Marguerite Pennybacker

Marguerite Pennybacker
Born
Marguerite Collins Pennybacker

March 31, 1903
Mooreville, Texas, U.S.
Diedafter January 1950
Other namesMarguerite Pennybacker Anderson, Margaret Anderson, Peggy Pennybacker
OccupationsSinger, social worker, clubwoman

Marguerite Collins Pennybacker Anderson (March 31, 1903[1] – after January 1950) was an American social worker, clubwoman and singer based in Fort Worth, Texas.

Early life and education

Pennybacker was born in Mooreville, Texas,[1] the daughter of William Booker Pennybacker and Ida Leigh Wilson Collins Pennybacker.[2] She graduated from Fort Worth Colored High School in 1920,[3] and studied music at Bishop College before earning a bachelor's degree at Fisk University.[4] She was a soloist with Fisk's Mozart Society,[5] and a member of the Fisk Jubilee Singers.[6] She earned a master's degree in religious education at Teachers College, Columbia University in 1928.[7][8] During her time in New York City, she lived in the household of a fellow Fisk alumnus, civil rights activist William Lloyd Imes.[8]

Career

Pennybacker was a soloist at the wedding of Countee Cullen and Yolande Du Bois in 1928,[9] and gave a vocal recital in New York City that year. "Her phrasing is impeccable, her interpretation intelligent," according to one critic at the event. "There is smoothness of utterance and her diction is a delight."[8] She also sang on The Philco Hour, a radio program.[10]

After graduate school, Pennybacker traveled in Europe,[11] then worked at Woodland Center, a settlement house in Cleveland, Ohio for three years.[12] She acted in a plays at Woodland.[13] While in Cleveland, she conducted and sang solos in the choir at Cory Methodist Episcopal Church.[14] In 1930 she taught at the second Religious Conference for Young People at Lincoln University.[15] She returned to Fort Worth in 1931, where she was executive secretary of the Council of Negro Charities for nine years.[16][17][18] In 1936, Pennybacker co-founded a Black theatre program in Fort Worth, and was a charter member of the Fort Worth chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.[19]

In 1940, Anderson spoke to a luncheon meeting of the white Junior Chamber of Commerce in Fort Worth, on "the need for better understanding between the races."[20] Also in 1940 she was named supervisor of the Butler Place housing project in Fort Worth,[21] becoming "the first Negro woman to be appointed to such an administrative position in the history of the United States Housing Authority.".[16][22] She spoke to community groups about her work.[23][24] In 1941 she was appointed to an advisory board of the National Youth Administration,[25] and another committee to organize a Black branch of the YWCA in Fort Worth.[26] In 1942, she directed a chorus at the graduation ceremony of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.[27] By 1945, she was a social worker in Dallas, speaking on the "Relations of the Race Question to Postwar Planning".[28]

Personal life

Pennybacker had a son, Roland Wyatt, born in 1932,[29] who became an organist, choral director, and vocal coach.[30] She was a widow by the 1940 census, and she was alive in 1950 to provide information for her mother's death certificate.[31]

References

  1. 1 2 Marguerite Pennybacker in the New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957, via Ancestry; birthdate and birthplace given on her arrival in New York from Le Havre on August 30, 1929.
  2. ↑ "Fort Worth (brief items)". The Call. 1941-05-16. p. 16. Retrieved 2026-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Fort Worth Colored High School". The Dallas Express. 1920-05-29. p. 12. Retrieved 2026-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Untitled brief news item". The Monitor. 1926-04-23. p. 1. Retrieved 2026-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "The Mozart Society of Fisk University". The New Music Review. 25 (296): 249. July 1926.
  6. ↑ "Estimates of the Concerts". Fisk University News. 14 (8): 28–29. May 1924.
  7. ↑ Shriver, William P. (March 1928). "Give Us Leaders". Women and Missions. 4 (12): 457.
  8. 1 2 3 "Marguerite Pennybacker Pleases Her Audience in Initial Recital". The New York Age. 1928-06-09. p. 7. Retrieved 2026-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Countee Cullen Weds Daughter of Dr. Du Bois". The Republican. 1928-04-10. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Philco Hour is Heard on WBAP". Fort Worth Record-Telegram. 1928-08-16. p. 11. Retrieved 2026-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ Taylor, Alexander O. (1929-07-27). "Cleveland News". The Chicago Defender. p. 18. Retrieved 2026-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Miss Pennypacker Leaves for Texas". The Afro-American. 1931-01-24. p. 16. Retrieved 2026-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Cleveland Social and Personal". The Gazette. 1930-12-13. p. 8 – via Internet Archive.
  14. ↑ "Lenten Musical Service". The Afro-American. 1930-04-12. p. 18. Retrieved 2026-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "Religious Conference At Lincoln University". The Philadelphia Tribune. 1930-07-31. p. 12. Retrieved 2026-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. 1 2 "First Woman Gets Job as Supervisor; Marguerite Pennybacker Anderson named Management Supervisor". The Omaha Star. 1940-10-04. p. 1. Retrieved 2026-06-19.
  17. ↑ "Negro Social Work Stressed". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 1935-04-26. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "Worth of Chest By-Products Told". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 1935-03-26. p. 9. Retrieved 2026-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ "BMO History". Beta Mu Omega chapter, AKA. Retrieved 2026-06-19.
  20. ↑ "Crowds Gather on Holiday". The Call. 1940-06-28. p. 6. Retrieved 2026-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ "Negro Housing Project is Called 'New Emancipation'". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 1940-07-22. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ↑ "Woman Named to Housing Position". The Chicago Defender. 1940-10-19. p. 8. Retrieved 2026-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ↑ "Wesleyan Guild Meets". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 1941-06-13. p. 21. Retrieved 2026-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ↑ "Crowd Attends Program of Housing Project". The Call. 1940-08-09. p. 17. Retrieved 2026-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ↑ "Phil Register is Given Post". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 1941-09-21. p. 2. Retrieved 2026-06-20.
  26. ↑ "Directors to Discuss YWCA for Negroes". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 1940-10-01. p. 9. Retrieved 2026-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ↑ "35 Negroes to Get Seminary Certificate". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 1942-04-29. p. 27. Retrieved 2026-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ↑ "Church Audience to Hear Negro Welfare Worker". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 1945-06-23. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ↑ "Roland Wyatt Obituary". Loveland Reporter-Herald, via Legacy.com. 2013. Retrieved 2026-06-20.
  30. ↑ "Organist to Give Recital". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 1950-08-20. p. 7. Retrieved 2026-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. ↑ 1940 United States census and 1950 Texas death certificate of Ida L. Collins Pennybacker, via Ancestry.
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