Myrtle Smith Livingston (May 8, 1902 – July 15, 1974) was an American educator and playwright.

Early life

Myrtle Athleen Smith was born in

Holly Grove, Arkansas Holly Grove is a city in Monroe County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 460, down from 602 in 2010. Geography Holly Grove is located south of the center of Monroe County at (34.597556, -91.200462). It is ...

, in 1902, the daughter of Isaac Samuel Smith and Lulu C. Hall Smith. She graduated from high school in 1920. She studied pharmacy at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

for two years (1920-1922), and earned a Colorado teaching certificate in 1924. She later earned a master's degree in 1940, from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Career

Livingston taught physical education at Lincoln University in Missouri, beginning in 1928. She created many of the school's athletic opportunities for women students, including organized team sports. In 1936, she founded a dance program at Lincoln, the Orchesis Group. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, she taught first aid classes in the community. She retired from Lincoln University in 1972. Livingston wrote ''For Unborn Children'', a short play about interracial marriage and lynching. In 1926, it won a prize in the Spingarn competition sponsored by ''

The Crisis ''The Crisis'' is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. Du Bois (editor), Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly Mi ...

'' magazine. It was the first play published in ''The Crisis.'' In 1951, the play became the basis of an opera, ''The Barrier'', by

Jan Meyerowitz Jan Meyerowitz (23 April 1913 – 15 December 1998) was a German–American composer, conductor, pianist and writer. Life Meyerowitz was born Hans-Hermann Meyerowitz in Breslau (today Wrocław), the son of a manufacturer. From 1927, he studied ...

. "Although controversial in nature, the play presents a forum for discussing an issue that continues to haunt our society," note the editors of a recent complication of African-American dramas. She wrote another short play, ''Frances''.

Personal life

Myrtle A. Smith married William McKinley Livingston, a doctor, in 1925. She died in 1974, in Hawaii, aged 72 years. There is a Myrtle Smith Livingston Park, with tennis courts, on the campus of Lincoln University.

References

External links

* Schleer, Mark and Bryant, Ithaca
"Legendary Ladies of Lincoln: Myrtle Livingston Smith"
(2019). ''Legendary Ladies of Lincoln''. 18. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Livingston, Myrtle Smith 1902 births 1974 deaths 20th-century African-American educators 20th-century American educators Lincoln University (Missouri) faculty African-American dramatists and playwrights