Muriel Sutherland Snowden (July 14, 1916 – September 30, 1988) was the founder and co-director of Freedom House, a community improvement center in

Roxbury, Massachusetts Roxbury () is a neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts. Roxbury is a dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for neighborhood services coordination. The city states that Roxbury se ...

. She is, together with her husband Otto P. Snowden, a major figure in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

history and activism.Editorial. "Freedom House at 50". ''The Boston Globe.'' 1999-02-25.

Early life

Snowden was born Muriel Sophronia Sutherland and raised in

Glen Ridge, New Jersey Glen Ridge is a borough in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough’s population was 7,802, reflecting an increase of 275 (+3.7%) from the 2010 census count of 7,527,

. She graduated as valedictorian of her high school in 1934.Driscoll, Edgar. "Muriel Snowden, 72; Cofounder of Freedom House In Roxbury bituary" ''The Boston Globe''. 1988-10-01. She attended Radcliffe College, graduating in 1938. She then worked as a volunteer for a settlement house in

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

and an investigator for the Essex County Welfare Board. She also studied at the

New York School of Social Work The Columbia University School of Social Work is the graduate school of social work of Columbia University. It is the nation's oldest social work program, with roots extending back to 1898, when the New York Charity Organization Society's first s ...

from 1943-1945 and funded her education with a fellowship from the

National Urban League The National Urban League, formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for African Am ...

. She married Otto P. Snowden in 1944, and they moved to Boston. Gail Snowden, their only child, was born in 1945."Muriel_Snowden." Photostream of Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America. https://www.flickr.com/photos/schlesinger_library/13270544944.

Freedom House

The Snowdens founded Freedom House, an organization that advocated for self-help and integration for African Americans in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood, in 1949. After operating Freedom House out of their home for three years, the Snowdens purchased a building that previously housed the Hebrew Teachers College on Crawford Street in Roxbury to serve as its permanent location. Freedom House became a well-known and active advocacy organization in Upper Roxbury, at times even known as the "Black Pentagon" because it was the major meeting spot for Boston's African-American activist community. Speaking of her family's commitment to living in the Roxbury neighborhood in an era when it suffered from

blight Blight refers to a specific symptom affecting plants in response to infection by a pathogenic organism. Description Blight is a rapid and complete chlorosis, browning, then death of plant tissues such as leaves, branches, twigs, or floral org ...

, arson, and other crime, Muriel Snowden once said "We decided long ago we weren't going anywhere, and we were going to stay here ... This is a commitment. You have a direction, a feeling about where you're going." Muriel and Otto Snowden retired from active involvement in Freedom House in 1984; their daughter Gail later became chair of the Foundation's board.

Other work

Snowden served as executive director of the

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

Civic Unity Committee from 1948 to 1950, until she left to dedicate her full-time to Freedom House. She also taught community organization at the

Simmons College Institutions of learning called Simmons College or Simmons University include: * Simmons University, a women's liberal arts college in Boston, Massachusetts * Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically black college in Louisville, Kentucky * Ha ...

School of Social Work as an adjunct instructor from 1958 to 1970. Snowden served on the boards of many organizations, including

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, ...

, the Associated Harvard Alumni, the Radcliffe College Alumnae Association, Babson College,

Shawmut Bank Shawmut, according to 19th-century scholarship, is a term derived from the Algonquian word ''Mashauwomuk'' referring to the region of present-day Boston, Massachusetts.Forsford, Eben Norton, ''The Indian names of Boston, and their meaning''Univer ...

, the board of overseers of Harvard College, and the Racial Imbalance Committee of the

Massachusetts Department of Education The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), sometimes referred to as the Massachusetts Department of Education, is the state education agency for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, identified by the U.S. Departmen ...

Awards

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

(1987) * Harvard Medal (1986) * Honorary doctorate, University of Massachusetts (1968) * Alumnae Achievement Award, Radcliffe College (1964)

Death and legacy

Snowden died from cancer at the age of 72, on September 30, 1988. The

Snowden International School The Muriel Sutherland Snowden International School at Copley (formerly Copley High School) is a public high school located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Its international-themed curriculum was introduced by the school's namesake, Muri ...

, near

Copley Square Copley Square , named for painter John Singleton Copley, is a public square in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, bounded by Boylston Street, Clarendon Street, St. James Avenue, and Dartmouth Street. Prior to 1883 it was known as Art Square due to it ...

in Boston, credits her for their international-themed curriculum and is named after her."Back Bay West: Muriel Snowden International High School."

Boston Women's Heritage Trail The Boston Women's Heritage Trail is a series of walking tours in Boston, Massachusetts, leading past sites important to Boston women's history. The tours wind through several neighborhoods, including the Back Bay and Beacon Hill, commemorating w ...

. http://bwht.org/tours/back-bay-west Her papers are held at Northeastern University as part of the Freedom House Collection in its Library Archives and Special Collections Department.Richards, Nancy and Ellen Lassiter.
Collection Overview
" ''Archives and Special Collections Finding Aids: Muriel S. and Otto P. Snowden papers.'' Northeastern University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections, December 1997 and November 2005. Web. Accessed March 25, 2014.

References

External links

"Reminiscences of Muriel S. Snowden"
''Columbia University'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Snowden, Muriel S. People from Glen Ridge, New Jersey Radcliffe College alumni MacArthur Fellows American social workers 1916 births 1988 deaths African-American history in Boston Activists for African-American civil rights Columbia University School of Social Work alumni 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people Women civil rights activists