Hallie Brown
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Hallie Quinn Brown (abt. 1850 - 1949)

Hallie Quinn Brown
Born about in Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, USAmap
Died at about age 99 in Wilberforce, Greene, Ohio, United Statesmap
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Biography

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Hallie Brown is Notable.

Hallie Quinn Brown was an American educator, author, speaker, and activist.

Hallie Quinn Brown was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, around 1850, [1] [2] one of six children of Frances Jane Scroggins and Thomas Arthur Brown, both of whom were former slaves. [3] Hallie's father, Thomas Arthur Brown, "was the son of a Scottish woman who owned a Maryland plantation, and the plantation’s Black overseer." Her father had been allowed to purchase his freedom. Her mother, Frances Jane Scroggins, "was freed by one of her grandfathers who was a white Revolutionary War officer and plantation owner." In Hallie's early life in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she "witnessed the commitment of her parents to fight the horrible and unjustifiable treatment of African Americans through their active involvement with the Underground Railroad." [4]

The family moved to Canada in 1864, then settled in Ohio where, in 1870, she was living with her parents and a younger brother in Xenia, while attending Wilberforce University.[5] She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1873 as one of the first African American women to graduate from Wilberforce University. In 1886 she graduated from the Chautauqua Lecture School. She was awarded an honorary Master’s degree by Wilberforce in 1890 and an honorary Doctorate of Law in 1936.[4]

Brown was highly regarded as a professional elocutionist, and gave extensive performances.[4] "In her era, she was recognized as one of the greatest elocutionists across two continents, Europe and America. Though she rarely appears in history books, Brown's legacy can be found in today’s speech-language pathologists and spoken word artists."[6] "There are people who give great speeches, and there are those who perform them. Hallie Quinn Brown was one of the few who performed speeches."[6]

Initially Hallie was a teacher, with her career starting at freedman’s plantation schools in South Carolina and Mississippi for the first twelve years after she graduated. [7] "Due to the prominence of lynching and other violent attacks against Blacks in the South, her career continued in northern public schools. Later she held faculty positions at various universities. Her career culminated with appointments as dean of Allen University, dean of women at Tuskegee Institute and trustee at Wilberforce University."[4]

Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction, compiled and edited by Brown in 1926, "is one of her more robust and enduring challenges to those who doubted the suitability of Black women voters." The book was a collaboration of more than twenty-five women that countered the era's stereotypical view of who and what Black women were. "It contains 60 biographical sketches, essays, and poems of the leading Black women of the era from all backgrounds."[6]

Hallie never married or had children. In 1900 and 1910 she was living with her widowed mother and working in Xenia, Ohio.[8][9] After her mother died in 1914, Hallie continued to work as a teacher and lecturer, and remained based in Xenia for the rest of her life.[10][11]

Hallie Quinn Brown died 16 September 1949, in Wilberforce, Ohio,[12] and is buried at Massies Creek Cemetery in Cedarville, Ohio.[13] She was survived by three nieces.[14]

Research Notes

On the uncertain year of her birth:

  • Wikipedia and her actual gravestone give her birth year as 1850 -- Wikipedia further says March 10; however, she was not listed with her parents in the October 1850 census in Philadelphia.

[15] The 1860 census entry has not been found.

  • Hallie herself listed 10 March 1854 as her birth date on her 1894 passport application,[2] but it must be noted that with each decade, her age listed on the census progressed less than ten years: the 1870 census put her birth year around 1851; the 1880 census put her birth year around 1855 -- in fact, every census gives a different year.
  • Wikipedia says 1850, but uses a source that says 1845.
  • WikiData names two sources that claim 1849.

