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Maude Brockway

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Maude Brockway
Born
Mary Maude Sterling

(1876-02-28)February 28, 1876
Clark County, Arkansas
DiedOctober 24, 1959(1959-10-24) (aged 83)
Okmulgee, Oklahoma
NationalityAmerican
Other namesMary Maude Brockway, Maude Jane Brockway, Maude Sterling
Occupation(s)teacher, milliner, activist

http://ds.bgco.org/docushare/dsweb/ApplySimpleSearch https://maroonsociety.org/f/oklahoma-federation-of-colored-womens-club https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=l-EbnrFFYeoC&lpg=PA23&ots=k29xQdIKCm&dq=Maude%20J.%20Brockway&pg=PA23#v=onepage&q=Maude%20J.%20Brockway&f=false https://newspaperarchive.com/celebrity-clipping-aug-20-1949-2014649/ https://newspaperarchive.com/celebrity-clipping-mar-21-1941-2015735/ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/61170275/the-ponca-city-news/ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/61170309/the-daily-oklahoman/ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/61170516/the-black-dispatch/ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/61168058/the-black-dispatch/ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/61215126/the-black-dispatch/ photos: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/61156249/the-baptist-rival/ https://www.newspapers.com/clip/61159248/the-black-dispatch/

Maude Brockway (February 28, 1876 - October 24, 1959) was a teacher, milliner, and activist. One of the founders of the Oklahoma Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, she served as the organization president from 1936 to 1940.

Early life

Mary Maude Sterling was born on February 28, 1876[1][2][3][Notes 1] in Clark County, Arkansas.[3][11] She grew up in Curtis and attended school at the Arkadelphia Presbyterian Academy, a primary and secondary school established to educate the children of former slaves.[11][12] She went on to further her education at Arkansas Baptist College.[11]

Career

By 1896, Sterling had married William Brockway and moved to Indian Territory. There they had a daughter, Inez, and Brockway taught[2] at schools in Ardmore and Berwyn in the Chickasaw Nation.[11] She joined the Baptist Young People's Union, and in 1906 was serving as its president.[13] That year, she began operating a milliner's shop in Ardmore.[14] Around 1910, the family moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Territory, where Brockway continued to work as a milliner.[4] Once in Oklahoma City, she became very active in the Black Clubwomen's Movement, which was focused on improving and protecting the lives of black citizens.[15]

In 1910, Brockway became one of the founders of the Oklahoma Federation of Negro Women's Clubs, which later changed its name to the Oklahoma Federation of Colored Women's Clubs.[16] The group was an affiliate of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, founded by Mary Church Terrell,[17] and its first president was Harriet Price Jacobson, a teacher.[18] In 1917, she founded, and from 1918 to 1919, served as the superintendent of the newly established Oklahoma Training School for Women and Girls, in Sapulpa, while maintaining her home in Oklahoma City.[19] In 1920, she returned to Oklahoma City, resuming her club work and helped the Oklahoma Federation of Colored Women's Clubs to purchase their first headquarters, at 501 Northeast 4th Street.[5][20] Many of the various clubs Brockway was involved in were tied to her church work, in the Order of the Eastern Star; the Oklahoma Women's Baptist State Convention, becoming its president by 1918; and in the formation of the Oklahoma City Mission Society Federation, serving as its president in 1919.[11][15][21]

As an organizer for the Oklahoma Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, Brockway assisted in the club in spreading state wide, serving in that capacity until 1921.[15][22] The following year, she became a second vice president of the organization.[23][Notes 2] In that capacity, Brockway made a significant contribution to the federation through her real estate management skills. In 1925, the organization sold its first headquarters and purchased a property at 615 Northeast 4th Street. Brockway bought adjoining lots for $15,000 and then transferred them to the federation for $1. The two-story dwelling became officially known as the Brockway Community Center.[20]

In 1935, Brockway was chair of the National Education Committee of the Women's Auxiliaries to the National Baptist Convention.[34] In 1936, she became president of the Oklahoma Federation of Colored Women's Clubs.[11] She was instrumental in re-organizing the association into regions within the state and established the Princess Revue program to establish educational and philanthropic contributions to the NAACP.[29][35] In 1938, as part of the Maternal Health Organization and the Oklahoma Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, she established the second Black-owned private birth control clinic in the United States. The clinic operated in the Brockway Community Center, was staffed by two physicians, and directed by Brockway.[36] After her term as state president, she served as parliamentarian and statistician for the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs.[37]

Throughout the 1940s, Brockway lectured on uplifting black communities and continued her work with various church-affiliated organizations.[38][39] In 1947, she spent two months in Europe lecturing about programs for blacks for the Woman's Missionary Union and returned to talk about her trip to groups in the US.[40][41] Though Brockway did not support segregated schooling and campaigned against it,[42] when a new facility for Douglass High School, the first senior high school for black students in Oklahoma City, broke ground in 1953, she was among the dignitaries in attendance.[43][Notes 3]

Death and legacy

Brockway died on October 24, 1959 in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, while attending the state convention of the Women's Auxiliary of the state Baptist Convention. Her funeral was held on November 5th at Calvary Baptist Church and she was buried in Trice Hill Cemetery in Oklahoma City.[3] The Oklahoma Federation of Colored Women's Clubs honored her with a memorial service during the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the organization's founding.[45] Brockway's daughter, Inez Brockway Brewer became an active clubwoman and teacher.[3][46] In 1968, the Brockway Community Center moved to 1440 North Everest Avenue and in 2019,[47] it was nominated for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places listings in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma.[48] The center, named in Brockway's honor, is the only extant structure affiliated with the Black Clubwoman's Movement.[15]

