Henry Villard, Wallace C. Andrews,
Mr. Morris Reno and Miss Reno, Daniel Bacon
and R. W G. Welling. Three rows of
seats in the center aisle were occupied by a concert
party from a fashionable girls' school, and there were
musicians of fame in attendance who join with us in
sentiment. — The Freeman.
A VALENTINE WORTH HAVING.
Tuesday afternoon, February 14th, Mme. Sissiretta
Jones sang at the residence of Judge Andrews,
on Fifth avenue, New York, before a party of thirty
ladies, among whom were Mrs. Hicks Lord, Mrs. C.
Fields, Mrs. Vanderbilt, Mrs. Stevens and MRs.
Astor, at whose hosue Mme. Jones will sing
next week. The Chief Justice of India, who was present,
presented the singer with a valentine, which, when
opened, contained a check for $1,000. She also
received a solid silver basket filled with choice
flowers. The ladies pronounced the singing
superior to Patti's, and then sat down to lunch
with Mme. Jones. Mr.
Charles Anderson was a guest on this
occasion. The program was a valentine souvenir
printed on satin, and will be treasured by all as a
memento.
BROWN" AND "BLACK" PATTIS.
Their Singing - Selika the Best - Madame Jones a
"Great Singer."
Of Mme. Selika the world has
spoken, and in her favor. Time nor rivals can
wrest from her laurels so richly won; but she is not the
Selika of yesterday, and the fact is most
apparent when she sings with another whose share to
public favors is deserving because it is compensating.
Selika is a finished artist who appeals to the
technical society lights particularly, but they cannot
support any first-class concert for the reason they are
too few. In the rendition of the staccato notes
Mme. Selika has not been excelled, even by
Patti, and her shading is so smooth and even that
you cannot but commend it. Mrs. Jones
is a great singer. She is not the "greatest singer
in the world," nor is she a black, blue or green
Patti. She is in no sense a Patti.
If Mrs Jones would remember that Mrs.
Greenfield, the Black Swan, made for herself a
name without the need of styling herself the Black Jenny
Lind, then she will know that she can succeed to as
great an eminence without having to share the success
with a white woman who would feel dishonored in wearing
the title the White Black Swan. Afro-Americans
need to impress their chil-
[Page 230]
dren that their race develops geniuses and heroes whose
deeds can be emulated and perpetuated with everlasting
profit, thus declaring our patriotism. We need
more race pride! Our public men and women must
exhibit it. Mme. Jones is a great
singer; Mme. Selika is the greatest
colored singer. You hear Mme. Jones
with pleasure; you hear Mme. Selika with
profit. — J. E. Bruce {Bruce Grit).
Mme. Sissiretta Jones' singing at
the exposition at Pittsburg, Pa., saved the exposition
management from bankruptcy.
-------------------------
MISS
HALLIE QUINN BROWN.
Elocutionist.
A TRAVELER passing by a country farm house a few miles
from Chatham, Canada, a few years ago, might, have seen
a little girl of eight or nine summers, mounted upon a
colt without bridle or girth, hair given to the winds to
be tossed, dashing up a lane to the pasture. There
he would have seen her dismount and hastily perform the
duties of dairymaid, first calling each cow by name, and
inquiring the health of each or making some playful
remark. The milking finished, she now goes through
the program that absorbs her whole attention, having
risen before any other one of the household, so that she
could not be seen. She jumps upon a stump or log
and delivers an address to the audience of cows, sheep,
birds, etc. Neither knowing nor caring what she
says, she goes through her harangue, earnestly
emphasizing by arm gesture, and occasionally by a stamp
of the foot. She has a separate speech for the larger
animals, and special addresses to the lambs, ducklings
and any other juvenile auditors that happen to be near.
Having exhausted her vocabulary, she begins a
conversation in the language of the horse, cow, sheep,
goose, rooster, or bird, until each is imitated; then,
bidding adieu to her pet auditors, she remounts her
prancing steed and canters back to the house. This is
her daily morning program. She supposed all along
that her secret was locked in her own breast. But
a farm hand saw her one morn by chance, himself
unobserved, and 'twas a secret no longer. Nor did
she realize her "ridiculous capers," as she has called
it since, until she had grown
[Page 231]
to young womanhood. Who can say but that
propitious Fate had her then in drill in order to
develop the powers of her soul, so that she might make a
portion of mankind happier by the instruction and
amusement she should furnish. "Who was this little
girl?" ask you. The subject of this sketch—Miss
Hallie Q. Brown.
Hallie Quinn Brown is a native of Pittsburg, Pa.
When she was quite small her parents moved to a farm
near Chatham, Canada, Ontario West. At an early
age, in the year 1868, she was sent to Wilberforce
College, Ohio, to obtain an education the country
schools of Canada could not give, and where her parents
subsequently removed and now reside, at Homewood
Cottage. She completed the classical scientific
course in 1873, with the degree of B. S. in a class of
six. One of her classmates is the wife of Rev.
Dr. B. F. Lee, ex-president of Wilberforce, and now
[1884] editor of the Christian Recorder; while
another, Prof. S. T. Mitchell, A.M., has been
elected president of Wilberforce.
