When Etta Moten Barnett was a voice student at Kansas University in the 1920s and ’30s, women and blacks were rare on campus.
Now, a black woman Toni-Marie Montgomery is dean of the School of Fine Arts.
Montgomery will travel today to Chicago to present KU’s 2001 Pioneer Woman award to Barnett, a Broadway actress who was the first black woman to sing at the White House.
“Just thinking of that time and discrimination, she not only persevered but she became a star,” Montgomery said. “For all women, she’s a role model.”
The award was announced in April, but Barnett who is 100 was unable to come to KU to receive it, so KU will pay for Montgomery to fly to Chicago to present the certificate.
Born in 1901 in Texas, Barnett moved to Kansas City as a teen-ager. She came to KU in 1927, divorced with three daughters.
“She was at KU at a time women were not well respected, especially in fine arts,” said Kathy Rose-Mockry, program director for KU’s Emily Taylor Women’s Resource Center. “And she was a nontraditional student, which was almost unheard of at the time a female student on campus with children. I think it speaks to her determination to achieve under those conditions.”
At KU, Barnett helped establish the local Alpha Kappa Alpha chapter, performed in all-black plays, had her own radio show and helped lead the fight to end segregation at the city swimming pool.
After graduation, she appeared in several movies, including “Flying Down to Rio” with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.
But she was best known for playing Bess in “Porgy and Bess” on Broadway.
Eleanor Roosevelt invited Barnett in 1934 to sing for the president’s birthday party at the White House. She was the first black woman to perform there.
A play, “Papa’s Child,” that chronicles her life is playing through Dec. 30 at the ETA Creative Arts Foundation in Chicago. Montgomery plans to see the play while in Chicago.
The Pioneer award is given annually to a woman from Kansas who “made a contribution on a fairly global level,” Rose-Mockry said. Past winners include aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, Kansas Supreme Court Justice Kay McFarland and Lucy Hobbs-Taylor, a Lawrence native who was the first female dentist.
When Etta Moten Barnett was a voice student at Kansas University in the 1920s and ’30s, women and blacks were rare on campus.
Now, a black woman Toni-Marie Montgomery is dean of the School of Fine Arts.
Montgomery will travel today to Chicago to present KU’s 2001 Pioneer Woman award to Barnett, a Broadway actress who was the first black woman to sing at the White House.
“Just thinking of that time and discrimination, she not only persevered but she became a star,” Montgomery said. “For all women, she’s a role model.”
The award was announced in April, but Barnett who is 100 was unable to come to KU to receive it, so KU will pay for Montgomery to fly to Chicago to present the certificate.
Born in 1901 in Texas, Barnett moved to Kansas City as a teen-ager. She came to KU in 1927, divorced with three daughters.
“She was at KU at a time women were not well respected, especially in fine arts,” said Kathy Rose-Mockry, program director for KU’s Emily Taylor Women’s Resource Center. “And she was a nontraditional student, which was almost unheard of at the time a female student on campus with children. I think it speaks to her determination to achieve under those conditions.”
At KU, Barnett helped establish the local Alpha Kappa Alpha chapter, performed in all-black plays, had her own radio show and helped lead the fight to end segregation at the city swimming pool.
After graduation, she appeared in several movies, including “Flying Down to Rio” with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.
But she was best known for playing Bess in “Porgy and Bess” on Broadway.
Eleanor Roosevelt invited Barnett in 1934 to sing for the president’s birthday party at the White House. She was the first black woman to perform there.
A play, “Papa’s Child,” that chronicles her life is playing through Dec. 30 at the ETA Creative Arts Foundation in Chicago. Montgomery plans to see the play while in Chicago.
The Pioneer award is given annually to a woman from Kansas who “made a contribution on a fairly global level,” Rose-Mockry said. Past winners include aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, Kansas Supreme Court Justice Kay McFarland and Lucy Hobbs-Taylor, a Lawrence native who was the first female dentist.
