Emma Azalia Hackley facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Emma Azalia Hackley
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Emma Azalia Smith
June 29, 1867 Murfreesboro, Tennessee, U.S.
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| Died | 1922 (aged 54–55) Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
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| Spouse(s) | Edwin Henry Hackley |
Emma Azalia Hackley (1867–1922) was an amazing American woman. She was a talented singer, a newspaper editor, a teacher, and an activist who worked for change. She was an African American woman who strongly believed in helping people of color through music education.
Emma Hackley directed choirs and organized special music festivals. These festivals featured African American Folk Songs in churches and schools. She studied music for many years, even in Paris with a famous opera singer named Jean de Reszke. She also taught music to future stars like Roland Hayes, Marian Anderson, and R. Nathaniel Dett. She even started her own music school called the Vocal Normal Institute in Chicago.
Beyond music, Emma Hackley helped create important groups like the Imperial Order of Libyans and the Colored Women's League. She also wrote for the women's section of The Colorado Statesman newspaper. She wrote a helpful book called The Colored Girl Beautiful. This book taught young African American women how to become successful and graceful.
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Early Life and Music
Emma Azalia Smith was born on June 29, 1867, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Her parents were Henry B. and Corilla Smith. Her mother, Corilla, had been enslaved and later escaped. Corilla started a school in Murfreesboro for formerly enslaved people and their children. She also taught singing lessons at night.
Around 1870, groups that were against the school threatened it. Because of these threats, the Smith family moved to Detroit, Michigan. Emma's father was a blacksmith, and her mother was a teacher. Corilla supported Emma and her younger sister, Marietta, after her parents separated.
Emma started playing the piano when she was only three years old! She also took singing and violin lessons as a child. She was the first African American student to attend public school in Detroit. She played piano and sang at high school dances to help her family earn money. Emma graduated with honors from the Washington Normal School in 1886. She became a teacher in Detroit, teaching at Clinton Elementary School from 1887 to 1894.
She continued her music and French lessons. She sang for the Detroit Musical Society and gave piano lessons to pay for her own studies. Emma also performed in singing concerts. Some people suggested she pretend to be white to help her music career because of her light skin. But Emma was very proud of her heritage and always refused to deny who she was.
Marriage and Activism
In 1894, Emma married Edwin Henry Hackley. He was a lawyer and newspaper publisher from Denver, Colorado. Emma moved to Colorado with him. Edwin was the first African American lawyer allowed to practice law in Colorado. He also helped start The Colorado Statesman newspaper.
Emma and Edwin worked together to create the Imperial Order of Libyans. This group fought against unfair treatment and worked for equality. Later, Edwin and Emma also published a newspaper together called the Statesman-cum-Denver Star.
Emma's health suffered because of the high altitude in Denver. So, she decided to move east for her health. Around 1901, she moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She continued her music career there.
A Career of Uplift
Emma Hackley earned her bachelor's degree from the Denver School of Music in 1900. She was the first African American to graduate from that school. She was a concert soprano, which means she sang high notes beautifully. While studying, she helped direct a large choir in Denver and led the choir at her church.
Emma called herself a "race musical missionary." She wanted her concerts to inspire and train children. The Denver Post newspaper praised her efforts to bring African Americans into music. They called her "one of the best vocalists in the city."
She started the Colorado branch of the Colored Women's League. She also edited the Statesman Exponent, which was the women's section of The Colorado Statesman. She wrote articles about African American literature and music. She also wrote about how music affects children and home life. She even wrote about how to manage a household and stay healthy. In one article, she explained the goals of the Colored Women's League:
In mapping out this program we have borne in mind the great need for thought and talk on the practical as well as cultural side of woman's life. Our first work will be toward the education and improvement of our Colored women and the promotion of their interests.
In 1901, Emma began a concert tour in Denver. She moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to continue her work as a well-known choir director. She directed music at the Episcopal Church of the Crucifixion. In 1904, she started and led the 100-member People's Choir, which became known as the Hackley Choral.
She organized special Folk Songs Festivals to share African American Spirituals. She even introduced Black folk music to people from all over the world at the World Sunday School Convention in Tokyo. She held big community concerts that included classical music, opera songs, and African American spirituals. She performed these herself, along with local artists. Emma paid for these concerts and offered training sessions for local performers before each show.
In Paris, she studied with Jean de Reszke, a famous opera singer and vocal coach, in 1905 and 1906. She trained many talented artists, including Roland Hayes, Marian Anderson, and R. Nathaniel Dett.
Emma Hackley wrote articles for newspapers and magazines, as well as short books. She gave lectures at churches, colleges, and schools across the United States and Canada. She raised money by holding special concerts. This money helped provide scholarships for African American classical musicians to study abroad.
In 1912, she opened the Vocal Normal Institute in Chicago, Illinois. It ran until 1916. She had hoped it would be her main base for the school between her tours. However, it became very demanding, and her health started to decline.
She collected advice she had given during her lectures for Black women to succeed. In 1916, Emma published The Colored Girl Beautiful. This book was a guide for young African American women on how to become refined and successful. She wrote about what beauty, duty, and career opportunities meant for Black women. Her biographer, Lois Brevard, described her as one of W. E. B. Du Bois's Talented Tenth, a group of highly educated and influential African Americans.
Emma was driven by a desire to uplift people. She did this by giving lectures inspired by a spiritual movement called New Thought. She also loved giving music lessons to large groups of people.
Death and Legacy
Emma Hackley collapsed on stage during a performance in San Diego in 1921. She was brought back to Detroit. She passed away on December 13, 1922, at her sister Marietta Johnson's home in Detroit, Michigan. She is buried at the Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit.
A special collection of materials about African Americans in the performing arts was created in her name. It's called the E. Azalia Hackley Collection and is located at the Detroit Public Library. It was started in 1943.
In Popular Culture
A painting of Emma Hackley was part of an art exhibit in 1988/89 called Ain't I A Woman. This painting was done by Detroit artist Telitha Cumi Bowens. The exhibit was held at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit. It showed portraits of important Black women from Michigan.
See also