MISS HALLIE QUINN BROWN
Realizing that a great field of labor lay in the South,
Miss Brown, with true missionary spirit, left her
pleasant home and friends to devote herself to the noble
work which she had chosen. Her first school was on
a plantation in South Carolina, where she endured the
rough life as best she could, and taught a large number
of children gathered from neighboring plantations.
She also taught a class of aged people, and by this
means gave to many the blessed privilege of reading the
Bible. She next took charge of a school on Sonora
plantation in Mississippi, where she found the effort to
elevate the minds
[Page 232]
of the people much hindered by their use of tobacco and
whisky—twin vices.
But as she is an indefatigable worker she accomplished
much, and at this place, as at all others where she is
known, her influence for the better was felt. Her
plantation school had no windows, but was well
ventilated—too much so, in fact, for daylight could be
seen from all sides, with no particular regularity, and
the rain beat in fiercely. Not being successful in
getting the authorities to fix the building— shed, we
should have said—she secured the willing service of two
of her larger boys. She mounted one mule and the
two boys another, and thus they rode to the gin-mill.
They got cotton seed, returned mixed it with earth,
which formed a plastic mortar, and with her own hands
she pasted up the chinks, and ever after smiled at the
unavailing attacks of wind and weather.
Her fame as an instructor spread, and her services were
secured as teacher at Yazoo city. On account of
the unsettled state of affairs in 1874-5, she was
compelled to return North. Thus the South lost one
of its most valuable missionaries. Miss Brown next
taught in Dayton, Ohio for four years. Owing to
ill health she gave up teaching. She was persuaded
to travel for her Alma Mater, Wilberforce, and started
on a lecturing tour, concluding at Hampton School,
Virginia, where she was received with very great
welcome. At the "Soldiers' Home" she was cordially
greeted and kindly cared for by the sister of Dr.
Shipman. After taking a course in elocution
she traveled again, having much greater success, and
receiving favorable criticisms from the press. For
several years she has traveled with "The Wilberforce
Grand Concert Company," an organization for the benefit
of Wilberforce College. She has read before
hundreds of audiences and tens of thousands of people,
and has received nothing but the highest praise from
all.
CRITICISM.
Miss Brown may be thought to gesticulate
too frequently in some of her didactic selections; but
right here is shown that she discards the rigid rules of
the books and follows nature, for
[Page 233]
she possesses an ardent temperament, and nearly every
sentence she utters in private conversation is made
emphatic or impressive by a gesture or variation of the
facial expression.
Miss Brown
possesses a voice of " wonderful magnetism and great
compass." At times she thrills by its intensity;
at times it is mellow and soothing. She seems to
have perfect control of the muscles of her throat and
can vary her voice as successfully as a mocking bird.
But we measure things largely by results. As a
public reader Miss Brown delights,
enthuses her audiences. In her humorous selections
she often causes "wave after wave of laughter" to roll
over her audience.
In her pathetic pieces she often moves her audience to
tears.
In her didactic recitations she holds the listener
spell-bound as she points out to him the shoals and
quicksands or directs him to paths of right and truth.
But the public press speaks and it has a right to be
heard.
The greatest compliment ever paid to Miss
Brown, at least the one she doubtless appreciates
the most, was received under the following
circumstances. While at Appleton, Wis., she
recited, among other selections, "How He Saved St.
Michael's." After the concert a lady came forward,
requesting to be introduced to the elocutionist.
The Rev. F. S. Stein then introduced to Miss
Brown Mrs. Dr. Stansbury, the author of "How He
Saved St. Michael's." Madam Stansbury
grasped the hand of the elocutionist and exclaimed: "Miss
Brown, I have never heard that piece so rendered
before." This, notwithstanding a famous reader a few
weeks before, had given the same selection there, and
advertised bv announcing that she would render Mrs.
Stansbury's famous poem. Miss
Brown was confused. She did not even know the
lady lived in the State, and did not dream of her
presence in the house, hence she was taken completely by
surprise, nor would she have attempted to give it had
she heard of the presence of the authoress. The
compliment was all the more appreciated because every
elocutionist who visits that section renders "St.
Michael's."
[Page 234]
A CASKET OF LAURELS.
WON BY MISS HALLIE QUINN BROWN, OP WILBERFORCE.
Miss H. Q. Brown, the elocutionist, ranks as one
cf the finest in the country. — Daily News,
Urbana, O.
The select reading of Miss H. Q. Brown is done
to perfection. She has an excellent voice and has
good control of it. She makes every piece sound as
if it were the author speaking, and in many of them
doubtless she excels the one she imitates. — Neogo,
Ill.
Miss Hallie Q. Brown, a general favorite at
Island Park, rendered in her inimitable style, "The
Creed of the Bells." A prolonged encore followed.
— Island Park "Assembly."
Her style is pure and correct ; her selections
excellent. The " Fifty Miles
an Hour" made one thrill, it was so veiy
impressive.—Long Branch (N. J.)
News.
Miss Brown displayed remarkable powers of pathos and
dramatic elocution. * *
* *
Her excellent dramatic talent was displayed to the best
advantage in the selection entitled, "The Sioux Chief's
Daughter." The audience was the largest ever
gathered at a public entertainment in that place.—
Newport (R. I.) News.