Notes

  1. ^ Sterling's name is often given as Maude Jane or Maude J. Her birth year varies significantly, appearing as 1876,[2] 1877,[4] 1881,[5] 1882,[6] 1883,[7] 1885,[1] and circa 1900[3]. Her obituary also states that her father was Rev. Edward Sterling, but the only family living in Clark County, Arkansas between 1870 and 1880 with this surname were the children Queen A. (1864), King (1866), Martha (1867), Thomas (1868), Rosann (1870-before 1880), Miles (1871), Mary Jane (1873), Edwards (1875), twins Ella and Della (1877), Katie (1879), and Lilly (1880) of a farmer, William Sterling and his wife, Sarah Jane (née Jones).[8][9] In 1900 William and his wife, Mary, reported their granddaughter, Inez Brockway living with them.[10]
  2. ^ Montgomery and Pearce state that mortgage records indicate Brockway was president of the Oklahoma Federation of Colored Women's Clubs in 1925;[15] however, Strong lists the presidents as Judith C. Horton, 1915-1919;[24] Anna H. Cooper, 1919-1924;[25] Nellie Weaver Greene, 1924-1928;[26] Adelia E. Young, 1928-1932;[27] Lucy Elliott Hutton, 1932-1936;[28] Brockway, 1936-1940;[11] Lula E. Kiff, 1940-1944;[29] Genevieve M. Weaver, 1944-1948;[30] Mildred P. Williams, 1948-1952;[31] Ellen M. Roberson, 1952-1956;[32] and Jessie B. Hibler, 1956-[1960].[33]
  3. ^ Though Strong indicates that Brockway was designated as the Woman of the Year in 1956,[11] this appears to be a confusion of sources, as newspapers confirm she bestowed the award of the Oklahoma Federation of Colored Women's Clubs' Woman of the Year to the 1956 honoree, Cernoria D. Johnson.[44]

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b Ship Passenger Lists 1947.
  2. ^ a b c U.S. Census 1900a, p. 11A.
  3. ^ a b c d e The Black Dispatch 1959, p. 1.
  4. ^ a b U.S. Census 1910, p. 32A.
  5. ^ a b U.S. Census 1920, p. 13A.
  6. ^ U.S. Census 1940, p. 1A.
  7. ^ U.S. Census 1930, p. 10A.
  8. ^ U.S. Census 1870, p. 58.
  9. ^ U.S. Census 1880, p. 58.
  10. ^ U.S. Census 1900b, p. 9A.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Strong 1957, p. 93.
  12. ^ Griffith 2013.
  13. ^ The Baptist Rival 1906a, p. 4.
  14. ^ The Baptist Rival 1906b, p. 1.
  15. ^ a b c d e Montgomery & Pearce 2019, p. 14.
  16. ^ Montgomery & Pearce 2019, pp. 14, 19.
  17. ^ Montgomery & Pearce 2019, pp. 7–9.
  18. ^ Strong 1957, p. 85.
  19. ^ The Black Dispatch 1917, p. 5; The Black Dispatch 1918a, p. 1; The Black Dispatch 1918b, p. 5; The Black Dispatch 1920, p. 4; The Black Dispatch 1921a, p. 5.
  20. ^ a b Montgomery & Pearce 2019, p. 20.
  21. ^ The Black Dispatch 1919, p. 8.
  22. ^ The Black Dispatch 1921b, p. 6.
  23. ^ The Black Dispatch 1922, p. 2.
  24. ^ Strong 1957, p. 86.
  25. ^ Strong 1957, p. 88.
  26. ^ Strong 1957, p. 89.
  27. ^ Strong 1957, p. 91.
  28. ^ Strong 1957, p. 92.
  29. ^ a b Strong 1957, p. 94.
  30. ^ Strong 1957, p. 96.
  31. ^ Strong 1957, p. 97.
  32. ^ Strong 1957, p. 98.
  33. ^ Strong 1957, p. 100.
  34. ^ Hailey 1935, p. 9.
  35. ^ Strong 1960, p. 8.
  36. ^ Rodrique 1991, p. 179.
  37. ^ Strong 1957, p. 78.
  38. ^ The Daily Oklahoman 1941, p. 11.
  39. ^ The Oklahoma City Star 1942, p. B3.
  40. ^ The Ponca City News 1947, p. 2.
  41. ^ The Oklahoma County Register 1947, p. 4.
  42. ^ The Daily Oklahoman 1949, p. 38.
  43. ^ Moon 1978, pp. 252, 308.
  44. ^ Labor's Daily 1956, p. 2.
  45. ^ The Black Dispatch 1960, p. 7.
  46. ^ The Black Dispatch 1922, p. 2.
  47. ^ Montgomery & Pearce 2019, pp. 4–5.
  48. ^ Montgomery & Pearce 2019, pp. 25–26.

Bibliography


Category:1876 births Category:1959 deaths Category:People from Clark County, Arkansas Category:Arkansas Baptist College alumni

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