Harriet Gibbs Marshall

Portrait of a woman, looking right
Marshall in 1936

Harriet Gibbs Marshall (1868–1941) was an African-American musician, writer, and educator. Marshall is best known for opening the Washington Conservatory of Music and School of Expression in 1903 in Washington, DC.[1]

Harriet Gibbs was the daughter of Mifflin Gibbs, the first African American judge, and Maria (Alexander) Gibbs, a school teacher.[2] Gibbs was born in Victoria, British Columbia and had one sister, Ida Alexander Gibbs.[3]

In 1889, Gibbs became the first African-American woman to graduate from Oberlin Conservatory with a degree in music.[1]

She founded the music program at Eckstein-Norton University in Cane Springs, Kentucky in the last decade of the 19th century.[1] In 1900, Gibbs moved to Washington, D.C. and took the position of music supervisor in the segregated African-American public schools there.[1]

She founded the Washington Conservatory of Music in 1903. It focused on classical European music.[1] In 1911, an elocution program was added, and the school was renamed the Washington Conservatory of Music and School of Expression.[4]

Marshall joined the Bahá'í Faith in 1912.[5] She hosted Bahá'í events at the Conservatory.[5]

Marshall traveled to Haiti in the 1920s when her husband, Captain Napoleon Marshall of the United States Army, was appointed to a commission to investigate abuses during the United States occupation of Haiti.[6]

During their time in Haiti, the Marshall's were excluded from participation in social activities with other U.S. Military officers because of racial segregation. Marshall became active with Haitian organizations, and was Vice-President of the Organization of Haitian Women.[6] While there, she co-founded the Jean Joseph Industrial School.[4]

When the Marshall's returned to the United States, they founded the Save Haiti Committee to lobby President Herbert Hoover to remove U.S. soldiers from Haiti.[6]

Marshall died on February 21, 1941 in Washington, D.C.[7][8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Howe, Sondra Wieland (2013-11-07). Women Music Educators in the United States: A History. Scarecrow Press. p. 228. ISBN 9780810888487.
  2. ↑ Libraries, University of Kentucky. "Notable Kentucky African Americans - Marshall, Harriet (Hattie) A. Gibbs". nkaa.uky.edu. Retrieved 2015-08-05.
  3. ↑ Dreyfuss, Joel. "William Henry Hunt and Ida Alexander Gibbs: A Black Power Couple in the Early 20th Century". Retrieved 2015-08-05.
  4. 1 2 Locke, Ralph P.; Barr, Cyrilla (1997-01-01). Cultivating Music in America: Women Patrons and Activists Since 1860. University of California Press. p. 233. ISBN 9780520083950.
  5. 1 2 Etter-Lewis, Gwendolyn; Thomas, Richard; Thomas, Richard Walter (2006-01-01). Lights of the Spirit: Historical Portraits of Black Bahá'ís in North America, 1898-2004. Baha'i Publishing Trust. ISBN 9781931847261.
  6. 1 2 3 Largey, Michael (2006-05-01). Vodou Nation: Haitian Art Music and Cultural Nationalism. University of Chicago Press. pp. 154–155. ISBN 9780226468655.
  7. ↑ Smith, Jessie Carney (1996-01-01). Notable Black American Women. VNR AG. ISBN 9780810391772.
  8. ↑ Etter-Lewis, Gwendolyn; Thomas, Richard; Thomas, Richard Walter (2006-01-01). Lights of the Spirit: Historical Portraits of Black Bahá'ís in North America, 1898-2004. Baha'i Publishing Trust. ISBN 9781931847261.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, March 24, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.