The readings of Miss H. Q. Brown confer a
histrionic glow upon the colored race. She is the
superior of nine out of ten elocutionists before the
public. Her description of "The Bells" is a
masterpiece of elocutionary art which will withstand the
severest and most cultivated criticism. Her
prolongation of the tones of the bells is a wonderful
representation of the poet's lines. Miss
Brown's selections were all of a difficult order and
exhibited great versatility and ability to reach in most
of them a still better execution. — Daily Republican,
Emporia, Kan.
Of the recitations of Miss Hallie Q. Brown too
much cannot be said. As a reader she is the peer
of any professional in the land. —Richmond (Ind.)
Paladium.
Miss Brown in her elocution is
unquestionably brilliant. Her "Fifty Miles an
Hour," descriptive of Mrs. Garfield's ride
to Washington when her husband was shot, was given with
that generous touch of womanly feeling that made it the
gem of the entertainment.—Miami Helmet, Piqua, O.
Most excellent was the dramatic reading of Miss
Hallie Q. Brown, a graduate of Wilberforce College,
and evidently a lady of much intelligence.
* *
* *
Miss Brown is also at home in humorous
pieces. The description of how a woman joined the
Masons was received with almost continuous shouts of
laughter, the members of that ancient and honorable
order apparently appreciating it keenly. —Marion
Times (la.).
Miss Hallie Q. Brown has but few equals as an
elocutionist. She has a sweet, flexible voice.
Her enunciation is distinct, her manner graceful and her
gesticulations eminently appropriate to the character of
her selections. Some of her humorous selections
caused wave after wave of laughter to roll over the
audience and were most heartily encored.—Red Oak (la.)
Express.
[Page 235]
The recitations and readings of Miss Hallie Q. Brown
were simply superb. The magnetism, eloquence
and wonderful compass of voice, as developed in "Uncle
Dan'l's Pra'ar," "Farewell, Brother Watkins," and "Aunt
Jemima's Courtship," might be equaled but could never be
surpassed .—Richmond (Ind.) Independent.
The readings of Miss Hallie Brown were grand. -
Urbana (O.) Democrat.
The elocutionary entertainment given by
Miss Hallie Q. Brown, a graduate of Wilberforce, was
worth double the price of admission. She has a
wonderful voice, and a culture to match it. An
educated and much-traveled gentleman who has listened to
all the most noted elocutionists in this country and
Europe was so enthusiastic over Miss Brown's
rendition of the "Church Bells," that he declared he
never saw or heard it equaled; that her manner, voice
and gesture were all superior to anything he had ever
listened to ro hoped to hear. - Richmond (Ind.)
Paladium.
Miss Brownis
quite tall, ahs auburn hair, a keen eye, a voice of
remarkable compass and features of gret mobility.
Her selections were as follows: "The Last Hymn,"
"The Love Letter," "How He Saved St. Michael's" - a
thrilling story in verse relating how this famous
Charleston (S. C.) church was saved from fire by the
daring act of a slave. "Jemima's Courtship," "
Curfew Must Not Ring To-night,"—in which she exhibited
intense dramatic
power, "Ameriky's Conversion," " Uncle Daniel's Vision,"
"The Little Hatchet," and "The Creeds of the Bells."
Miss Brown stands by far above the readers we are
accustomed to hear.—Washington (D. C.) Advocate.
Several of our prominent citizens were present who were
greatly delighted with the skillful and accomplished
manner with which Miss Brown rendered the
varied styles of elocution.—New Haven (Conn.)
Paladium.
Miss Hallie Q. Brown, elocutionist of the
Wilberforce Concert Company, has the distinguished honor
of being the teacher in the department of elocution at
the Monona Lake Assembly, and is meeting with great
success.—Correspondence— Cleveland Gazette.
* * *
* Miss Hallie Q. Brown
was decidedly entertaining in her efforts in elocution.
She ''brought down the house" on various occasions and
had to respond repeatedly to the spontaneous calls of
the vast audience. — "Monona Lake Assembly,"
Madison (Wis.) Daily Democrat.
Miss Brown is so well known in Xenia that
one need not go into detail in
praise of the good and even performance of this talented
lady; she will make
friends for herself wherever she goes. — Torchlight,
Xenia (O.)
Miss Hallie Q. Brown, the elocutionist, who has
always been a great favorite with Xenia audiences, was
cheered to the echo, and in some of her pieces was
really interrupted by the continuous applause. She
certainly excels in her character delineations and
varied modulations of tone, three-fourths of the
elocutionists on the stage.— Daily Gazette, Xenia
(O.).
But the crowning feature of the company is the
elocutionist, Miss Hallie Q. Brown. Nothing
finer in elocution has been heard in this city, with no
exception or reservation in favor of other eminent
elocutionists, who have appeared in this city. She
is capable of touching every chord of emotion,
[Page 236]
equally effective in pathos and humor. The
intonations of her voice are as exquisite as those of an
eolian harp, and as melodious as music itself, and in
dramatic fervor and power of dramatic expression Miss
Brown is inimitable. What for instance can
be more melodious and touching than her recitation of
the "Church Bells," or what more genuinely humorous than
the recitation of the original piece called "The Apple?"
