Mary Burnett Talbert
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
orator, activist, suffragist and reformer
Reform movement
A reform movement is a kind of social movement that aims to make gradual change, or change in certain aspects of society, rather than rapid or fundamental changes...
. Called "the best known Colored Woman in the United States," Talbert was among the most prominent African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s of her time.
Career
Mary Morris Burnett Talbert was born and raised in Oberlin, OhioOberlin, Ohio
Oberlin is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States, to the south and west of Cleveland. Oberlin is perhaps best known for being the home of Oberlin College, a liberal arts college and music conservatory with approximately 3,000 students...
in 1866. As the only African-American woman in her graduating class from Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
in 1886, Burnett received a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree, then called an S.P. degree. She entered the field of education, becoming assistant principal of the Union High School in Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
in 1887, the highest position held by an African-American woman in the state. In 1891 she married William H. Talbert, moved to Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, and joined Buffalo's historic Michigan Avenue Baptist Church.
Talbert earned a higher education degree at a time when a college education was controversial for European-American women and extremely rare for African-American women. When women's organizations were segregated by race, Talbert was an early advocate of women of all colors working together to advance their cause, and reminded white feminists of their obligations towards their less privileged sisters of color.
Described by her peers as "the best-known colored woman in the United States," Talbert used her education and prodigious energies to improve the status of Black people at home and abroad. In addition to her anti-lynching
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
and anti-racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
work, Talbert supported women's suffrage
Suffrage
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply the franchise, distinct from mere voting rights, is the civil right to vote gained through the democratic process...
. In 1915 she spoke at the "Votes for Women: A Symposium by Leading Thinkers of Colored Women" in Washington, D.C.
During her national and international lecture tours, Talbert educated audiences about oppressive conditions in African-American communities and the need for legislation to address these conditions. She was instrumental in gaining a voice for African-American women in international women's organizations of her time.
As a founder of the Niagara Movement
Niagara Movement
The Niagara Movement was a black civil rights organization founded in 1905 by a group led by W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter. It was named for the "mighty current" of change the group wanted to effect and Niagara Falls, the Canadian side of which was where the first meeting took...
, Talbert helped to launch organized civil rights activism in America. The Niagara Movement was radical enough in its brief life to both spawn and absorb controversy within the Black community, preparing the way for its successor, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
(NAACP). Central to the efforts of both organizations, Mary Talbert helped set the stage for the civil rights gains of the 1950s and '60s.
Talbert's long leadership of women's clubs helped to develop Black female organizations and leaders in communities around New York and the United States. Women's clubs provided a forum for African-American women's voices at a time when they had restricted opportunities in public and civic life. In both Black and white communities, women's clubs fostered female leadership.
As a historic preservation pioneer, Talbert saved the Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...
home in Anacostia, D.C. after other efforts had failed.
Buffalo's 150-year-old Michigan Avenue Baptist Church, to which the Talbert family belonged, has been named to the United States National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. Many prominent African Americans worshipped or spoke there. The church also had a landmark role in abolitionist activities. In 1998, a marker honoring Talbert, who served as the church's treasurer, was installed in front of the Church by the New York State Governor's Commission Honoring the Achievements of Women.
In October 2005, Talbert was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame
National Women's Hall of Fame
The National Women's Hall of Fame is an American institution. It was created in 1969 by a group of people in Seneca Falls, New York, the location of the 1848 Women's Rights Convention...
in Seneca Falls, NY. She is also remembered around the United States as the namesake of clubs and buildings.
Her honors include:
- National Association of Colored WomenNational Association of Colored WomenThe National Association of Colored Women Clubs was established in Washington, D.C., USA, by the merger in 1896 of the National Federation of Afro-American Women, the Women's Era Club of Boston, and the National League of Colored Women of Washington, DC, as well as smaller organizations that had...
(NACW) branches named after her in Buffalo, NY; Detroit, MI; Gary, IN; and New Haven, CT; - City Federation of Women's Clubs named after her in Florida and Texas;
- Talbert Hall at the University at BuffaloUniversity at Buffalo, The State University of New YorkUniversity at Buffalo, The State University of New York, also commonly known as the University at Buffalo or UB, is a public research university and a "University Center" in the State University of New York system. The university was founded by Millard Fillmore in 1846. UB has multiple campuses...
; - Talbert Mall Housing Development (later renamed Frederick Douglass Towers), Buffalo, NY; and
- Mary B. Talbert Hospital (merged with Booth Memorial Hospital, later taken over by Cleveland Metropolitan Hospital), Cleveland, OH.
Talbert died on October 15, 1923 and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery (Buffalo). A small collection of Talbert family papers survives in the library collection of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society.
