Maria Louise Baldwin
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Maria Louise Baldwin (September 13, 1856 – January 9, 1922) was an American
educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...
and civic leader born and raised in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
,
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
. She lived almost all of her life in Cambridge and Boston. Writing in 1917,
W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relativel ...
claimed she had achieved the greatest distinction in education to that time of any African-American not working in segregated schools.


Biography

Baldwin was born to Peter L. and Mary E. Baldwin in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She received all of her education in the city's public schools. In 1874, Baldwin graduated from Cambridge High School and a year later from the Cambridge training school for teachers. Despite her obvious talents as a teacher, she was not hired by the Cambridge Public Schools but instead first taught in a segregated school in
Chestertown, Maryland Chestertown is a town in Kent County, Maryland, United States. The population was 5,532 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Kent County, the oldest county in Maryland. History Founded in 1706, Chestertown ...
for two years. After her father's death in 1880, she returned to Cambridge. Protests from the Cambridge African American community then led to her being hired to teach at the Agassiz school, a well regarded public school attended by middle class white children. In 1889 Baldwin was appointed principal, the first African-American female principal in Massachusetts and the Northeast. As principal, Baldwin supervised white faculty and a predominantly white student body. In 1916 when a new Agassiz school was erected, Baldwin was made master. She was one of only two women in the Cambridge school system who held the position of master and the only African American in
New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
to hold such a position.Baldwin served as principal and master of Agassiz school for forty years. Under her leadership, it became one of the best schools in the city, attended by children of
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
professors and many of the old Cambridge families, becoming popular and respected among the larger Cambridge community. She introduced new methods of teaching mathematics and began art classes. She was the first to introduce the practice of hiring a school nurse. Her school was the only one in the city of Cambridge to establish an "open-air" classroom. Poet
E. E. Cummings Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962), commonly known as e e cummings or E. E. Cummings, was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright. During World War I, he worked as an ambulance driver and was ...
was one of her students and described her thus in his book ''Six Nonlectures:''
Miss Baldwin, the dark lady mentioned in my first nonlecture (and a lady if ever a lady existed) was blessed with a delicious voice, charming manners, and a deep understanding of children. Never did any demidivine dictator more gracefully and easily rule a more unruly and less graceful populace. Her very presence emanated an honour and a glory: the honour of spiritual freedom—not mere freedom from—and the glory of being, not (like most extant mortals) really undead but actually alive. From her I marvellingly learned that the truest power is gentleness.
She lectured widely to both Euro-American and African American organizations. Her best-known presentation was her lecture on Harriet Beecher Stowe, which she first delivered as the Annual Washington's Birthday celebration at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences in 1897. She was the first African American and the first woman to be invited to present this annual lecture. She also taught summer courses for teachers at the
Hampton Institute Hampton University is a private, historically black, research university in Hampton, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, it was established by Black and White leaders of the American Missiona ...
in
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
and the
Institute for Colored Youth The Institute for Colored Youth was founded in 1837 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It became the first college for African-Americans in the United States, although there were schools that admitted African Americans preceding it. ...
in Cheyney,
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and was a supporter of Charlotte Hawkins Brown's Palmer Institute in Sedalia, North Carolina. In the late 1870s, Baldwin joined several Civil Rights groups, becoming a member and secretary of the debate club the Banneker Society, using her position and skills to advocate for women's suffrage and the importance of childhood education. Her home was the central meeting place for the African American community. Beginning in the early 1890s she led a literary group for black Harvard students, among them William Monroe Trotter, William Lewis, and W.E.B. DuBois. She also organized and led the Omar Khayyam Circle, a black literary and intellectual group. Notable members included Clement G. Morgan,
William Monroe Trotter William Monroe Trotter, sometimes just Monroe Trotter (April 7, 1872 – April 7, 1934), was a newspaper editor and real estate businessman based in Boston, Massachusetts. An activist for African-American civil rights, he was an early opponent o ...
, and others who became active in working for civil rights. She belonged to numerous civic and educational organizations, both black and white. Among the white-dominated organizations were the Twentieth Century Club, the Cantabrigia Club, and the Boston Ethical Society. She was also a leader of the black community. In 1893, along with her close friends Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin and Flora Ruffin Ridley she founded the Woman's Era Club, one of the first African American women's clubs. The club published ''The Woman's Era'' the first periodical published by black women. She was a member of the board of directors and in 1903 was elected President of the Boston Literary and Historical Association, an organization of leading black activists who supported black civil rights. She was one of the first women members of the Niagara Movement and a member of the Committee of Forty which organized the founding of the NAACP. Baldwin was an advocate of woman suffrage. She was also an early member of the board of the Boston Branch of the NAACP. She was active in supporting the Robert Gould Shaw House, a settlement house in South Boston. During the First World War, she was central in founding the Soldiers Comfort Unit, which supported black soldiers stationed at Fort Devens. After the war, the group changed its name to the
League of Women for Community Service The League of Women for Community Service, founded in 1918, is a historic Black women's organization in Boston, Massachusetts. History The League of Women for Community Service was founded in 1918 to provide support African American soldiers an ...
. She served as President of the League until her death in 1922. While addressing the council of the Robert Gould Shaw House Association at the
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in
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, on January 9, 1922, she collapsed and died suddenly of
heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...
.


Legacy and honors

*Her home from 1892 on has been preserved as the Maria Baldwin House and was designated as a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
. It is privately owned and not open to the public. *On February 12, 2004, Agassiz School was officially renamed as th
Maria L. Baldwin School
The campaign was initiated by an eighth-grade student at the school and actively supported by other students and the principal. *Baldwin is noted on the
Boston Women's Heritage Trail The Boston Women's Heritage Trail is a series of walking tours in Boston, Massachusetts, leading past sites important to Boston women's history. The tours wind through several neighborhoods, including the Back Bay and Beacon Hill, commemorating w ...
for her connection with the League of Women for Community Service. *The Agassiz neighborhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts was renamed as Baldwin in 2020


Personal life

According to biographer Kathleen Weiler, Baldwin remained single: "As is true of many other aspects of Maria Baldwin's personal life, the reasons she remained single are not known. Her sister Alice also never married" and lived in all-female households with other black women teachers, and her black women associates included Alice Dunbar Nelson, who literary historian Gloria T. Hull concludes had significant lesbian intimacies. Weiler speculates: "Perhaps Maria and Alice Baldwin valued their professional lives over marriage, or they may merely have preferred to remain single. That we have no evidence of Maria's romantic relationships with either men or women does not mean they had no relationships. It means that this part of their history, like so much of the inner life of black women of this generation, is simply unknown."Kathleen Weiler, ''Maria Baldwin's Worlds'' (University of Massachusetts Press, 2019), pp. 156-157.


See also

* Maria Baldwin House


References


Further reading


''The African American Registry: Maria L. Baldwin, graceful educator''''Agassiz Neighborhood Council: Agassiz Neighborhood Notables''''Maria L. Baldwin School: Maria L. Baldwin Biography''
*Mark Schneider, ''Boston Confronts Jim Crow'' (Northeastern University Press, 1997).] *Lorraine Roses, ''Black Bostonians and the Politics of Culture'' (University of Massachusetts Press, 2017).] *Kathleen Weiler, ''Maria Baldwin's Worlds'' (University of Massachusetts Press, 2019).]
''Blackseek.com/black history daily: Maria Baldwin, A Woman of Education''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldwin, Maria Louise 1856 births 1922 deaths 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 19th-century African-American academics 19th-century American women academics 19th-century American academics 20th-century African-American educators African-American women educators American educators Educators from Cambridge, Massachusetts African-American suffragists History of women in Massachusetts