Miss Brown cannot fail of establishing for
herself a national reputation at no distant day. —
Republican, Xenia (O.).
Miss Hallie Q. Brown, the elocutionist with the
company, was loudly applauded. Many credit Miss
Brown with being one of the best elocutionists
before the public. —Indianapolis Times.
Miss Brown, the elocutionist, is a
phenomenon, and deserves the highest praise. She
is a talented lady and deserves all the encomiums that
she receives.—The Daily Sun, Vincennes (Ind.).
The select reading of Miss Hallie Q. Brown was
very fine. From grave to gay, from tragic to
comic, with a great variation of themes and humors, she
seemed to succeed in all, and her renderings were the
spice of the night's performance. — Monitor,
Marion (Ill.).
We must say the capacity of Miss Hallie Q. Drown
to entertain an audience is wonderful. — Tri-Gounty
Reporter, Gosport (Ind.).
Miss Brown's recitals will compare favorable
with many of the female elocutionists who are classed
with Mrs. Scott-Siddons and others of lesser
note. —Vincennes Daily Commercial.
-------------------------
MRS. LAVINIA B. SNEED.
Educator and Writer
MRS. SNEED claims a very high place among the
literary women of the race. For many years she has
shown the trend of her genius as a writer, and though
she is quite young, many a topic engaging the public
mind has been treated at length with an erudite pen from
her storehouse of thought. Happy indeed are they who
live in the sunshine of Fate. Many Negro
journalists have boasted of her favors, realizing the
good of her articles gracing their columns. Her
writing possesses that smoothness, clearness and
fearlessness so often said of the great writers.
It is easily predicted that, should she live long, the
race will be blessed with one other such woman writer as
Mrs. Harper, one other such Christian as
Mrs. Early, one other such chivalrous
woman as Sojourner Truth.
[Page 237]
IONE E. WOOD.
Educator and Writer.
MISS IONE E.
WOOD ranks to-day among the foremost of our women;
first, from the standpoint of acknowledged intellectual
ability to write; second, as an earnest educator and
race advocate.
IONE E. WOOD.
Not yet in the zenith of womanhood but
in the ascendency, she is unceremoniously climbing its
rugged heights with the will of a Trojan. For her,
as for others, God has destined to shine in the bright
arena of American heroines, and she feels the spirit on
her to quietly and noiselessly move unobserved into her
place. Miss Wood does ot make much noise,
but how beit she is heard in the press. The force
of her genius, like the great power wheel of moving
machinery, is ever asserting itself and keeping alive
and uppermost in the minds of those who think the great
topics agitating the Negro mind.
-------------------------
MISS VALETTA
LINDEN WINSLOW.
Elocutionist.
OUR race possesses many young ladies of ability who
would prove powerful factors in demonstrating the
posibilities of the race, if they would only exert
themselves and apply their energies. Not seeming
to realize our need of the highest intellectual
advancement, they pass through the soft
[Page 238]
green meadows and flowing pathways of life, with no
apparent aim. But, when we see a young girl, just
budding into womanhood, in the face of many obstacles,
making for herself a name that honors her and exalts the
race, it is a pleasure to record her achievements.
Such a one is the subject of this
MISS VALETTA LINDEN WINSLOW.
sketch, Miss Valetta
Winslow. She was born in Chicago, Ill., Jan. 25,
1871, and is the eldest of three sisters, daughters of
Elisha and Emma Winslow. She
resided in her native city almost fourteen years, about
half of which time she attended the public schools.
Her father having taken up his residence in California,
early in November, 1884, she, in com-
[Page 239]
pany with her mother and sisters, departed for the far
West, arriving in Oakland, Cal., on the ninth day of
November. In this beautiful city, the Athens
of the Pacific Coast, where the very best educational
facilities are free to all, the family took up its
residence. She began her school career there in
January, 1885. She made excellent progress and
attended regularly until Feb. 14, 1890, when, owing to
failing health, she was compelled to discontinue her
studies. The possessor of commendable ambition,
but, unfortunately, not of a robust constitution, she
undertook too many studies, and the result was impaired
health. However, she was able to complete her
junior year in the High School, and did so very
creditably. Miss Winslow had a
special taste for elocution, and to this study she
devoted much of her spare time while attending school.
Her teacher was Mrs. Carro True
Boardman, one of the leading elocutionists of the
Pacific Coast. After a short, butmuch needed and
beneficial rest, she began studying again by taking up
Delsarte and elocution as a specialty, and the progress
she made was truly phenomenal. Possessed of a kind
and generous nature, she gave unstintedly of her time
and talents to every worthy cause, and, as a
consequence, was a
general favorite.
On the 16th of May, 1891, she was publicly presented
with a handsome lace pin by the Masonic fraternity.
The pin consisted of two pendants, a cross and the
square and compass, significant of the best motives and
resolves in the Masonic world,—a suggestive token of
appreciation of her kind and generous qualities.