Progressive Era Historical Background
The period in United States history commonly referred to as the Progressive Era spanned from 1890-1920. It represented a progressive shift in what Axinn and Stern (2005) refer to as “the lines between the countryside and the city, between workers and the middle class, between foreigners and native-born, and between men and women” (Axinn & Stern, 2005, p. 127). Not mentioned in this shift is the gruesome treatment of African-Americans under the Southern “Jim Crow” laws which excluded Blacks from political, economic, public, and educational spheres of influence.These measures represented a tightening of oppressive politics and an era of social subservience, which arguably lasts into the present time. Discriminatory efforts took shape in black segregation in white social settings and strategically limiting Blacks right to vote with a combination of the grandfather clause, poll taxes and violent efforts at voting sites (Woloch & Johnson, 2009). Progressive era political reform was seen as necessary, but changing the attitudes and actions toward Blacks in the South was not on this political agenda.
The hostile environment of the South combined with the loss of jobs and the threat of lynching, encouraged the migration of many Blacks to the north. It is estimated that from 1890 to 1910, roughly 200,000 African Americans left the South and this number continued to increase during World War I (Woloch & Johnson, 2009). The move north represented employment opportunities in the textile industry, in large factories, automobile production and the famed meat packing industry of New York, but were still not from the harassment and discrimination that characterized this period of being Black in America. Axinn and Stern (2005) surmise that “the Black population was generally unaffected by reform activities and the social welfare benefits that resulted from them. In an era marked by economic progress and social mobility, the group remained poor and powerless” (Axinn & Stern, 2005, p. 132).
Despite the bleak picture painted by Axinn and Stern, African-American leadership was not at a shortage and “powerless” certainly does not describe the Black pioneers of this era. Notable Black change agents including Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915...
, W.E.B. Du Bois
W.E.B. Du Bois
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, and editor. Born in Massachusetts, Du Bois attended Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate...
, Ida B. Wells
Ida B. Wells
Ida Bell Wells-Barnett was an African American journalist, newspaper editor and, with her husband, newspaper owner Ferdinand L. Barnett, an early leader in the civil rights movement. She documented lynching in the United States, showing how it was often a way to control or punish blacks who...
and Mary McLeod Bethune
Mary McLeod Bethune
Mary Jane McLeod Bethune was an American educator and civil rights leader best known for starting a school for African American students in Daytona Beach, Florida, that eventually became Bethune-Cookman University and for being an advisor to President Franklin D...
helped lead the fight for Black equality and opportunity. Similarly influential but less well noted activists include Mary Church Terrell
Mary Church Terrell
Mary Church Terrell , daughter of former slaves, was one of the first African-American women to earn a college degree. She became an activist who led several important associations and worked for civil rights and suffrage....
, Nannie Helen Burroughs
Nannie Helen Burroughs
Nannie Helen Burroughs, was an African American educator, orator, religious leader, and businesswoman. She gained national recognition for her 1900 speech "How the Sisters Are Hindered from Helping," at the National Baptist Convention. She founded the National Training School for Women and Girls...
and Mary Morris Burnett Talbert, who is a noted international activist, educator, leader and social reformer. In a 1916 speech Talbert states, “no Negro woman can afford to be an indifferent spectator of the social, moral, religious, economic, and uplift problems that are agitated around [her]” (Williams, 1994). Her life’s work embodies these principles of dedication and hard work to improve the plight of Blacks and all people during this era.
A Summary of Mary Talbert's Accomplishments
- Founded in 1901 the Christian Culture Congress, a literary society and forum, bringing nationally prominent Black leaders such as W. E. B. Du Bois and Mary Church Terrell to Buffalo to speak at the Michigan Avenue Baptist Church.
- Protested the exclusion of Blacks from the 1901 Pan-American ExpositionPan-American ExpositionThe Pan-American Exposition was a World's Fair held in Buffalo, New York, United States, from May 1 through November 2, 1901. The fair occupied of land on the western edge of what is present day Delaware Park, extending from Delaware Ave. to Elmwood Ave and northward to Great Arrow...
Planning Commission, which resulted in the inclusion of a Negro Exhibit to feature cultural and economic achievements of African Americans. Also in 1901, lectured at the Biennial Conference of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) in Buffalo; instrumental in local arrangements - Joined the Phyllis Wheatley Club, the first club in Buffalo to affiliate with the NACWC, eventually served as the club's president
- Co-organized the Niagara MovementNiagara MovementThe Niagara Movement was a black civil rights organization founded in 1905 by a group led by W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter. It was named for the "mighty current" of change the group wanted to effect and Niagara Falls, the Canadian side of which was where the first meeting took...
, a precursor to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the beginning of 20th century American civil rights activism - Co-founded Buffalo's first chapter of the NAACP in 1910, as well as NAACP chapters in Texas and Louisiana; elected Board member and vice president of the NAACP; served as National Director of the NAACP Anti-Lynching Campaign in 1921; eighth recipient and first woman to be awarded the highest honor by the NAACP, the Spingarn MedalSpingarn MedalThe Spingarn Medal is awarded annually by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for outstanding achievement by an African American....
. - Served as a Red CrossInternational Red Cross and Red Crescent MovementThe International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human...
nurse and YMCAYMCAThe Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
secretary in Romagne, France during World War I; offered classes to African-American soldiers; sold thousands of dollars of Liberty BondLiberty bondA Liberty Bond was a war bond that was sold in the United States to support the allied cause in World War I. Subscribing to the bonds became a symbol of patriotic duty in the United States and introduced the idea of financial securities to many citizens for the first time. The Act of Congress which...
s as a traveling speaker served on the Women's Committee of National Defense. - Appointed to the Women's Committee on International Relations, which was responsible for selecting female nominees for positions in the League of NationsLeague of NationsThe League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
- Joined the Empire State Federation of Colored Women as a Charter Member, eventually serving as the Federation's Parliamentarian and President.
