Portia Washington Pittman
{{Short description|American musician and teacher (1883–1978)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Portia Washington Pittman
| image = Photo of Portia Washington Pittman.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Portia Marshall Washington
| birth_date = {{birth date|1883|6|6|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Tuskegee, Alabama, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1978|2|26|1883|6|6|mf=y}}
| death_place = Washington, D.C., U.S.
| parents = Booker T. Washington and Fannie Smith Washington
| nationality = American
| education =
| alma_mater = Bradford Academy
| other_names =
| occupation = Educator, musician
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse = {{marriage|William Sidney Pittman|1908}}
}}
Portia Marshall Washington Pittman (June 6, 1883 – February 26, 1978) was the daughter of Booker T. Washington and Fannie Smith Washington. Pittman was the first African-American to graduate from the Bradford Academy in Bradford, Massachusetts.
Biography
Portia Marshall Washington was born on June 6, 1883,{{cite web |title=Portia W. Pittman (obituary) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/27/archives/obituary-2-no-title.html |website=The New York Times |accessdate=February 15, 2019 |date=February 27, 1978 |archive-date=February 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190216035235/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/27/archives/obituary-2-no-title.html |url-status=live }} in Tuskegee, Alabama.{{cite web |title=Portia Washington Pittman |url=https://aaregistry.org/story/portia-washington-pittman-teacher-born/ |website=African American Registry |accessdate=February 15, 2019 |archive-date=February 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190216035437/https://aaregistry.org/story/portia-washington-pittman-teacher-born/ |url-status=live }} She was the daughter of Booker T. and Fanny Washington. Her mother died when Portia was a young child, and her early education was away from home, mostly in New England,{{cite web |last1=Hardman |first1=Peggy |title=Pittman, Portia Washington |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fpime |website=Handbook of Texas Online |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |accessdate=February 15, 2019 |date=June 15, 2010 |archive-date=November 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118114958/https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fpime |url-status=live }} including at Framingham Normal School. Her secondary education included attendance at Tuskegee Institute, Wellesley College and Bradford Academy, where she graduated in 1905, the first African American to do so.
In 1908, she married William Sidney Pittman (1875–1958) with whom she had three children. The couple moved to Washington, D.C., where William established an architectural practice. After falling on financially hard times, Portia began teaching piano. In 1913, the family moved to Dallas, Texas, where William served as president of the Brotherhood of Negro Building Mechanics of Texas and Portia Taught music at Booker T. Washington High School. At this time, Portia was the chairwoman of the education department of the Texas Association of Negro Musicians.
In 1928, Portia left William, taking her daughter Fanny, and returned to Tuskegee, where she supported herself by teaching piano, music, and choir. She left the faculty of Tuskegee in 1939 because she lacked the required credentials to continue there. She returned to teaching piano privately, retiring in 1944.
Portia spent her later years preserving the memory of her late father{{cite web |title=The Music of Portia Washington Pittman |url=https://weta.org/local/calendar/music-portia-washington-pittman-770905 |publisher=WETA |accessdate=February 15, 2019 |archive-date=February 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190216035259/https://weta.org/local/calendar/music-portia-washington-pittman-770905 |url-status=live }} and helped advocate for the preservation and monument status of her father's home. She died on February 26, 1978, in Washington, D.C. All of her children and her estranged husband predeceased her.{{cite news |title=Music Teacher, Daughter of Educator, Dies at 94 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1978/02/27/music-teacher-daughter-of-educator-dies-at-94/dcf7a8e8-0e2d-41bb-812d-53939672523e/?noredirect=on |newspaper=The Washington Post |accessdate=February 15, 2019}} Tuskegee Institute has a fellowship named in her honor.
Further reading
- Portia: The Life of Portia Washington Pittman, the Daughter of Booker T. Washington by Ruth Ann Stewart (1977) {{ISBN|0385053290}}
- Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians by Eileen Southern (1982)
- Booker T's child: The life and times of Portia Marshall Washington Pittman by Roy L Hill {{ISBN|0894107496}}
References
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Category:African-American women musicians
Category:20th-century African-American educators
Category:20th-century American educators
Category:African-American women educators
Category:African-American musicians