In July, 1892, Miss Winslow filled a
special engagement with the Chautauqua Assembly at
Pacific Grove. And when we inform the reader that
this Assembly is composed of some of the ablest men and
brightest women on the Coast, that its entire membership
is refined and of exalted tone, the importance of such
an engagement is plainly evident. The following
extracts from leading daily papers give an excellent
impression of the talent and artistic ability possessed
by Miss Winslow:
[Page 240]
Miss Valetta
L. Winslow, in all her public performances here, has
shown most remarkable power, especially as a Delsartist,
carrying her audiences by storm. Her facial
expressions were a constant surprise, expressive of the
various passions and emotions of the soul, while every
movement was grace and beauty. She has made,
without a doubt, a fine record at this assembly, and her
future will be watched with increasing interest by the
host of Chautauquans and the friends in attendance on
these unusually attractive exercises. It is to be
hoped that she will be engaged for assembly next year. —
Cor. San Jose Mercury, July 7, 1892.
Miss Winslow's recitation, "Aux Italiens,"
was gracefully rendered and well received. Her
portrayal of the different passions and emotions that
oft-times rack we poor mortals sore were true to the
letter, particularly revenge, pain, abject fear, and
entreaty. The lady is the personification of grace
and ease, lithe as a panther and willowy as a reed. —
Pacific Grove Review, July 9, 1892.
Then came the most pleasing event of the
afternoon—Miss Valetta Winslow in Tableaux
d'Art. She gave forty-nine different expressions,
such as anger, horror, bashfulness, ridicule, etc., with
appropriate gestures. The gifted young lady
created great enthusiasm. The various expressions
were to the life, and her gestures were full of charming
grace and appropriateness. She was recalled, and
recited "Sister and I," with powerful expression and
gesture. — Sun Francisco Call, Aug. 4, 1892.
Among Miss Winslow's personal letters
none are more highly prized than the two following:
"Miss Valetta L. Winslow, as Delsartist and
elocutionist, was engaged for the Pacific Grove
Chautauqua Assembly in
July, 1892. Her work was artistic, and gave great
satisfaction. As a Delsartist her movements were
most graceful, and
her delineations of the various emotions of the soul
full of force and artistic power. I cheerfully
commend her and her
work."
| |
A. C. HIRST, D. D.,
President Pacific Grove Assembly. |
|
SAN FRANCISCO,
CAL., Oct. 4, 1892.
"I have had the extreme pleasure of hearing Miss
Valetta Winslow as an elocutionist, and witnessed
her rendition of the Delsarte system. I can
conscientiously say that she surpasses any person in her
line that I have met. I can cheerfully recommend
her as an A No. 1 artist, both as a Delsartist and
elocutionist."
| |
A. WALTERS, D. D.,
Bishop A. M. E. Zion Church. |
|
SAN FRANCISCO,
CAL., February 16, 1893
[Page 241]
In concluding this sketch, we appreciate the ability of
the
newspaper critics and the fine parts of the men whose
testimony
is herein recorded. "When talented journalists and able
divines of the dominant race use such glowing language
to
express their appreciation of a young colored lady's
ability
comment is unnecessary.
-------------------------
DR. IDA GRAY.
THE accompanying portrait is of Dr. Ida Gray,
the only Afro-American lady dentist.
Mrs. Gray resides in Cincinnati, and was one of the
very many who received their educational start in Gaines
High School. On leaving this school she entered
the
dental department of the University of Michigan, from
which she graduated in 1890. On returning to her
home she opened a very cozy office on 9th street, and
has in these two years built up a large practice, having
as many white as colored patients.
DR. IDA GRAY.
Miss Gray is a very refined lady, of whom
the editor of the Planet says: "Her blushing, winning
way makes you feel like finding an extra tooth any way
to allow her to pull."
As a result of strict attention to business and the
thoroughness of her work she is kept constantly busy
Cincinnatians are proud of their Afro-American lady
dentist, and she in every respect proves herself worthy
of their confidence and admiration. — In RingwooWs
Journal.
[Page 242]
SARAH G. JONES, M. D.
Virginia's First Woman Physician.
SARAH G. JONES, M. D., the first woman to be
licensed to practice medicine in Virginia, is a daughter
of George W. Boyd, the leading colored contractor
and builder of this city. She was born in
Albemarle county, Va., and educated in the public
schools of Richmond, being graduated in 1883. She
then taught in the schools of this city for five years.
In 1888 Miss Boyd was married to M. B.
Jones, who, at that time, was also a teacher, but
now is G. W A. Secretary of the True Reformers.
Mrs. Jones entered Howard Medical College,
Washington, D. O, in 1890, and was graduated this year
with the degree of M. D. She appeared before the State
Medical Examining Board with eighty-four others and
received a certificate, which entitles her to secure a
license to practice her profession. Mrs.
Jones received over 90 per cent, on the examination
in surgery. Out of the class of eighty-five
twenty-one white graduates, representing several
colleges, failed to pass. Dr. Jones
and her husband are representatives of the best society
of colored people in the State, and are well-to-do
people. When a school teacher she was known as one
of the brightest young colored women in the city.
She will practice among her race.
-------------------------
MRS.
N. A. R. LESLIE.
Pianist, Music Teacher.
