Mary A. McCurdy

This article is about the African American temperance advocate and suffragist. For the New Zealand suffragist, see Mary E. McCurdy.

Mary A. McCurdy
Martha "Mary" Harris Mason McCurdy, 1897
Born	Martha A. Harris August 10, 1852 Carthage, Indiana, U.S.
Died	June 25, 1934(1934-06-25) (aged 81) Indiana, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Journalist
Notable work	Duty of the State to the Negro
Spouses	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.^[1] 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.^[2] She died in June 1934, in Indiana.^[2]

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.^[1][3] 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.^[4]

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.^[2]

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.^[1] 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.^[5]

References

1. Haley, James T. (1895). 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. Mind and matter. Nashville, Tenn: Haley & Florida. pp. 142–146.
2. Loiselle, Aimee. "Biography of Mary McCurdy (Martha "Mary" Harris Mason McCurdy), 1852–1934". Biographical Database of Black Women Suffragists. Alexander Street. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
3. Northrop, Henry Davenport; Gay, Joseph R.; Penn, Irvine Garland (1896). 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. p. 106.
4. "Georgia and the 19th Amendment". U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
5. Haley, James T. (1897). Sparkling Gems of Race Knowledge Worth Reading. J.T. Haley 6 Company.