Sources

  1. See Research Notes for explanation of uncertainty.
  2. 2.0 2.1 1894 Passport Application: "U.S., Passport Applications, 1795-1925,"
    National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; NARA Series: Passport Applications, 1795-1905; Roll #: 431; Volume #: Roll 431 - 01, Oct 1894-31 Oct 1894
    Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 1174 #154162 (accessed 2 March 2023)
    Name: Hallie Q Brown; Age: 40; Birth Date: 12 Mar 1854; Birth Place: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Residence Place: Wilberforce, Ohio; Passport Issue Date: 24 Oct 1894; Has Photo: No.
  3. Wikipedia contributors, "Hallie Quinn Brown," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, (accessed March 12, 2023)
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Hallie Quinn Brown", Library of Congress Digital Collections, (online: Today in History, March 10).
  5. 1870 Census: "1870 United States Federal Census"
    Year: 1870; Census Place: Xenia, Greene, Ohio; Roll: M593_1205; Page: 254B
    Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 7163 #40712206, (accessed 2 March 2023)
    Hariet Brown (19), At Home, in Xenia, Greene, Ohio. Born in Pennsylvania about 1851.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Dr. Mia L. Carey, "Hallie Quinn Brown (ca. 1850- 1949)," Exploring the Meaning of Black Womanhood Series: Hidden Figures in NPS Places; (online: National Park Service).
  7. Judith Felson Duchan and Yvette D. Hyter, "Elocutionist Hallie Quinn Brown," The ASHA Leader, Volume 13, Issue 2 (online: February 2008).
  8. 1900 Census: "1900 United States Federal Census"
    Year: 1900; Census Place: Xenia, Greene, Ohio; Roll: 1272; Page: 3; Enumeration District: 0095; FHL microfilm: 1241272
    Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 7602 #40129876 (accessed 2 March 2023)
    Hattie Q Brown (42), single daughter, Professional, in household of Frances J Brown (79) in Xenia, Greene, Ohio. Born in Pennsylvania, USA about 1858.
  9. 1910 Census: "1910 United States Federal Census"
    Year: 1910; Census Place: Xenia, Greene, Ohio; Roll: T624_1185; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 0099; FHL microfilm: 1375198
    Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 7884 #135730779 (accessed 2 March 2023)
    Hallie I Baown (58), single daughter, Elocutionist, in household of Frances J Baown (92) in Xenia, Greene, Ohio, USA. Born in Pennsylvania about 1852.
  10. 1930 Census: "1930 United States Federal Census"
    Year: 1930; Census Place: Xenia, Greene, Ohio; Page: 15A; Enumeration District: 0027; FHL microfilm: 2341538
    Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 6224 #72448516 (accessed 2 March 2023)
    Hallie I Brown (64), single, Teacher and Lecturer, head of household on Shorter Road, Xenia, Greene, Ohio, USA. Born in Pennsylvania about 1866.
  11. 1940 Census: "1940 United States Federal Census"
    Year: 1940; Census Place: Xenia, Greene, Ohio; Roll: m-t0627-03074; Page: 61A; Enumeration District: 29-35
    Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 2442 #37308300 (accessed 2 March 2023)
    Hallie Q Brown (80), single head of household in Xenia, Greene, Ohio. Born in Pennsylvania about 1860.
  12. Death: "Ohio, U.S., Death Records, 1908-1932, 1938-2018"
    Ohio Department of Health; Columbus, Ohio; Ohio Deaths, 1945-1957,
    Ancestry Record 5763 #8225269 (accessed 2 March 2023),
    Hallie Brown, death. 16 Sep 1949 in USA.
  13. Memorial: Find a Grave (has photos, including a legible image of her gravestone),
    Find A Grave: Memorial #21210, (accessed 2 March 2023);
    Memorial page for Hallie Quinn Brown Famous memorial (10 Mar 1850-16 Sep 1949), citing Massies Creek Cemetery, Cedarville, Greene County, Ohio, USA; Maintained by Find a Grave.
  14. Obituary, Free View of Image, The Journal Herald, Dayton, Ohio, Monday, Sept 19, 1949, p.17.
  15. "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M448-P8C : 21 December 2020), Thomas Brown, Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); 23 Oct 1850.

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