Maria Howard Weeden
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Brief Biography
Maria Howard Weeden, also known as Howard Weeden, was born in Huntsville, Alabama, and received early training from portraitist William Frye. During the Civil War, her family relocated to Tuskegee after the Union army seized Huntsville. Weeden took the opportunity to pursue education at Tuskegee Female College. After the war, her family moved back to Huntsville, and Weeden wrote short stories and essays under the pen name Flake White, primarily in The Christian Observer. Weeden's artistic focus later shifted towards painting portraits of former slaves that were often accompanied by her own verses. Her work gained recognition through exhibitions and publications such as Shadows on the Wall (1898) and Bandana Ballads (1899). Weeden contracted tuberculosis and passed away in 1905.
Publications
Bandana Ballads. New York; Doubleday, Page & Company, 1899.
Songs of the Old South. New York; Doubleday and Page, 1900.
Old Voices. New York; Doubleday, Page & Company, 1904.
Songs of the Old South. New York; Doubleday and Page, 1900.
Old Voices. New York; Doubleday, Page & Company, 1904.
Themes
Maria Howard Weeden was a writer of religious essays, stories, and poems often expressing nostalgia for the pre-Civil War era. Poems written in Black American dialect were composed to accompany her paintings of slaves. Her preferred medium was watercolor.
Publisher
Alabama Authors of the 19th and 20th Centuries, edited by Beverley Park Rilett, http://AlabamaAuthors.org
Collection
Citation
Weeden, Maria Howard, “Maria Howard Weeden,” Alabama Authors of the 19th & 20th Centuries, accessed September 19, 2024, https://alabamaauthors.org/items/show/672.