Sarah Elizabeth Tanner (May 18, 1840 — August 2, 1914) was active as a missionary worker and a religious leader in the

African Methodist Episcopal Church The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a Methodist denomination based in the United States. It adheres to Wesleyan theology, Wesleyan–Arminian theology and has a connexionalism, connexional polity. It ...

. She was the wife of

Benjamin Tucker Tanner Benjamin Tucker Tanner (December 25, 1835 – January 14, 1923) was an American clergyman and editor. He edited ''The Christian Recorder'', an influential African American Methodist newspaper, and later founded ''A.M.E. Church Review, The AM ...

. She was the mother of the artist

Henry Ossawa Tanner Henry Ossawa Tanner (June 21, 1859 – May 25, 1937) was an American artist who spent much of his career in France. He became the first African-American art, African-American painter to gain international acclaim. Tanner moved to Paris, France, ...

and the physician Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson, and the grandmother of civil rights activist

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (January 2, 1898 – November 1, 1989) was a pioneering Black professional and civil rights activist of the early-to-mid-20th century. In 1921, Mossell Alexander was the second African-American woman to receive a ...

. She was the subject of two portraits by her son, his ''Portrait of an Artist's Mother'' and ''Mother of Henry O.''

Biography

Sarah Tanner was born in Winchester, Virginia as Sarah Elizabeth Miller, the daughter of Charles Jefferson Miller (1808 — 1856) and Louise (Saunders) Miller (1809 — ?), and one of their six children. Charles was the mulatto son of a Virginia planter who took his family to "the free state of Pennsylvania" in 1846, driving them north in an ox cart. Alternatively, the family may have moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1843. Sarah's father took work as a porter in Pittsburgh, but passed away when she was 16. Homeschooled, she was able to attend Avery College, and became a teacher after her father's death. Her studies at college were cut short with her father's death. There is another version of Sarah's history, in which she was said to be one of eleven children born to an enslaved mother, who sent Sarah north using the Underground Railroad. In this version of the story, the family was divided up by the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society, and Sarah was sent to Pittsburgh. She married Benjamin Tucker Tanner in 1858.

Life

With her husband she had nine children, managing to raise seven of them to adulthood. She was praised for her devotion to her family, working as a homemaker for more than 25 years and managing her family's finances. Married to a Methodist minister (later a Bishop), her own religious convictions were strong, and she taught children in her church's Sabbath School. She also engaged in missionary work, acting as president and treasurer of the "Parent Mite Missionary Society." As her children matured, she was able to devote more time to missionary work, traveling "throughout the country."

Death and interment

A resident of 2908 Diamond Street in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Pennsylvania in her early seventies, Tanner died at the age of 74 in Philadelphia on August 2, 1914. She was interred at the Merion Memorial Park in

Bala Cynwyd Bala Cynwyd ( ) is a community and census-designated place in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located on the Philadelphia Main Line in Southeastern Pennsylvania and borders the western edge of Philadelphia at U.S. Rou ...

."Sarah E. Tanner, 2908 Diamond street" in
$100,000 Holdings of Alfred D. Silliman Co. to Family
" Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: ''Evening Ledger'', September 25, 1914, p. 7 (subscription required).

Portraits

Henry Ossawa Tanner focused his talent on two portraits of his mother, "the central, stabilizing figure in her large and distinguished African American family." Henry painted the earlier image (''Portrait of the Artist's Mother'') during a visit home in 1897. Over his father's objections, he had left home to become an artist, studying in Philadelphia, beginning 1879 and then in Paris in 1891. However his parents did not stop his dreams, even offering financial support. He had achieved what few Americans had, success in the

Paris Salon The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

and the beginnings of a successful career as an artist. The painting was one of at least three works that her son made which showed African American subjects with an attitude of respect, so different from mainstream portrayals in the late 1890s. The painting is an example in which Henry mixed

American Realism American realism was a movement in art, music and literature that depicted contemporary social realities and the lives and everyday activities of ordinary people. The movement began in literature in the mid-19th century, and became an importan ...

with Impressionism in a style also seen in two other works, '' The Banjo Lesson'' and '' The Thankful Poor''. The second image ''Mother of Henry O.'' is closer in style to his later impressionist-style paintings. File:Henry Ossawa Tanner, American (active France) - Portrait of the Artist's Mother - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Portrait of the Artist's Mother'' by Henry Ossawa Tanner. 1896. File:Mother of Henry O. Tanner SAAM-1983.95.213 2.jpg, '' Mother of Henry O. Tanner'', a second portrait of Sarah Elizabeth Tanner by Henry Ossawa Tanner. Undated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, Sarah Elizabeth 1840 births 1914 deaths People of the African Methodist Episcopal church African Americans in Pennsylvania 20th-century African-American women Tanner family (Pennsylvania) Portraits of women 19th-century African-American women 19th-century African-American people