Maud A. B. Fuller
{{Short description|American Educator}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Maud A. B. Fuller
| image = Photo of Maud A. B. Fuller.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Maud Anna Berry
| birth_date = {{birth date|1868|10|7|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Lockhart, Texas
| death_date = {{death date and age|1972|1|26|1868|10|7|mf=y}}
| death_place = Lockhart, Texas
| nationality = American
| alma_mater = Tillotson College, Guadalupe College
| other_names =
| occupation = Educator, Editor, Missionary
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse = {{marriage|William Handy Fuller|1914|1941}}
}}
Maud Anna Berry Fuller (October 7, 1868 - January 26, 1972), also known as M. A. B. Smith and M. A. B. Fuller, was an American educator and a leader in the Baptist church. She was the founder and the editor of the Woman's Helper, a national newspaper. Fuller served for 41 years as the president of the National Baptist Convention's Women's Auxiliary.
Biography
Maud Anna Berry was born in Lockhart, Texas on October 7, 1868.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-tSBBAAAQBAJ&q=%22maud+a.+b.+fuller%22&pg=PA249|title=Black Texas Women: A Sourcebook|last=Winegarten|first=Ruthe|publisher=University of Texas Press|others=Janet G. Humphrey and Frieda Werden, Consulting Editors|year=1996|isbn=9780292785564|location=Austin, Texas|pages=249|language=en}} She was the daughter of Hugh and Anna Berry. She attended Tillotson College and then went on to Guadalupe College.{{Cite journal|date=September 1943|title=First Ladies of Colored America - No. 12|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L1sEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22m+a+b+fuller%22&pg=PA272|journal=The Crisis|volume=50|issue=9|pages=272|via=Google Books}} Berry went on to teach for some time in Seguin, Texas.{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iaKDiTK_xD4C&q=%22maud+a+b+fuller%22&pg=PA109|title=Black Women in Texas History|last=Glasrud|first=Bruce A.|publisher=Texas A&M University Press|year=2008|isbn=9781603444095|editor-last=Glasrud|editor-first=Bruce A.|location=College Station, Texas|pages=108–109|language=en|chapter=Time of Transition: Black Women in Early Twentieth-Century Texas, 1900-1930|editor2-link=Merline Pitre|editor-last2=Pitre|editor-first2=Merline}} She later taught in Austin, Texas and in other Texas cities.{{Cite news|url=http://www.historicalmarkerproject.com/markers/HMSS3_maud-anna-berry-smith-fuller_Austin-TX.html|title=Maud Anna Berry Smith Fuller - Austin - TX - US|work=Historical Marker Project|access-date=February 20, 2018|language=en-US}}
Before 1913, Berry used the married name Mrs. M. A. B. Smith. At this time, she was the corresponding secretary of the Women's Auxiliary, General Baptist State Convention of Texas and ran the Missionary Training School of Guadalupe.{{Cite book|url=http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/pfzp7/HT|title=Who's who among the colored Baptists of the United States: volume I|last=Bacote|first=Samuel William|date=1913|publisher=Franklin Hudson Pub. Co.|location=Kansas City, Mo.|pages=80–81}}
Smith married William Handy Fuller in 1914, taking his last name. They were together until his death in 1941.{{Cite web|url=http://www.gentrysmith.org/Black%20mortuaries/Fuller.htm|title=Fuller Funeral Home|last=Smith|first=A. Arro|website=The Business of Burying the Dead in Early East Austin: Black-owned Mortuaries.|access-date=February 21, 2018}} Later, in 1932, they would purchase and run the N.W. Rhambo Funeral Parlor and a funeral home. The Fullers were known for taking in orphans and providing education for young people and educated them both at her home and abroad.{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=INR19720212-01.1.9|title=Church Events|last=Thomas|first=Willa|date=February 12, 1972|work=Indianapolis Recorder|access-date=February 22, 2018|via=Hoosier State Chronicles}} Margaret Taylor Simms, was orphaned at 13 and came to live with Fuller.{{Cite web|url=https://www.fisk.edu/assets/files/e0/simms-margaretcollection1950-1974.pdf|title=Margaret Simms Collection Papers, 1950-1974|last1=Malone|first1=Sheterric|last2=Beasley|first2=Marsha|date=1993|website=Fisk University|access-date=February 20, 2018}} Simms would go on to work at Fisk as a dean.{{Cite journal|last=Major|first=Gerri|date=March 3, 1960|title=Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wa8DAAAAMBAJ&q=national+baptist+convention+women%27s+auxiliary+fuller&pg=PA38|journal=Jet|volume=17|issue=19|pages=38|via=Google Books}} Maude Fuller George of Liberia graduated from the Florida Normal and Industrial Institute in 1943.{{Cite journal|date=August 1943|title=Liberian Graduate|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NFsEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22m.a.b.+fuller%22&pg=PA254|journal=The Crisis|volume=50|issue=8|pages=254|via=Google Books}}
