Speaker 1: Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
Speaker 1: is Womanica. This month we're talking about women of sound.
Speaker 1: These women dominated the airwaves, innovating, documenting, and creating the
Speaker 1: audio landscape we live in today. Today we're talking about
Speaker 1: a musicologist and activist credited with curating one of the
Speaker 1: earliest collections of African and American music. Please welcome Maud
Speaker 1: Cuney Hare. Maud was born in eighteen seventy four in Galveston, Texas.
Speaker 1: She grew up in the South during the early Jim
Speaker 1: Crow era with mixed race parents, inheriting a difficult legacy.
Speaker 1: Her paternal grandfather had been one of the biggest enslavers
Speaker 1: in Texas. Eventually, he freed his mixed children, including Maud's father,
Speaker 1: and sent them to study. From the earliest days of
Speaker 1: Maud's life, there was a keen emphasis on education and
Speaker 1: culture in the Cuney home. Maud's father recited Shakespeare and
Speaker 1: played by ellen. Maud's mother played piano. Both of Maud's
Speaker 1: parents were accomplished singers. After graduating high school, Maud moved
Speaker 1: to Boston to study piano at the New England Conservatory
Speaker 1: of Music. At the Conservatory Maud and another mixed race
Speaker 1: student became the target of pro segregation protests. Under high
Speaker 1: pressure from their white patrons. The conservatory administration wrote to
Speaker 1: Maud's father and suggested she move off campus, but Maud resisted.
Speaker 1: She said, I refused to leave the dormitory, and because
Speaker 1: of this was subjected to many petty and dignities. I
Speaker 1: insisted upon proper treatment. Maud's revolution at the Conservatory attracted
Speaker 1: the attention of a civil rights activist and sociologist living
Speaker 1: just a few miles away at Harvard, W. E. B.
Speaker 1: Du Bois. He and other students showed up in support
Speaker 1: of Maud. Eventually, their friendship led to a brief engagement,
Speaker 1: which fizzled out. Du Bois later called Maud the Bravest woman.
Speaker 1: After Maud graduated from the Conservatory, she went on to
Speaker 1: attend Harvard's Lowell Institute for Literary Students while taking private
Speaker 1: piano lessons. By nineteen eighty seven, Maud returned to Galveston, Texas,
Speaker 1: where she held the musical director title at a school
Speaker 1: for black children with disabilities. Maud continued to stand up
Speaker 1: for her beliefs while working as a professional musician. According
Speaker 1: to one story, Maud was scheduled to perform at the
Speaker 1: Austin Opera House, where black audience members were only allowed
Speaker 1: to sit in the balconies. When the theater declined to
Speaker 1: desegregate her show, Maud and a fellow pianist decided to
Speaker 1: cancel the concert date entirely. Instead, they took the show
Speaker 1: to the Black school where Maud taught. In eighteen ninety eight,
Speaker 1: Maud married her first husband, Jay Frank McKinley. He persuaded
Speaker 1: her to move to Chicago together and try passing as
Speaker 1: Spanish Americans to escape racism, but her time there didn't
Speaker 1: last long. Soon after having their first child, Via, the
Speaker 1: couple parted ways. Maud no longer wanted to pass. In response,
Speaker 1: McKinley filed for divorce and won custody of Vira. Maud
Speaker 1: wouldn't see her daughter again until tragically, Via died at
Speaker 1: eight years old. By nineteen oh four, Maud had returned
Speaker 1: to Boston and met her second husband, William Parker Hare.
Speaker 1: During this time, she became more heavily involved with other
Speaker 1: black intellectuals and political activists. In nineteen oh seven, Maud
Speaker 1: joined the Niagara Movement, an organization founded by W. E.
Speaker 1: B du Bois and the forerunner to the NAACP. Maud
Speaker 1: was one of the Niagara Movement's first female members. Over
Speaker 1: the next decades, Maud continued fighting against racial discrimination while
Speaker 1: also growing her musical and arts career. She performed and
Speaker 1: toured alongside baritone William Howard Richardson, and she founded and
Speaker 1: managed the Allied Artist's Center, a nonprofit, community based organization
Speaker 1: to support performers of color. Maud contributed to various journals
Speaker 1: and magazines, including the NAACP's publication The Crisis. She was
Speaker 1: its musical editor. She also wrote a biography of her
Speaker 1: father and a play titled Untar of Arab in nineteen
Speaker 1: twenty nine. The play intermixed Arabian folk music with poetry
Speaker 1: and revolved around the warrior poet Untar. At some point
Speaker 1: Maud traveled to Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
Speaker 1: It's unclear the exact dates, but her most renowned project
Speaker 1: derived from these voyages. While traveling, she conducted primary research
Speaker 1: on the music of these locations. She pulled for more
Speaker 1: than just instruments in songbooks. She studied rituals, dances, mysticism,
Speaker 1: and entertainment as important factors in the creation of music.
Speaker 1: She created a compilation of Black folk music and dance history.
Speaker 1: One of the first of its kind, This book defined
Speaker 1: her role as an authority in black musicology. Unfortunately, Maud
Speaker 1: struggled to find a publisher. She died of cancer in
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty six before her collection was published that same year.
Speaker 1: The book wasn't a commercial success, but today Maud is
Speaker 1: remembered as a musician, musicologist, and activist who celebrated and
Speaker 1: commemorated black music. All month, We're talking about Women of Sound.
Speaker 1: For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Wamanica Podcast special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister
Speaker 1: and co creator. Talk to you tomorrow