Martha Young
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Brief Biography
Martha Young was born near Newbern, Alabama, on her family’s plantation, but she grew up in Greensboro, Alabama. After graduating from Livingston Female Academy (now the University of West Alabama), she returned to her family home and began writing down Black dialect stories and songs. Her stories, poems, and essays were published in various newspapers and magazines, including New Orleans Times-Democrat and Cosmopolitan. Young's contributions to literature also include notable publications such as Plantation Songs for My Lady Banjo and Plantation Bird Legends. In 1903, she branched out to children’s literature and published Bessie Bell. Young engaged in public readings of her work and wrote poems on religious and sentimental subjects in the later years of her life. She passed away in 1941.
Publications
Plantation Songs for My Lady's Banjo and Other Negro Lyrics and Monologues. New York; R. H. Russell, 1901.
Plantation Bird Legends. New York; R. H. Russell, 1902.
Bessie Bell. New York; Scott-Thaw Company, 1903.
Somebody's Little Girl. New York; Hinds, Noble & Eldredge, 1910.
Behind the Dark Pines. New York; D. Appleton and Company, 1912.
When We Were Wee. New York; Macmillan, 1913.
Two Little Southern Sisters and Their Garden Plays. New York; Hinds, Hayden & Eldridge, 1919.
Minute Dramas; the Kodak at the Quarter. Montgomery, Ala.; Paragon Press, 1921.
Plantation Bird Legends. New York; R. H. Russell, 1902.
Bessie Bell. New York; Scott-Thaw Company, 1903.
Somebody's Little Girl. New York; Hinds, Noble & Eldredge, 1910.
Behind the Dark Pines. New York; D. Appleton and Company, 1912.
When We Were Wee. New York; Macmillan, 1913.
Two Little Southern Sisters and Their Garden Plays. New York; Hinds, Hayden & Eldridge, 1919.
Minute Dramas; the Kodak at the Quarter. Montgomery, Ala.; Paragon Press, 1921.
Themes
Martha Young wrote folk songs, children's stories, poetry, nonfiction essays, and poetry. Although her works sold well in the early twentieth century, they are considered racially insensitive today.
Publisher
Alabama Authors of the 19th and 20th Centuries, edited by Beverley Park Rilett, http://AlabamaAuthors.org
Collection
Citation
Young, Martha, “Martha Young,” Alabama Authors of the 19th & 20th Centuries, accessed September 19, 2024, https://alabamaauthors.org/items/show/680.