She became the secretary to the Woman's Auxiliary of the National Baptist Convention in 1916 and then became president in 1928. She wrote literature for missionaries, including Guides for Home and Foreign Missionary Societies.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/cataloguecopyri02unkngoog|title=Catalogue of Copyright Entries|last=Library of Congress Copyright Office|publisher=Government Printing Office|year=1921|volume=18|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=51|language=en}} She also founded and edited the national newspaper, the Woman's Helper.{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ffu17|title=Fuller, Maud Anna Berry|last=Craig|first=Algerene Akins|date=2010|website=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=February 20, 2018}}
Fuller raised the money to build a mission in Liberia in 1944.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JPKBIqutvCwC&q=%22maud+a.+b.+fuller%22&pg=PA44|title=Brave Black Women: From Slavery to the Space Shuttle|last1=Winegarten|first1=Ruthe|last2=Kahn|first2=Sharon|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=1997|isbn=9780292785557|location=Austin, Texas|pages=44|language=en}} She went on several missions to Africa, including the one that secured the land for the permanent mission in Liberia. She also gave speeches and spoke about her missionary work around the country.{{Cite journal|date=November 24, 1939|title=Mrs. M.A.B. Fuller is New Light Speaker|url=https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398343/m1/8/zoom/?q=%22m%20a.%20b.%20fuller%22&resolution=3&lat=3833.9551483153527&lon=3643.0620127358216|journal=San Antonio Register (San Antonio, Tex.)|language=en|volume=9|issue=43|pages=8|via=The Portal to Texas History}}{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=INR19511013-01.1.8|title=Noted Baptists|date=October 13, 1951|work=Indianapolis Recorder|access-date=February 20, 2018|page=8|via=Hoosier State Chronicles}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17665400/tampa_bay_times/|title=Out-Of-State Leaders Will Include Texan|date=March 14, 1960|work=Tampa Bay Times|access-date=February 21, 2018|pages=20|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17685465/arizona_republic/|title=Baptist Leader to Speak Here|date=August 12, 1939|work=Arizona Republic|access-date=February 22, 2018|pages=6|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17686232/the_pittsburgh_courier/|title=Women Hear President|date=September 20, 1952|work=The Pittsburgh Courier|access-date=February 22, 2018|pages=4|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17686534/word_and_way/|title=Annual Meeting of Woman's Missionary Union, Southern Baptist Convention|date=May 28, 1942|work=Word and Way|access-date=February 22, 2018|pages=7|via=Newspapers.com}}
In 1954, she was given an honorary humanities degree and a doctorate from the Union Baptist Theological Seminary. Fuller retired as the president of the Woman's Auxiliary of the National Baptist Convention in 1968 and became the president emeritus.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17665679/the_times/|title=J.C. Sams Is Reelected by Baptists|date=September 9, 1968|work=The Times|access-date=February 22, 2018|pages=4|via=Newspapers.com}}
Fuller died on January 26, 1972, in her home in Lockhart. She is buried in Austin in the Evergreen Cemetery. She was fondly called "Mother Fuller" or "Aunt Maude" by people who knew her. The prayer room of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Austin is named after Fuller.
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=iOpD6b3irOAC&dq=%22m.a.b.+fuller%22+auxiliary&pg=PA138 Recipes by M.A.B. Fuller]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuller, Maude A. B.}}
Category:African-American missionaries
Category:20th-century African-American educators
Category:20th-century American educators
Category:People from Austin, Texas
Category:People from Lockhart, Texas
Category:Huston–Tillotson University alumni
Category:Baptist missionaries from the United States
Category:Female Christian missionaries
Category:American women educators
Category:African-American centenarians