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Emma Chambers Maitland

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Emma Chambers Maitland
Profile of a young African-American woman. She has straight dark bobbed hair with bangs.
Photograph of Emma Chambers Maitland, published in a 1924 newspaper.
Born
Jane Chambers

1893
Virginia
DiedMarch 1975(1975-03-00) (aged 81–82)
Massachusetts
OccupationsPerformer, boxer, teacher
Years active1920s-1950s

Emma Chambers Maitland (1893 – March 1975), born Jane Chambers, was an American dancer, teacher, and boxer.

Early life

[edit]

Jane Chambers was born near Richmond, Virginia, the daughter of Wyatt Chambers and Cora Chambers. Her parents were sharecroppers, and she had seven brothers.[1][2] She was educated at a convent school at Rock Castle, Virginia, and qualified as a teacher.[3] She changed her first name when she moved to Washington, D.C. as a young woman.[4]

Career

[edit]

Chambers was a teacher as a young woman in Virginia. As a widow with a young daughter to support, Maitland moved to Paris.[5] She danced at the Moulin Rouge,[6] modeled for artists,[7] and did a boxing act with another American performer, Aurelia Wheedlin (or Wheeldin).[8] She became serious about boxing, trained with American boxer Jack Taylor, and toured with Wheedlin in Europe,[9][10] billed as the world's lightweight female boxing champion.[4][11] She also boxed in Canada,[12] Cuba and Mexico.[13]

Maitland moved back to the United States in 1926,[14] lived in New York City,[2] and continued performing as a "boxeuse".[15] She appeared (often with Wheedlin) in clubs,[16] in vaudeville[17] and on the New York stage in black revues,[18] including Messin' Around (1929),[19][20] Change Your Luck (1930),[21][22] and Fast and Furious (1931).[23] She worked as a bodyguard[24][25] and taught dance and gymnastics. In her later years she moved to Martha's Vineyard.[4]

Personal life and legacy

[edit]

Emma Maitland married a Howard University medical student, Clarence Maitland. They had a daughter together in 1917.[26] Clarence Maitland died from tuberculosis within a year of their wedding. She died in early 1975, aged 82.[4][27]

Maitland donated her papers and souvenirs to the Schomburg Collection at the New York Public Library, in 1943.[7] In 2015, Maitland's former home in Oak Bluffs became a stop on the African American Heritage Trail of Martha’s Vineyard.[4][28] In 2020, she was the subject of an exhibit at the Martha's Vineyard Museum.[29][30]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ "Emma Maitlane Learned Boxing from 7 Brothers". Baltimore Afro American. January 14, 1928. p. 8. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  2. 1 2 Jemail, Jimmy (July 24, 1942). "The Inquiring Photographer". Daily News. p. 21. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ Weintraub, Elaine (July 18, 2013). "Boxing Her Way to Equality and Justice". The Vineyard Gazette - Martha's Vineyard News. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Waring, Pat (June 24, 2015). "Welcome to the trail, Emma Maitland". The Martha's Vineyard Times. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  5. ↑ "They're All Off to Show New World Wares to Old World". Daily News. October 30, 1924. p. 17. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Off to Gay Paree". Baltimore Afro American. October 10, 1924. p. 3. Retrieved June 3, 2020 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  7. 1 2 "Female Pugilist Gives Records to Library". The New York Age. December 18, 1943. p. 2. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Emma Maitland and Aurelia Wheeldin – 1924". Women's Boxing Historical Database. January 1924. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  9. ↑ "Two Plucky American Race Theatrical Girls as they Looked in Milan, Italy". The Pittsburgh Courier. October 2, 1926. p. 13. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Sister Team is in Milan". Baltimore Afro American. August 8, 1925. p. 4. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  11. ↑ "Emma Chambers Maitland, African-American Female Boxer in the 1920s and 1930s!". Girlboxing. February 7, 2014. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  12. ↑ "In Montreal". Star-Phoenix. January 9, 1928. p. 12. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ Early, Gerald (January 24, 2019). The Cambridge Companion to Boxing. Cambridge University Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-1-108-65103-5.
  14. ↑ "Colored Girls Will Film Picture in African Interior". The Topeka Plaindealer. September 3, 1926. p. 4. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "'Boxeuse' Not Ill". The Pittsburgh Courier. July 7, 1928. p. 16. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "Calvin's Weekly Diary of the New York Show World". The Pittsburgh Courier. December 11, 1926. p. 10. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "Black and White Show Popular at Orpheum". The News. May 8, 1928. p. 12. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "Female Boxers to Feature in New Colored Show". The Pittsburgh Courier. December 4, 1926. p. 13. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ Peterson, Bernard L. Jr. (October 25, 1993). A Century of Musicals in Black and White: An Encyclopedia of Musical Stage Works By, About, or Involving African Americans: An Encyclopedia of Musical Stage Works By, About, or Involving African Americans. ABC-CLIO. p. 233. ISBN 978-0-313-06454-8.
  20. ↑ Mantle, Burns (April 25, 1929). "'Messin' Around', Noisy Sideshow". Daily News. p. 39. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ Dietz, Dan (March 29, 2018). The Complete Book of 1930s Broadway Musicals. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 42, 150–152. ISBN 978-1-5381-0277-0.
  22. ↑ "'Change Your Luck' New Colored Show at Cohan Theatre". Times Union. June 9, 1930. p. 10. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ↑ Mantle, Burns (September 17, 1931). "'Fast and Furious' Colored Romp". Daily News. p. 439. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ↑ "Dare Ya' to Touch Me!". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. May 25, 1956. p. 1. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ↑ "Lady Wrestler Guards Woman at Stock Meeting". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. May 25, 1956. p. 1. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ↑ "Births Reported". The Washington Post. April 18, 1917. p. 12. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ↑ "Theatrical tidbits". The Pittsburgh Courier. March 29, 1975. p. 14. Retrieved June 4, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ↑ Floyd, Alex (June 29, 2015). "Heritage Trail Honors for Emma Maitland". The Vineyard Gazette - Martha's Vineyard News. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  29. ↑ "Emma Chambers Maitland – Martha's Vineyard Museum". Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  30. ↑ "Exhibit Opening: "Emma Chambers Maitland"". Martha's Vineyard Museum. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
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