Gertrude McBrown

Gertrude Parthenia McBrown (1898–1989) was an American poet, playwright, educator, actress, and stage director whose career spanned several decades and whose work is sometimes associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1898, McBrown was the daughter of a Methodist minister. A dramatic reading by actor Richard Berry Harrison, which she witnessed as a child, ignited her interest in acting and public speaking.

McBrown pursued formal training at the Curry School of Expression in Boston under Florence H. Slack before enrolling at Emerson College of Oratory in 1918. At Emerson she participated in the debating team and the Children's Theatre, gaining experience both performing in and directing plays. She graduated in 1922 with a Bachelor of Literary Interpretation degree. Following graduation, she taught English and dramatic arts for one year at Virginia State College, then returned to Boston for graduate study at Boston University, where she earned a Master of Education degree in 1926. During her time there she served as assistant coach of the dramatic club, taught in the Boston public schools, directed productions and led the choral group at Ebenezer Baptist Church in the South End, and began publishing children's poetry in the Saturday Evening Quill and Crisis magazine.

After completing her graduate degree, McBrown moved to North Carolina to head the drama department at Palmer Memorial Institute under the direction of Charlotte Hawkins Brown. A production she directed there, George V. Hobart's Experience, received a favorable review in the August 1929 issue of Crisis magazine. She subsequently taught dramatic arts at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College, filling a position vacated by Richard B. Harrison when he departed for a Broadway role.

In the 1930s McBrown relocated to Washington, D.C., where she became a prominent figure in literary and dramatic circles. She directed the Southeast Children's Theatre, the Bronze Masque of Freedmen's Training School, and the dramatic club of the Lambda Rho Society of the Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church. She taught speech at the Washington Conservatory of Music and English at Frelinghuysen University, where Anna Julia Cooper, the university's founder, was serving as president. McBrown also established her own studio during this period. In 1935 she published her first book of poetry, The Picture-Poetry Book, illustrated by artist Lois Mailou Jones, with whom she collaborated on multiple occasions. Her poetry appeared in numerous publications, including Opportunity, Popular Educator, International Poetry Magazine, Black Opals, Negro Women's World, and Phylon. She became managing editor of Parent-Teacher Magazine and contributed feature stories to the Associated Negro Press. It was also during this decade that she appeared on Broadway, with a credit in the 1936 production Sweet River.

McBrown served for many years on the board of the Negro History Bulletin, edited by Carter G. Woodson. The Bulletin published her first two plays, both centered on historical figures: Bought With Cookies (1949), which depicts the early life of Frederick Douglass, and The Birthday Surprise (1953), which concerns poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. She earned recognition for one-woman shows in which she frequently portrayed African-American heroines, and she was a noted storyteller who performed tales from Africa, often wearing African costumes for children's audiences.

In the 1950s McBrown moved to New York City, where she directed drama groups and taught speech at the Carnegie Hall Studio. She was a co-founder of the Carter G. Woodson Memorial Research Collection at the Jamaica branch of the Queens Library and wrote a column titled "Proud Heritage" for the community newspaper Community Chatter. Her travels took her to Paris, where she studied at the Conservatoire Nationale de Musique et d'Art and took courses in drama and literature at the Institut Britannique. In London she conducted research into African folklore and culture at the Royal Empire Society and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She also performed her stories for audiences during travels in Africa. In 1970 she received the Carter G. Woodson Award from the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Severe arthritis curtailed her activities in her final years. McBrown died in 1989.