THE biography of of Mrs. Leslie would
necessitate a lengthy, but pleasing account of her busy
life even in the realm of music. It is not our
purpose to make the least attempt to say half that might
be said in her favor.
For many years she has figured very conspicuously among
the very best musicians of the race, in fact her field
of usefulness
takes in a wide scope of country not only many of the
Southern States, but Indian Territory. She is now
located at Corpus Christi, Texas, where she has started
a musical conservatory wherein our ladies may pursue to
completion the lyric
[Page 243]
art. For many years those of our race that were
musically inclined were almost compelled to leave the
State, travel over a wide stretch of country and under
great expenses, in order to so fit themselves suffer the
disadvantage of absence from the home circle.
Mrs. Leslie finally concluded that Corpus Christi
would be a good field for her activities, it being the
home of her brother, Prof. Cole that erudite
scholar from the classic Halls of Yale College, and
hence moved there from Muscogee Indian Territory 1892.
Since there her practical life has added much to the
social status of our race, and in molding public
sentiment from the standpoint of music. Words seem
indeed very dull when we attempt to give the slightest
hint of the good she has accomplished. What
Prof. Cole is, as a scholar, she is, as a musician.
MRS. N. A. R. LESLIE
It has always been the
disposition of this talented lady to excel in music, and
those who have been under her painstaking instruction,
or those who have had the pleasure of giving themselves
up to listen to the plaintive notes under her
mellifluous execution, join in the universal verdict
that the spell o'er cast is not only delightful, but
entrancing.
Music indeed though termed easy of accomplishment, and
considered not a task, is really one of the finest arts
which if acquired becomes for the scholar one of the
divinest arts, and made more noticeable in proportion to
the complication of it. It has long been sorely
abused especially when we consider the rude appelation
applied to us as a musical race—Musical in the rough.
Why not musical in the fine?
[Page 244]
Mrs. Leslie is demonstrating wonderfully and well in a
peculiar section of country, what our women can do in
the art and science of music. She is not only talented
as a reader and performer of her art, but is a composer
of some prominence. Her fort however lies in the
imparting to her pupil with ease, what she does and
knows.
Aside from music, she is scholarly, gifted with force
of character and the impress of her genius leaves the
germ of ambition wherever it is stamped.
Hence the race, which has produced other great minds to
shine forth proclaiming progress in various walks of
life may feel proud of Mrs. Leslie who
along with many more of her sex, is doing what she can
to explode the doctrine of inferior music and the
appellation, musical race in the rough.
Much is accomplished with hard labor, and nothing
without. With our subject as with all who succeed
it is labor omnia vincet.
-------------------------
EDNORA
NAHAR
Elocutionist.
THIS talented lady was born in Boston, of high and
well-known parents, in fact, the Howards possess
a much envied family lineage, as indeed it reaches far
down many generations. She is a cousin to Miss
J. Imogene Howard, who is honored with the
distinction of being a lady member of the New York
World's Fair committee. Miss Nahar
was educated in the public schools of Boston, and
finished in the Fort Edwards Collegiate Institute, and
soon thereafter spent a season at Boucicault's Madison
Dramatic School, where she, on account of her genius, as
well as being a favorite aspirant for stage honors, was
not allowed to pay the customary $10 as an entrance fee.
Prior to finishing her education at Fort Edwards
Institute, on account of her adaptability for reading, a
class aspiring for elocutionary honors was placed under
her charge. So well did she discharge her duties
under that weight of responsibility
[Page 245]
that two of her pupils carried off two of the prizes
offered at the end of the school year.
Since her debut she has not been idle by any means, but
to the contrary, as her record will show. Thus it
will prove to
the youth of our race that nothing is accomplished
without great labor. And those young ladies who
desire to be known,
which is to be admired, will look upon this record with
Longfellow's Psalm of Life upon their pure lips; they
can "make their lives sublime" only to the extent of the
sacrifice they make in the world of pleasure, and strive
with all their might to shine in the world of grand
human accomplishment.
EDNORA NAHAR.
She has given sixty-eight readings in Boston. Her
initial bow was made Nov. 16, 1886, and Nov. 2, 1887,
she gave her first press concert in the famous
Chickerino Hall, being the second prominent woman of her
race to appear behind its footlights. At two
different times she has appeared before 5,000 people in
her native city.
In 1890, Nov. 17, she read before 5,000 people in the
Academy of Music, Philadelphia, with the famous Marine
band, from Washington. She has read in ten
concerts in the British Provinces, read in thirty-one
States, 300 cities and at over 800 concerts. Out
of this vast number she has been her own manager.
Indeed, she has so far exceeded the expectation of many
of her compeers as a manager that she is awakening to
the fact that she can not only manage for herself but
for others. This new career dawned in her busy
life with all its sweet
[Page 246]
and bitter vicissitudes on the 6th and 7th of February,
1893.
On the 27th and 28th of February she gave a cantata for
children, at Bethel A. M. E. Church, in Chicago, and had
packed houses each night. On the 7th and 8th of
March she managed for Mme. Sisseretta Jones
(otherwise known by the music lovers of this country as
The Black Patti), and packed Zion Church (New York city)
those two nights.
MISS NAHAR'S RECITAL.