- Elected President (1916–1921) of the NACWC; represented the NACWC as the first African-American delegate to the International Council of Women (ICW) at their 5th congress in Norway in 1920
- Restored the Frederick Douglass home in Anacostia, D.C.; elected president-for-life of the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association
- Lectured in 11 European nations on the conditions of African-Americans in the United States, earning extensive press coverage.
- Cofounded the International Council of Women of the Darker Races in Washington, D.C., in 1922
- First Worthy Matron of Naomi Chapter No.10 Prince Hall Order Eastern Star, subordinate chapter of Eureka Grand Chapter Prince Hall Order Eastern Star Inc. State of NY
Accounts of Mary Talbert's Leadership
Hallie Quinn BrownHallie Quinn Brown
Hallie Quinn Brown was an African American educator, writer and activist.-Biography:Brown was born March 10, 1850 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one of six children. Her parents Frances Jane Scroggins and Thomas Arthur Brown were freed slaves. She attended Wilberforce University in Ohio, gaining a...
(1999), having the opportunity to befriend Mary Talbert, details a personal side of this phenomenal woman stating,
"Mrs. Talbert possessed a kind, thoughtful, generous nature. She did not hesitate to do the smallest deed to the humblest person in any possible way. For if one does not possess these qualities in the small things in life she can never fully expand to the greater ones. Her personality was most charming, her smile an object of beauty. She possessed a ready and versatile tongue and pen. A letter from her was almost equal to a face to face conversation. She was at once graceful and gracious. By her ability, her oratory and her pleasing personality, she held the undivided attention of an audience…”(The New York Public Library - Hallie Q. Brown, 1999).
Capturing the attention of an audience was not limited to Talbert’s speaking engagements; some of her most formidable actions came in the form of letters detailing the strategy and philosophy behind movements such as the anti-lynching crusade. In a 1922 letter printed in the Crisis magazine, Talbert outlines the urgency of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs commitment to an anti-lynching campaign that did not divide among racial lines. In the opening lines she asserts: “The hour has come in America for every woman, white and black, to save the name of her beloved country from shame by demanding that the barbarous custom of lynching and burning at the stake be stopped now and forever” (Talbert, 1922).
Lobbying the support of white woman’s organizations, Talbert recognized the human element in lynching that extended beyond race to basic human rights. Her efforts were bold and likely dangerous as she elicited the contributions of Jewish women and Christian women in what she labeled “American womanhood…working for one particular objective…” (Talbert, 1922). She was well respected in the community of female leaders and Mary White Ovington
Mary White Ovington
Mary White Ovington was a suffragette, socialist, Unitarian, journalist, and co-founder of the NAACP.-Biography:...
, also influential in the Nation Association for the Advancement of Colored People, expressed to the National Women’s Party that “Mrs. Talbert is able, liberal in thought, and perhaps the best known colored woman in the United States today” (Ovington, 1920).
Although Talbert was well received in some organizational circles, there were other venues that despite her recognition and champion for women’s rights, she was still judged by the color of her skin. Mary Jane Brown (2000) highlights Talbert’s official 1920 trip to Europe to attend the International Council of Women in Christiana, Norway as a delegate. In Paris, Talbert was with three other white female delegates and was not allowed into a dining room for breakfast because of her race. In every other country on this tour she was treated well, but not allowed to a tea sponsored by the YWCA in Paris (Brown, 2000, p. 39).
This slice of history raises numerous questions regarding the status of gender and race not only in the United States but in the international community. Talbert was well aware of national and international perceptions of her prominence and the ideological environment that she sought to advance. In a short essay titled “Women and Colored Women,” Mary Talbert offers her opinion of the gender and race dynamic in terms of women’s voting right by stating, "It should not be necessary to struggle forever against popular prejudice, and with us as colored women, this struggle becomes two-fold, first because we are women and second, because we are colored women. Although some resistance is experienced in portions of our country against the ballot for women, I firmly believe that enlightened men are now numerous enough everywhere to encourage this just privilege of the ballot for women, ignoring prejudice of all kinds…by her peculiar position the colored woman has gained clear powers of observation and judgment-exactly the sort of powers which are today peculiarly necessary to the building of an ideal country" (Talbert, 1915).
Mary Talbert was certainly a powerful woman who reflected a lasting commitment toward improving the social welfare of women and African-Americans. In 1922 her numerous accomplishments were recognized as she became the first black woman to receive the coveted NAACP’s Springarn Award, not only for her successful work in anti-lynching campaigns but her leadership in the Phyllis Wheatley Club of Colored Women, charter member status of the Empire Federation of Women's Clubs and her headship in preserving and restoring the Frederick Douglass Home in Anacostia as previously mentioned (Williams, 1993).