Biography of E. Azalia Smith Hackley (1867-1922), African-american Singer and Social Activist

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Year:
Pages:436
ISBN:0-7734-7575-3
978-0-7734-7575-5
Price:$259.95 + shipping
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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

Table of contents (main headings):
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

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