Evangeline Harris Merriweather

Wabash Valley profiles : a series of tributes to hometown people and events that have shaped our history

Description:	One typed page including photograph; biography of Evangeline Merriweather, author, educator, musician, and operatic soprano. ABASH VALLEY WP R O F I L E SA series of tributes to hometown people and events that have shaped our history.Evangeline Harris Merriweatheruthor, educator, musician and accomplished operatic soprano, Terre Haute native Evangeline Harris Merriweather made an extraordinary impact on AfricanAmerican children throughout the nation. Some credit for Evangelines exceptional achievements must be assigned to the perseverance of her parents, David D. and Ida Eudora (Meyzeek) Harris. Her father located in Terre Haute in the late 1870s. On April 11, 1883, while working as a porter for the Vandalia Railroad, he purchased a lot on the southeast corner of 15th Street and First Ave. and erected a house which became the Harris homestead for 106 years. Ida and David had five daughters: Edna, born in 1885; Edith, born in 1887; Ida, born in 1891; and twins Evangeline Evelyn and Ernestine Rosaline, born Aug. 16, 1893. Edith died at age 15, but the remaining four Harris sisters earned college degrees and became successful school teachers. Father David became the nurse and constant companion to Col. Richard W. Thompson during the esteemed statesmans final years. Evangeline was the most precocious sister. After graduating from Wiley High School in 1912, she matriculated to State Normal College, teaching at the Rockville Colored School (1914) and at Booker Washington School in Terre Haute before earning a degree in 1916. Subsequently, she attended Oberlin (Ohio) College, New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and Columbia University before receiving her masters degree at Indiana State in 1928. Though she was an elementary teacher at Washington School, she took a leave of absence in the 1924-25 school year for concert work in New York City and returned to become music supervisor at Lincoln and Washington schools. In preparation for her masters thesis, Evangeline mailed questionnaires to officials at 500 black elementary schools throughout the nation. Responses received inspired her to pioneer a series of books destined to establish an appreciation of the cultural traditions of the Negro race and identify black role models through biographical sketches of men and women of achievement. The first of those books, Stories for Little Tots (1926), was widely used in elementary school and adult education classes. Dr. George Washington Carver of the Tuskegee Institute became Evangelines friend and helped promote the first of several revised editions in 1944. She also wrote The Family in three parts and A History of Eminent Negroes, all highly acclaimed educational tools. Meanwhile, in 1936, she wed Terre Haute fireman Charles Merriweather and the couple resided at the Harris homestead at 1501 First Ave. While teaching and writing, Evangeline was in constant demand for vocal performances because of her exceptional operatic talents, allowing her to present concerts throughout the country. For a while, she was part of a local quartet called The Singing Four, which featured spiritual, popular and gospel sounds. She also composed The Ivy Hymn, the official pledge song of Alpha Kappa Alpha, a national sorority. On Oct. 5, 1950, while still in the prime of life, Evangeline died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 57. Twin sister Ernestine (Johnson) lived to be 97. All but one member of the Harris family is buried at Terre Hautes Woodlawn Cemetery.ATERRE HAUTE(812) 238-6000NATIONAL BANKAlways Close to HomeDate published: Feb. 22, 2001Filename: Merriweather, Evangelin profile
Origin:	2001-02-21
Created By:	McCormick, Mike
Publisher:	Terre Haute Tribune-Star
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/vchs/id/562
Collection:	Vigo County Historical Society
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Copyright:	Copyright Undetermined
Subjects:	Merriweather, Evangeline Harris, 1893-1950 African Americans Authors Teachers Musicians Opera singers People Education

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