Maud A. B. Fuller

Last updated

Maud A. B. Fuller
Photo of Maud A. B. Fuller.jpg
Born
Maud Anna Berry

(1868-10-07)October 7, 1868
Lockhart, Texas
DiedJanuary 26, 1972(1972-01-26) (aged 103)
Lockhart, Texas
NationalityAmerican
Alma materTillotson College, Guadalupe College
Occupation(s)Educator, Editor, Missionary
Spouse
William Handy Fuller
​
​
(m. 1914⁠–⁠1941)​

Maud Anna Berry Fuller (October 7, 1868 - January 26, 1972), also known as M. A. B. Smith and M. A. B. Fuller, was an American educator and a leader in the Baptist church. She was the founder and the editor of the Woman's Helper, a national newspaper. Fuller served for 41 years as the president of the National Baptist Convention's Women's Auxiliary.

Contents

Biography

Maud Anna Berry was born in Lockhart, Texas on October 7, 1868. [1] [2] She was the daughter of Hugh and Anna Berry. [3] She attended Tillotson College and then went on to Guadalupe College. [4] Berry went on to teach for some time in Seguin, Texas. [5] She later taught in Austin, Texas and in other Texas cities. [3] [2]

Before 1913, Berry used the married name Mrs. M. A. B. Smith. At this time, she was the corresponding secretary of the Women's Auxiliary, General Baptist State Convention of Texas and ran the Missionary Training School of Guadalupe. [6]

Smith married William Handy Fuller in 1914, taking his last name. They were together until his death in 1941. [2] [7] Later, in 1932, they would purchase and run the N.W. Rhambo Funeral Parlor and a funeral home. [2] The Fullers were known for taking in orphans and providing education for young people and educated them both at her home and abroad. [8] Margaret Taylor Simms, was orphaned at 13 and came to live with Fuller. [9] Simms would go on to work at Fisk as a dean. [9] [10] Maude Fuller George of Liberia graduated from the Florida Normal and Industrial Institute in 1943. [11]

She became the secretary to the Woman's Auxiliary of the National Baptist Convention in 1916 and then became president in 1928. [1] She wrote literature for missionaries, including Guides for Home and Foreign Missionary Societies. [12] [4] She also founded and edited the national newspaper, the Woman's Helper. [2]

Fuller raised the money to build a mission in Liberia in 1944. [13] She went on several missions to Africa, including the one that secured the land for the permanent mission in Liberia. [2] She also gave speeches and spoke about her missionary work around the country. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]

In 1954, she was given an honorary humanities degree and a doctorate from the Union Baptist Theological Seminary. [3] Fuller retired as the president of the Woman's Auxiliary of the National Baptist Convention in 1968 and became the president emeritus. [20]

Fuller died on January 26, 1972, in her home in Lockhart. [2] [8] She is buried in Austin in the Evergreen Cemetery. [3] She was fondly called "Mother Fuller" or "Aunt Maude" by people who knew her. [8] The prayer room of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Austin is named after Fuller. [2]

Related Research Articles

Ruthe Lewin Winegarten was an American author, activist, and historian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessie Daniel Ames</span> American civil rights activist

Jessie Daniel Ames was a suffragist and civil rights leader from Texas who helped create the anti-lynching movement in the American South. She was one of the first Southern white women to speak out and work publicly against lynching of African Americans, murders which white men claimed to commit in an effort to protect women's "virtue." Despite risks to her personal safety, Ames stood up to these men and led organized efforts by white women to protest lynchings. She gained 40,000 signatures of Southern white women to oppose lynching, helping change attitudes and bring about a decline in these murders in the 1930s and 1940s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annie Armstrong</span> Lay Southern Baptist denominational leader (1850-1938)

Annie Walker Armstrong was a lay Southern Baptist denominational leader instrumental in the founding of the Woman's Missionary Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas Women's Hall of Fame</span>

The Texas Women's Hall of Fame was established in 1984 by the Governor's Commission on Women. The honorees are selected biennially from submissions from the public. The honorees must be either native Texans or a resident of Texas at the time of the nomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Allen Seminary</span>