When Etta Moten Barnett was a voice student at Kansas University in the 1920s and ’30s, women and blacks were rare on campus.
Now, a black woman Toni-Marie Montgomery is dean of the School of Fine Arts.
Montgomery will travel today to Chicago to present KU’s 2001 Pioneer Woman award to Barnett, a Broadway actress who was the first black woman to sing at the White House.
“Just thinking of that time and discrimination, she not only persevered but she became a star,” Montgomery said. “For all women, she’s a role model.”
The award was announced in April, but Barnett who is 100 was unable to come to KU to receive it, so KU will pay for Montgomery to fly to Chicago to present the certificate.
Born in 1901 in Texas, Barnett moved to Kansas City as a teen-ager. She came to KU in 1927, divorced with three daughters.
“She was at KU at a time women were not well respected, especially in fine arts,” said Kathy Rose-Mockry, program director for KU’s Emily Taylor Women’s Resource Center. “And she was a nontraditional student, which was almost unheard of at the time a female student on campus with children. I think it speaks to her determination to achieve under those conditions.”
At KU, Barnett helped establish the local Alpha Kappa Alpha chapter, performed in all-black plays, had her own radio show and helped lead the fight to end segregation at the city swimming pool.
After graduation, she appeared in several movies, including “Flying Down to Rio” with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.
But she was best known for playing Bess in “Porgy and Bess” on Broadway.
Eleanor Roosevelt invited Barnett in 1934 to sing for the president’s birthday party at the White House. She was the first black woman to perform there.
A play, “Papa’s Child,” that chronicles her life is playing through Dec. 30 at the ETA Creative Arts Foundation in Chicago. Montgomery plans to see the play while in Chicago.
The Pioneer award is given annually to a woman from Kansas who “made a contribution on a fairly global level,” Rose-Mockry said. Past winners include aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, Kansas Supreme Court Justice Kay McFarland and Lucy Hobbs-Taylor, a Lawrence native who was the first female dentist.
When Etta Moten Barnett was a voice student at Kansas University in the 1920s and ’30s, women and blacks were rare on campus.
Now, a black woman Toni-Marie Montgomery is dean of the School of Fine Arts.
Montgomery will travel today to Chicago to present KU’s 2001 Pioneer Woman award to Barnett, a Broadway actress who was the first black woman to sing at the White House.
“Just thinking of that time and discrimination, she not only persevered but she became a star,” Montgomery said. “For all women, she’s a role model.”
The award was announced in April, but Barnett who is 100 was unable to come to KU to receive it, so KU will pay for Montgomery to fly to Chicago to present the certificate.
Born in 1901 in Texas, Barnett moved to Kansas City as a teen-ager. She came to KU in 1927, divorced with three daughters.
“She was at KU at a time women were not well respected, especially in fine arts,” said Kathy Rose-Mockry, program director for KU’s Emily Taylor Women’s Resource Center. “And she was a nontraditional student, which was almost unheard of at the time a female student on campus with children. I think it speaks to her determination to achieve under those conditions.”
At KU, Barnett helped establish the local Alpha Kappa Alpha chapter, performed in all-black plays, had her own radio show and helped lead the fight to end segregation at the city swimming pool.
After graduation, she appeared in several movies, including “Flying Down to Rio” with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.
But she was best known for playing Bess in “Porgy and Bess” on Broadway.
Eleanor Roosevelt invited Barnett in 1934 to sing for the president’s birthday party at the White House. She was the first black woman to perform there.
A play, “Papa’s Child,” that chronicles her life is playing through Dec. 30 at the ETA Creative Arts Foundation in Chicago. Montgomery plans to see the play while in Chicago.
The Pioneer award is given annually to a woman from Kansas who “made a contribution on a fairly global level,” Rose-Mockry said. Past winners include aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, Kansas Supreme Court Justice Kay McFarland and Lucy Hobbs-Taylor, a Lawrence native who was the first female dentist.