The Chicago Appeal says: "A fair house
greeted Miss Ednorah Nahar, of Boston, at Bethel
Wednesday evening, to listen to a very pleasing program.
Miss Nahar, from point of grace on the stage, has
very few equals, and to gaze upon some of her beautiful
poses was alone worth the price of admission.
Miss Nahar showed to best advantage in the 'Sioux
Chief's Daughter,' and in her numerous selections she
made a decided hit. The support of Miss
Theodora Lee was very commendable. Miss Lee
has a very sweet voice, and in her rendition of
"Snowflakes' would have done credit to a professional.
Miss Gertrude Washington, as accompanist,
displaying her usual skill."
The Indianapolis Freeman says: "Miss Ednorah Nahar,
the reader, is an assistant teacher of elocution at Fort
Edward
Collegiate Institute."
GREAT CONCERT AT BETHEL CHURCH.
Miss Nahar's all star aggregation renders
excellent programmes to packed houses at Bethel Church
Monday and Tuesday evenings. The "Black Patti "
concerts at Bethel Church were great successes, both
artistically and financially. They reflect credit
on the performers, and especially on Miss Ednorah,
who conceived the idea and brought it to successful
issue. No entertainments ever given in Bethel
Church have ever drawn such large audiences of Chicago's
most intelligent and refined people.
WHAT THE PRESS SAY OF MISS NAHAR.
Miss Ednora Nahar is a reader of talent. Her
gestures are easy, graceful, and to the point. While her
stage presence would do credit to many a professional
actress. — Boston Daily Advertiser
[Page 247]
Her general style is good, her manner pleasing, added to
this she is most fortunate in the possession of a voice
which is a marvel of sweetness and purity of tone. -
Boston Evening Traveller.
MISS NAHAR's
rendition of the "Chariot Race," from "Ben Hur" was a
revelation, and too much can not be said in praise of
it. With a clear resonant voice, full of fire and
dramatic action she electrified her hears and held them
spell-bound to the end. She has a fine voice, and
an earnest and expressive face. - The Boston Pilot.
MISS NAHAR
in her description of the "Chariot Race," from "Ben Hur"
showed a notable dramatic skill - Boston Evening
Transcript.
MISS NAHAR
has won for herself the title of "Boston's favorite
elocutionist." - Boston Advocate.
Her art is no art, but nature itself. She is
both elocutionist and actress. - Newport (R. I.)
Daily News.
MISS EDNORA
NAHAR, in her dramatic reading
the "Sioux Chief's Daughter," made a strong hit, andher
two ENCORE pieces showed a versatility rarely seen, -
Halifax (N. B.) Morning Herald.
As a dramatic reader MISS
NAHAR has few equals. Of
her readings we can say nothing but words of praise. -
St. John (N. B.) Globe.
MISS NAHAR
as an elocutionist, is superb. Her voice is well
modulated, her enunciation is very clear and distinct,
and she possesses perfect control over her vocal organs.
Her recitation of the "Organ Builder" and "The Pilot's
Story," were pathetic, while the curse scene of "Leah,
the Forsaken," was a piece of stage work hard to be
beaten. Miss Nahar's humorous pieces took
the house by storm. "Aunt Jemima's
Courtship" and "The Lord's of Creation" were charming,
while the rich Irish brogue she brought out in her
rendition, "Low Back Car" was perfection itself. -
Danville Daily Register (Dem.)
MISS NAHAR
is an elocutionist of rare ability and
power. Her diction is clear and her gestures full
of grace. Her selections are the best. It is
not saying too much of her to say, she reminds one very
much in her stage movement and easy manner of Mojeska. -
Greensboro North Shore.
MISS NAHAR's
appearance here was a success
in every particular. She made herself a favorite
in her first piece. "The Pilot's Story," and the
enthusiasm kept up during the entire readings. Her
manner is decidedly easy and graceful on the stage.
In the curse scene from "Leah" she not only sustained
her reputation as a clear reader, but gave evidence of
considerable histrionic power. - Wash. Cor. of New
York Age.
MISS EDNORA
NAHAR
received a great amount of applause, and her rendition
of the curse scene from "Leah, the Forsaken" was as fine
a bit of acting as we have seen. - Charlotte
Chronicle.
MISS NAHAR,
of Boston, was particularly greeted to the echo, in her
almost perfect rendition of dramatic selections. -
Norfolk Evening Telegram.
[Page 248]
''Aux Italiens" by MISS
NAHAR, was interpreted with a
newer and subtile meaning than ever before, it was
pathetic, tender, loving, firefull, fervid and dramatic,
each following in place with a sequence that only comes
with genius. — The Philadelphia Weekly Sentinel.
MISS NAHAR
is prepossessing in appearance, graceful in movement,
and confident in bearing. She possesses decided
dramatic powers has a fine voice, strong, pure, flexible
and quite voluminous.
— Cleveland (O.) Gazette.
In "Aux Itiliens," MISS
NAHAR displayed original
conception as well as extraordinary powers of execution,
she has command of her voice, and her renditions are
more like interpretations than recitations. — St.
Louis Advance.
MISS EDNORAH
NAHAR, as an elocutionist is
superb. — The Daily Record, Columbia, C. S.