Mary Allen Seminary was the first black women's college in the state of Texas. Initially a parochial school founded and run by white Presbyterians, it was restructured in 1924 and became an accredited junior college with an all-black faculty and black administrator in 1933. The school was closed in 1943, reopened the following year, and operated until 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margie Neal</span> American journalist and politician

Margie Elizabeth Neal was a Texas journalist and politician. She was the first woman elected to the Texas State Senate, in 1926.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernice Love Wiggins</span> American poet

Bernice Love Wiggins was an African American poet writing during the Harlem Renaissance period. Her work was published in the El Paso Herald, the Chicago Defender, the Houston Informer, and other newspapers across Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dallas Equal Suffrage Association</span>

The Dallas Equal Suffrage Association (DESA) was an organization formed in Dallas, Texas in 1913 to support the cause of women's suffrage in Texas. DESA was different from many other suffrage organizations in the United States in that it adopted a campaign which matched the social expectations of Dallas at the time. Members of DESA were very aware of the risk of having women's suffrage "dismissed as 'unladylike' and generally disreputable." DESA "took care to project an appropriate public image." Many members used their status as mothers in order to tie together the ideas of motherhood and suffrage in the minds of voters. The second president of DESA, Erwin Armstrong, also affirmed that women were not trying to be unfeminine, stating at an address at a 1914 Suffrage convention that "women are in no way trying to usurp the powers of men, or by any means striving to wrench from man the divine right to rule." The organization also helped smaller, nearby towns to create their own suffrage campaigns. DESA was primarily committed to securing the vote for white women, deliberately ignoring African American women in the process. Their defense of ignoring black voters was justified by having a policy of working towards "only one social reform at a time."

The Texas Equal Rights Association (TERA) was the first woman's suffrage association to be formed state-wide in Texas. The organization was founded in 1893 and was an affiliate of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. The TERA was meant to "advance the industrial, educational, and equal rights of women, and to secure suffrage to them by appropriate State and national legislation." It was also an answer to Texas Governor James Stephen Hogg, who had stated publicly in a trip to the north that women's suffrage "had not reached Texas". The organization was firmly "non-sectarian", stating that "it has no war to wage on religion, church or kindred societies."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas Equal Suffrage Association</span>

The Texas Equal Suffrage Association (TESA) was an organization founded in 1903 to support white women's suffrage in Texas. It was originally formed under the name of the Texas Woman Suffrage Association (TWSA) and later renamed in 1916. TESA did allow men to join. TESA did not allow black women as members, because at the time to do so would have been "political suicide." The El Paso Colored Woman's Club applied for TESA membership in 1918, but the issue was deflected and ended up going nowhere. TESA focused most of their efforts on securing the passage of the federal amendment for women's right to vote. The organization also became the state chapter of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). After women earned the right to vote, TESA reformed as the Texas League of Women Voters.

Ernestine Viola Glossbrenner was an American educator and politician. She represented District 58 from 1977 to 1983 and District 44 from 1983 to 1993 in the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat.

The Texas Association of Women's Clubs (TAWC) is an umbrella organization of African American women's clubs in Texas. It was first organized as the Texas Federation of Colored Women's Clubs in 1905. The purpose of the group was to allow clubs to work together to improve the social and moral life of people in Texas. The club also spoke on topics of interest to black women in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia Mabel DeBaptiste</span> American journalist and teacher (1867–1957)

Georgia Mabel DeBaptiste (1867–1951) was an African-American journalist, teacher and social worker from Chicago. After completing her education, she taught at various notable black schools before becoming the first woman of African descent to be employed at the Chicago Post Office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roberta Dunbar</span> American clubwoman and peace activist

Roberta Johnson Dunbar was an American clubwoman and peace activist based in Rhode Island. Her first name is sometimes written "Reberta" in sources.

Ada Belle Dement was an American educator and clubwoman. In 1941, she became president of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC).

Connie Yerwood Conner was a Texas physician and first black doctor to serve on the Texas Department of Health.

