A Biography Of E. Azalia Smith Hackley (1867-1922), African-american Singer And Social Activist

Posted in Arts, Biography, Books, Media Archive, Monographs, United States, Women on 2016-08-06 00:29Z by Steven

A Biography Of E. Azalia Smith Hackley (1867-1922), African-american Singer And Social Activist

Edwin Mellen Press
2001
436 pages
ISBN: 978-0-7734-7575-5

Lisa Pertillar Brevard, Core Faculty and Academic Coordinator of Humanities
Walden University

Madame E. Azalia Hackley was an African American classical singer, social worker, writer, philanthropist, and activist who championed the use of African-American spirituals among the African-American people as a tool for social change. Her efforts laid the groundwork for the use of spirituals as freedom songs during the Civil Rights Movement. This work used newspaper accounts and archive studies documenting Madame Hackley’s tours cross-country and abroad to raise funds for African-American classical musicians. It show Hackley’s intense devotion to her African-American roots, as she easily could have passed for white. Nevertheless, she traveled throughout the South in ‘Jim Crow’ railway cars by choice. This work also recovers several of her influential published works, including A Guide to Voice Culture (1909); The Colored Girl Beautiful (1916), an etiquette book for African-American women desiring professional jobs; and “Hints to Young Colored Artists”, a series of articles designed to help young African-American classical musicians succeed. Includes illustrations.

Table of Contents

  • Foreword by Richard A. Long
  • Introduction
  • Part I: Madame Emma Azalia Smith Hackley: The Lady and Her Legacy
    • 1. Azalia’s Early Years (1867-1894)
    • 2. Denver (1894-1900)
    • 3. Philadelphia and The Washington Conservatory of Music (1900-1915)
    • 4. Jim Crow Cars and Beyond – Paris, London, Tokyo (1916-1920)
    • 5. Madame Hackley’s Last Days (1920-1922)
  • Part II: The Soul and Grit of a Colored Prima Donna: Madame E. Azalia Hackley as Journalist
    • “Hints to Young Colored Artists” (1914-15) by E. Azalia Hackley
  • Part III: Lessons Before Dying: Madame Hackley’s The Colored Girl Beautiful
  • Part IV: A Scrapbook of Madame E. Azalia Hackley
    • Photographs
    • “Report on Scholarship for 1908” by E. Azalia Hackley
    • Correspondence Between E. Azalia Hackley and James Weldon Johnson
    • Advertisements
    • The New York Age Salutes Madame Hackley (Obituary by Lucien H. White, 1922)
  • Chronology
  • Appendix: A Guide in Voice Culture (1909) by E. Azalia Hackley
  • Sheet Music: “Carola, A Serenade” (1918) by E. Azalia Hackley
  • Bibliography
  • Index


Photograph by Julius Taylor

Tags: , , , , , ,