The honors of the evening were properly awarded MISS
NAHAR, who is a great favorite
in St. John. Her "Chariot Race" from "Ben Hur" was
a masterpiece of stirring power, while in Cleopatra in
Egyptian costume she brought out fully the tremendous
passion of that poem — Daily Telegraph, St. John, N.
B.
In the "Chariot Race" and "Cleopatra" an elegant
Egyptian costume afforded every opportunity for
displaying to the best her wonderful abilities.— The
Daily Sun, St. John, N. B.
Her voice one always remembers with pleasure. It
is said the charm of Booth's voice remains with
one who has heard him, this is not much to say of MISS
NAHAR.—Cincinnati
Enterprise.
MISS NAHAR
is a talented lady whose "Sioux Chief's daughter" given
in Indian costume was finely rendered, while the
"Chariot Rice" from Wallace's " Ben Hur " was a
revelation. — New York Mail and Express.
At the Hyperion Theatre about 1000 people attended the
concert given by the Dixwell Ave. Church, besides the
Yale Banjo and Apollo Club, MISS
NAHAR of Boston, a highly
gifted elocutionist was received with great applause. —
The Paladium, New Haven, Conn.
MISS NAHAR
is a reader of wonderful talent, very graceful and
expressive; her selections are particularly refined —
Philadelphia Advance.W
Her gestures are easy and graceful and she possesse
rare gifts and powers as an elocutnnist. — Durham
(N C.} Daily Sun.
Miss Nahar is undoubtedly a genius, to equal her
would be a task for many whose reputation is broader.
"Aux Italiens" and the Curse scene from " Leah the
Forsaken " were wonderful. — Raleigh (N. C.)
Chronicle.
Miss Nahar captivated the audience with her
vivacity, and the "Charlot Race" brought down the house.
- Hertford (Conn.) Telegram-Record.
Miss Nahar's dramatic readings were splendid and
drew forth hearty applause. - Detroit Free Press.
"Aux Italiens" was magnificently rendered, but the
climax was in the Garden scene from "Mary
Stuart." la the character of Mary Stuart
it is not
[Page 249]
too much to say her conception would have done credit to
Charlotte Cushman, Jauneschek or Risbtori.
- Newport, R. I. Daily News.
PRIVATE OPINIONS OF WELL-KNOWN
PERSONS.
She is a genius. - EX-SECRETARY
NOBLE.
She has power and the sacred fire of genius, and ought
soon to be at the top as an actress. - DION
BOUCCICAULT.
She has power, force, talent and genius and should
forsake the platform for the stage. - JOHN
BOYLE O'RIELLY.
She has given five readings at the Soldier's Home and
has successfully entertained the theatre full of old
soldiers. I consider her a reader of rare talent.
- P. WOODFIN,
Governor Soldier's Home, Hampton, Va.
She is the finest I have ever heard. - FREDERICK
DOUGLASS.
Her "Chariot Race" from Ben Hur magnificently rendered.
- COL. ELLIOTT
SHEPARD.
MISS NAHAR
has plenty of talent. - MODJESKA.
-------------------------
ELLA
F. SHEPHARD.
Eminent Teacher, Singer, Pianist.
ONE of the most talented women of the race is Miss
Ella F. Shephard of Fisk Jubilee fame, who for a
number of years traveled through the United states,
Europe and other foreign countries delighting with her
company of singers the many thousands who flocked to
hear them and even until now say lasting words of praise
of them.
She is an intellectual model of most genial nature,
ambitious; yea one, who has lived laborious days, and
shunned delights,
that she might do educational service for her race.
For a number of years she served as lady principal of
Prairie View Normal Institute of Texas, and resigned to
recruit the Old Jubilee Troupe. Her qualifications
as a musician, if the "fittest servive," may be
considered a criterion, are par excellence. Those
who have sat under the mellifluous music of her voice,
have expressed their inspired admiration, with their
greatest earnestness.
The greater portion of her useful life has been spent
in the South where the greatest battles with ignorance
have to be
fought, as a teacher she has always been equal to the
emergency and superior to the general rule.
Wherever she has taught the whites as well as those of
her race have become her faithful and lasting friends.
Later in life she has filled
[Page 250]
very dignified positions as professor in some of our
leading institutions of learning.
Her race affiliations are not contracted to a few
teachers and ministers, but the broad field of her
active life has brought her in social touch with the
leading spirits of our 19th century civilization.
Her worth cannot be estimated in words, she has lived in
deeds, not the extended life of many, however, but the
tireless activity of this noble heroine tell.
-------------------------
MISS
A. E. McEWEN.
Essayist and Editor.
MISS McEWEN is one of hte best essayists of the South.
As a writer she is possessed with that grae and ease
that is so noticeable among the great writers. She
has, for a number of years, assisted her father in the
publication of a very
MISS A. E. MC EWEN
able Baptist journal, and
with both tongue and pen helped to make it a very newsy
as well as flourishing newspaper. She is quite
young, yet her, ability with the pen gives her notoriety
envied by many twice her age. A remarkable, a
useful and illustrious life, full of good deeds and
grand accomplishments in behalf of her race, beckon her
on.
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