Lillian Katie Bradley was an American mathematician and mathematics educator who in 1960 became the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate in any subject at the University of Texas at Austin. She accomplished this ten years after African-Americans were first admitted to the school, and despite the dominance of the mathematics department at Austin by R. L. Moore, known for his segregationist views and for his snubs of African-American students.

Helen Edmunds Moore (1881–1968) was a Texan suffragist who became president of the Texas League of Women Voters and served three terms in the Texas House of Representatives. The Moore Memorial Public Library in Texas City, Texas, is named after her.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josie Briggs Hall</span> American writer and teacher

Josie Briggs Hall was an American writer and teacher. She wrote the first book published by a black Texan woman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederica Chase Dodd</span> American clubwoman

Frederica Chase Dodd was an American educator, social worker, and clubwoman, one of the founders of Delta Sigma Theta.

References

  1. 1 2 Winegarten, Ruthe (1996). Black Texas Women: A Sourcebook. Janet G. Humphrey and Frieda Werden, Consulting Editors. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. p. 249. ISBN   9780292785564.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Craig, Algerene Akins (2010). "Fuller, Maud Anna Berry". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Maud Anna Berry Smith Fuller - Austin - TX - US". Historical Marker Project. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  4. 1 2 "First Ladies of Colored America - No. 12". The Crisis. 50 (9): 272. September 1943 – via Google Books.
  5. ↑ Glasrud, Bruce A. (2008). "Time of Transition: Black Women in Early Twentieth-Century Texas, 1900-1930". In Glasrud, Bruce A.; Pitre, Merline (eds.). Black Women in Texas History. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press. pp. 108–109. ISBN   9781603444095.
  6. ↑ Bacote, Samuel William (1913). Who's who among the colored Baptists of the United States: volume I. Kansas City, Mo.: Franklin Hudson Pub. Co. pp. 80–81.
  7. ↑ Smith, A. Arro. "Fuller Funeral Home". The Business of Burying the Dead in Early East Austin: Black-owned Mortuaries. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 Thomas, Willa (February 12, 1972). "Church Events". Indianapolis Recorder. Retrieved February 22, 2018– via Hoosier State Chronicles.
  9. 1 2 Malone, Sheterric; Beasley, Marsha (1993). "Margaret Simms Collection Papers, 1950-1974" (PDF). Fisk University. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
  10. ↑ Major, Gerri (March 3, 1960). "Society". Jet. 17 (19): 38 – via Google Books.
  11. ↑ "Liberian Graduate". The Crisis. 50 (8): 254. August 1943 – via Google Books.
  12. ↑ Library of Congress Copyright Office (1921). Catalogue of Copyright Entries. Vol. 18. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. p. 51.
  13. ↑ Winegarten, Ruthe; Kahn, Sharon (1997). Brave Black Women: From Slavery to the Space Shuttle. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. p. 44. ISBN   9780292785557.
  14. ↑ "Mrs. M.A.B. Fuller is New Light Speaker". San Antonio Register (San Antonio, Tex.). 9 (43): 8. November 24, 1939 – via The Portal to Texas History.
  15. ↑ "Noted Baptists". Indianapolis Recorder. October 13, 1951. p. 8. Retrieved February 20, 2018– via Hoosier State Chronicles.
  16. ↑ "Out-Of-State Leaders Will Include Texan". Tampa Bay Times. March 14, 1960. p. 20. Retrieved February 21, 2018– via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "Baptist Leader to Speak Here". Arizona Republic. August 12, 1939. p. 6. Retrieved February 22, 2018– via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "Women Hear President". The Pittsburgh Courier. September 20, 1952. p. 4. Retrieved February 22, 2018– via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ "Annual Meeting of Woman's Missionary Union, Southern Baptist Convention". Word and Way. May 28, 1942. p. 7. Retrieved February 22, 2018– via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ "J.C. Sams Is Reelected by Baptists". The Times. September 9, 1968. p. 4. Retrieved February 22, 2018– via Newspapers.com.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.