Mary A. McCurdy
{{about|the African American temperance advocate and suffragist|the New Zealand suffragist|Mary E. McCurdy}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Mary A. McCurdy
| image = Mary A. McCurdy.png
| alt =
| caption = Martha "Mary" Harris Mason McCurdy, 1897
| birth_name = Martha A. Harris
| birth_date = August 10, 1852
| birth_place = Carthage, Indiana, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1934|6|25|1852|8|10}}
| death_place = Indiana, U.S.
| nationality = American
| education =
| alma_mater =
| other_names =
| occupation = Journalist
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works = Duty of the State to the Negro
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- J.A. Mason
- Calvin McCurdy
}}
}}
Martha "Mary" A. Harris Mason McCurdy (August 10, 1852 – June 25, 1934) was an African-American temperance advocate and suffragist. She had a career in journalism that included editing the newspaper "Women's World".
Biography
McCurdy née Harris was born on August 10, 1852, in Carthage, Indiana.{{cite book |last1=Haley |first1=James T. |title=Afro-American encyclopaedia, or, The thoughts, doings, and sayings of the race,embracing addresses, lectures, biographical sketches, sermons, poems, names of universities, colleges, seminaries, newspapers, books, and a history of the denominations, giving the numerical strength of each. In fact, it teaches every subject of interest to the colored people, as discussed by more than one hundred of their wisest and best men and women. Illustrated with beautiful half-tone engravings. |series=Mind and matter |date=1895 |publisher=Haley & Florida |location=Nashville, Tenn |pages=142–146 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000029292855;view=1up;seq=160}} In 1875 she married J.A. Mason with whom she had four children. The couple settled in Richmond, Indiana, and, after eight years of marriage, J.A. Mason died. In 1886 McCurdy moved to Atlanta, Georgia in the American south. In 1890 she married Calvin McCurdy, a Presbyterian minister, and the couple moved to Rome, Georgia. The Reverend McCurdy died in 1905, and by 1910 Mary returned to her family in Indiana.{{cite web |last1=Loiselle |first1=Aimee |title=Biography of Mary McCurdy (Martha "Mary" Harris Mason McCurdy), 1852–1934 |url=https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C3935928/biographical-sketch-mary-mccurdy-1852-1934#page/1/mode/1/chapter/bibliographic_entity|website=Biographical Database of Black Women Suffragists |publisher=Alexander Street |accessdate=February 28, 2019}} She died in June 1934, in Indiana.
Career
McCurdy held a variety of positions in Rome, Georgia including Corresponding Secretary for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) of Georgia, the Superintendent of the Juvenile Work of the Knox Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church, and she was active in the "Rome Branch of the Needle Work Guild of America," which provided clothing for the indigent. McCurdy was the editor of the newspaper "Woman's World." The paper's intended audience was the African-American community and it contained "intellectual, moral and spiritual" material. The paper allowed McCurdy to advance her causes of suffrage and temperance.{{cite book |last1=Northrop |first1=Henry Davenport |last2=Gay |first2=Joseph R. |last3=Penn |first3=Irvine Garland |title=The College of Life Or Practical Self: A Manual of Self-improvement for the Colored Race ... Giving Examples and Achievements of Successful Men and Women of the Race ... Including Afro |date=1896 |page=106 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HMhCAQAAMAAJ&q=m.+a.+mccurdy+rome+georgia&pg=PA106 |language=en}} McCurdy worked with her contemporaries Janie Porter Barrett, and Adella Hunt Logan to advance the cause of suffrage and in particular involve African-American women in the movement.{{cite web |title=Georgia and the 19th Amendment |url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/georgia-and-the-19th-amendment.htm |website=U.S. National Park Service |accessdate=February 28, 2019 |language=en}}
When McCurdy returned to Indiana she continued her activism in temperance, suffrage, and politics. In 1913 she attended the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union convention, representing Indiana. McCurdy also represented Indiana in the Women's Division of the National Republican Committee.
Selected works
McCurdy's essay on the "Duty of the State to the Negro" appeared in James T. Haley's 1995 anthology Afro-American Encyclopaedia. Her essay on "Intemperance" appeared in Haley's 1897 anthology Sparkling Gems of Race Knowledge Worth Reading: A Compendium of Valuable Information and Wise Suggestions that Will Inspire Noble Effort at the Hands of Every Race-loving Man, Woman, and Child.{{cite book |last1=Haley |first1=James T. |title=Sparkling Gems of Race Knowledge Worth Reading |date=1897 |publisher=J.T. Haley 6 Company |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22256/22256-h/22256-h.htm#MRS_M_A_MCURDY_ROME_GA}}
References
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Category:African-American women journalists
Category:African-American journalists
Category:Suffragists from Indiana
Category:African-American suffragists
Category:African-American feminists
Category:20th-century African-American people