Maud Cuney Hare facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Maud Cuney Hare
Born	(1874-02-16)February 16, 1874 Galveston, Texas, US
Died	February 13 or 14, 1936, age 61 Boston, Massachusetts, US
Resting place	Lakeview Cemetery, Galveston
Other names	Maud Cuney
Alma mater	New England Conservatory of Music
Known for	Documenting African-American culture
Spouse(s)	William Parker Hare
Parent(s)	Norris Wright Cuney, Adelina Dowdie Cuney

Maud Cuney Hare (born Cuney, February 16, 1874 – February 13 or 14, 1936) was an American pianist, music expert, writer, and activist. She worked to support African-American rights in Boston, Massachusetts.

Maud was born in Galveston, Texas. Her father was Norris Wright Cuney, a famous civil rights leader. He led the Texas Republican Party after the Civil War. Her mother, Adelina Dowdie, was a schoolteacher. In 1913, Maud wrote a book about her father's life.

Maud Cuney Hare was part of the generation born after slavery ended. She studied at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. She became a very skilled pianist. She lived most of her adult life in Jamaica Plain, a neighborhood in Boston. As a music expert, she collected music from the Southern United States and the Caribbean. She was the first person to study Creole music. She is best known for her last book, Negro Musicians and Their Music (1936). This book tells the story of how African-American music developed.

Early Life and Education

Maud Cuney was born in Galveston, Texas on February 16, 1874. Her parents were Adelina Dowdie and Norris Wright Cuney. Both of her parents had mixed racial backgrounds. Her mother came from Woodville, Mississippi. Her father's family had African, Native American, European, and Swiss-American roots.

Norris Wright Cuney's father, Philip Cuney, was a large plantation owner. He freed his mixed-race children and their mother before the Civil War. Philip sent his mixed-race sons, Joseph and Norris, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for their education. After the war, Norris became an important leader in the Texas Republican Party. He also ran a business that employed about 500 men on the docks.

Maud's father, Norris, loved Shakespeare and played the violin. Her mother, Adelina, was a singer and played the piano. Maud and her brother, Lloyd, grew up in a home full of music and books.

After finishing high school in Galveston in 1890, Maud went to Boston. She studied piano and music theory at the New England Conservatory of Music. She also took classes at Harvard's Lowell Institute.

Facing Prejudice at School

While Maud was at the Conservatory, some white students found out that she and another African American student, Florida L. Des Verney, lived in a campus dorm. They tried to get the young women removed. The school worried about losing money from white families. They asked Maud and Florida to find other places to live, saying they couldn't guarantee their safety.

Maud Cuney bravely refused to move. Her father also refused to move her. He criticized the school for not honoring the people who fought against prejudice. Black community members in Boston and black students, including W. E. B. Du Bois from Harvard, spoke out. The Colored National League also got involved. The Conservatory finally changed its mind. Maud Cuney stayed in the dorm. She later wrote, "I refused to leave the dormitory, and because of this, was subjected to many petty indignities. I insisted upon proper treatment."

Boston had a lively black community. While studying there, Maud joined a group called the Charles Street Circle. She became a close friend of W. E. B. Du Bois, and they were even engaged for a short time. Du Bois described Maud as "a tall, imperious brunette, with gold-bronze skin, brilliant eyes and coils of black hair."

After graduating, Maud returned to Texas. She continued her piano studies and taught at the Texas Deaf and Blind Institute for Colored Youths. She stood up against racism again when the Austin Opera House wanted black audience members to sit separately in the balconies for her concert. Maud and her fellow musician canceled the show. Instead, they performed at the Texas Institute for Colored Youths, where everyone was treated equally.

Marriage and Activism

Maud's mother, Adelina, died in 1895. Her father, Norris, died in 1898. Both died from tuberculosis, a disease that had no cure at the time. Later that year, Maud married J. Frank McKinley, a doctor. He was 20 years older than her and also of mixed race.

The McKinleys moved to Chicago. Dr. McKinley wanted to "pass" as Spanish-American, meaning he wanted to hide his black heritage. When their daughter, Vera, was born in 1900, her birth certificate listed her as Spanish-American. Maud had been raised to be proud of her black heritage, and this deception was painful for her. She tried to hide her identity as her husband wished. She worked with the settlement movement at a church in Chicago.

