Drusilla Dunjee Houston (née Drusilla Dunjee; January 20, 1876 - February 8, 1941) was an American writer, historian, educator, journalist, musician, and screenwriter from

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

Early life and education

Drusilla Dunjee Houston, born January 20, 1876, in

Harpers Ferry, West Virginia Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 269 at the 2020 United States census. Situated at the confluence of the Potomac River, Potomac and Shenandoah River, Shenandoah Rivers in the ...

, was the daughter of Rev.

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

and Lydia Ann (Taylor) Dunjee. Her father was an alumnus of

Storer College Storer College was a historically Black college in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, that operated from 1867 to 1955. A national icon for Black Americans, in the town where the 'end of American slavery began', as Frederick Douglass famously put i ...

, a preacher and teacher, working at what was then a normal school under the auspices of the Baptist Missionary Association. Drusilla was sent to finishing school in the North and studied

classical piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

at the Northwestern Conservatory of Music in

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. Of her nine siblings, only Roscoe, Irving, Blanche, and Ella survived to adulthood.

Career

In 1892 the family moved to

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

, Oklahoma Territory, where their father was assigned by the Baptists. From 1892 to 1898, Dunjee taught kindergarten and elementary school in Oklahoma City. In 1899, she eloped with Price Houston. They settled in

McAlester, Oklahoma McAlester is the county seat of Pittsburg County, Oklahoma. The population was 18,363 at the time of the 2010 census, a 3.4 percent increase from 17,783 at the 2000 census.Shuller, Thurman"McAlester" profile ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and ...

, in what was still

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

. The state was admitted to the Union in 1908. There Houston founded McAlester Seminary for Girls, leading it for 12 years. She was hired by the Baptists in 1917 to serve as principal of the Oklahoma Baptist College for Girls, and moved to

Sapulpa, Oklahoma Sapulpa is a city in and the county seat of Creek County, Oklahoma, Creek County, extending partly into Tulsa County, Oklahoma, Tulsa County, in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 21,929 at the time of the 2020 United States census, ...

. She served as principal for six years. When Houston returned to Oklahoma City after this, she started the Oklahoma Vocational Institute of Fine Arts and Crafts. After 1934 Houston served as religious director of the Oklahoma Home for Delinquent Boys. Her father had died in 1903, causing her mother and younger siblings to struggle financially; her younger brother,

Roscoe Dunjee Roscoe Dunjee (1883–1965) was an American civil rights activist, journalist, and editor in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He founded '' The Black Dispatch'' in 1915, the first black newspaper in Oklahoma City, and used it as a platform to support civ ...

, took on a good part of supporting them. First he expanded their family farm to produce vegetables and other produce for sale. Irving Dunjee left Oklahoma for Chicago and New York City, where he worked in journalism, becoming managing editor of the ''Chicago Enterprise'' (a paper later renamed '' The Chicago World'') and editor of '' The Negro Champion'', respectively in those two cities. In 1915 her brother Roscoe Dunjee had founded the ''Oklahoma Black Dispatch'', the first black newspaper in Oklahoma City or the state. Houston had joined him in writing for the newspaper even before she returned to the city, serving as a contributing editor and columnist. At the same time, around that year, she wrote ''Spirit of the South: The Maddened Mob'', a script objecting ''

The Birth of a Nation ''The Birth of a Nation'' is a 1915 American Silent film, silent Epic film, epic Drama (film and television), drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 novel and ...

'', by

David Wark Griffith David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the n ...

, but she was never able to produce it out of fear for her life. Houston became an independent historian. Beginning in 1901, she conducted research into a variety of sources and published a multi-volume history of Africans in their homeland, ''Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire'' (1926). While the work is now dated, it was influential as part of an early 20th-century effort by African Americans in the United States to document their African ancestors as peoples with complex, ancient history and civilizations. Houston was a co-founder of Oklahoma chapters of the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swit ...

, the Red Cross, and the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

, all based in Oklahoma City. She was an early leader of the Oklahoma Federation of Colored Women's Clubs. In 1932, her brother Roscoe Dunjee led several NAACP chapters to come together to form a state organization. She was a co-founder of the Dogan Reading Room of Oklahoma and served as its president.

Death and legacy

She died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

on February 8, 1941, in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. She had moved there for her health, as the dry climate was believed to benefit people with lung disease, and TB was incurable at the time. The

Black Classic Press Black Classic Press (BCP) is an African-American book publishing company, founded by W. Paul Coates in 1978. Since then, BCP has published original titles by notable authors including Walter Mosley, John Henrik Clarke, E. Ethelbert Miller, Yosef ...

of Baltimore established ''Drusilla Dunjee Houston Memorial Scholarship Award'' for "an emerging female scholar of African descent to foster scholarly research in Africana Women’s history"

Selected works

*'' Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire'' (1926) *Spirit of the South, The Maddened Mob (1915)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Houston, Drusilla Dunjee 1876 births 1941 deaths People from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia 20th-century American writers African-American activists Women film pioneers Clubwomen 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century American women writers 20th-century African-American writers 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Arizona