Eventually, Maud left her husband. She took her baby daughter and went back to Texas. She got a teaching job at Prairie View A&M University, a college for black students. Dr. McKinley filed for divorce in 1902. Maud returned to Chicago for a public custody battle. The court gave custody of their daughter to her husband, which was common then.

After the divorce, Maud went back to Boston. She married William Parker Hare on August 10, 1904. From then on, she used the name "Cuney Hare." They lived in Jamaica Plain. Their house has a special plaque from the Bostonian Society, as part of the Boston Women's Heritage Trail. In 1906, Maud was able to see her daughter during the summers, but Vera sadly died in 1908.

Maud Cuney Hare was active in politics. In 1907, she was one of the first women to join the Niagara Movement. This group fought against segregation and was an early version of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Throughout her life, Maud believed her work helped to "uplift" her people.

Career and Contributions

Maud Cuney Hare taught music at several places. She taught at the Texas Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Institute for Colored Youths in 1897 and 1898. She also taught at a settlement house in Chicago in 1900 and 1901, and in Prairie View, Texas in 1903 and 1904.

Performing and Lecturing

As a performing pianist and lecturer, Maud Cuney Hare worked with William Howard Richardson. He was a baritone singer from Canada. They both loved music from the African diaspora (people of African origin living outside Africa). They toured together for 20 years, starting around 1913. In 1919, they were the first black musicians to perform in the concert series at the Boston Public Library.

Maud Cuney Hare also started the Allied Arts Center in Boston. This center helped people learn about and perform in the arts. She helped fund it, managed it, and performed there herself. The Center had a 'Little Theatre' group. It offered classes and performances in art, music, and drama. While open to everyone, its main goal was to help young black performers, composers, and playwrights. Cuney Hare wrote and directed a play called Antar of Araby (1929). It was about an ancient poet named Antarah ibn Shaddad.

Musicology and Writing

Maud Cuney Hare did a lot of research as a music expert. She traveled to Mexico, Cuba, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. She collected and studied folk stories and music traditions there. She was "the first music scholar to direct public attention to Creole music." In 1921, she published a collection called Six Creole Folk-songs with notes. She had a large personal collection of music and old items, which she used for exhibits.

Cuney Hare wrote many articles about black music and arts. She was a close friend of the famous author and activist W. E. B. Du Bois. She edited a column about music and arts for The Crisis, a magazine Du Bois edited for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She also wrote articles for other newspapers and music magazines.

Her most famous book is Negro Musicians and Their Music (1936). In this book, Cuney Hare wrote about how African-American music developed. She showed its history from Africa, through the diaspora to the United States, to the creation of Negro spirituals, and then to blues and jazz. She preferred classical music and didn't like ragtime or the unstructured nature of Jazz music as much. The book does not mention famous jazz musicians like Duke Ellington or Louis Armstrong.

The book shares many details about the lives and music of black musicians in America and other countries. It was the second book ever written about black music, and the first by a music scholar. It is seen as a very important record of music history. Maud Cuney Hare never saw her book published. She was suffering from cancer, which kept her from playing piano. She died before the book came out.

Maud Cuney Hare passed away on February 13 or 14, 1936, in Boston, Massachusetts. A memorial service was held for her in Boston. She is buried in an unmarked grave next to her parents in Lakeview Cemetery, Galveston, Texas.

Works

Here are some of Maud Cuney Hare's important works:

• Norris Wright Cuney: A Tribune of the Black People (1913), a book about her father.
• The Message of the Trees: An Anthology of Leaves and Branches (1918), a collection of nature poems she edited.
• Six Creole folk-songs : with original Creole and translated English text (1921)
• Antar of Araby (1929), a play about an Arab poet whose bravery was more important than his status as a slave.
• Negro Musicians and Their Music (1936), a history of African-American music from Africa to the American jazz age.

See also

• African-American music
• Racism in the United States
• Norris Wright Cuney
• W. E. B. Du Bois
• Women in musicology