Alice Vassar LaCour
Portrait of an African-American woman, wearing a dark dress with a white lace collar.
Alice Vassar LaCour, from a 1924 publication.
Born
Alice Maud Vassar

1870s
Athens, Alabama
Died1924
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Educator, singer

Alice Vassar LaCour (born 1870s – died 1924) was an American educator and singer.

Early life and education

Alice Maud Vassar was from Athens, Alabama, where she attended the Trinity School run by missionary Mary Fletcher Wells.[1][2] She graduated from Fisk University's normal school in 1887.[3]

Career

LaCour was a Fisk Jubilee Singer, touring with the company from 1890 to 1891.[4][5] For many years afterward, she was featured on concert programs and conducted choruses at festivals.[6]

LaCour and her husband taught at American Missionary Association (AMA) schools in Jonesborough, Tennessee, Augusta, Georgia, and in Chapel Hill and Lawndale, North Carolina.[3][7] She was principal of the AMA school in Springfield, Tennessee.[8]

Personal life and legacy

Alice Vassar married fellow educator and Fisk Jubilee singer Paul Louis LaCour in 1893, in Nashville. Their wedding was attended by much of the faculty of Fisk University. The university's president, Erastus Milo Cravath, performed the ceremony.[9] The LaCours had daughters Lucile, Marion, and Gretchen.[1][10] Alice Vassar LaCour died in 1924.[11]

LaCour was a character in Arise and Build (2016), a musical play about the history of Trinity School, performed for the school's 150th anniversary.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b Who's who of the Colored Race: A General Biographical Dictionary of Men and Women of African Descent. 1915. p. 169.
  2. ^ "Trinity School, Athens, Alabama: Dare To Make a Difference". Chicago State University. Archived from the original on 2016-05-14. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
  3. ^ a b University, Fisk (1900). Catalog of the Officers, Students and Alumni of Fisk University. The University. pp. 88, 92, 101.
  4. ^ Abbot, Lynn; Seroff, Doug (2013). To Do This, You Must Know How: Music Pedagogy in the Black Gospel Quartet Tradition. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-61703-675-0.
  5. ^ Work, John Wesley (1915). Folk Song of the American Negro. Press of Fisk University. pp. 108. Alice Vassar Fisk.
  6. ^ "Colored People Will Have Music Festival Tonight". The Atlanta Constitution. 1915-08-06. p. 8. Retrieved 2020-02-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ American Missionary Association (1911). A list of missions and missionaries under the auspices of the American Missionary Association, 1910-1911. Columbia University Libraries. New York, N.Y. : [American Missionary Association]. p. 17.
  8. ^ Catalogue of the Fisk University. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Nashville, Tenn. : The University : Press of folk-Keelin Print. Co. 1892–1897.((cite book)): CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. ^ "LaCour--Vassar, A Notable Wedding in Colored Circles". Nashville Banner. 1893-06-16. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-02-29 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "MRS. LUCILE LACOUR HEACOCK". Hartford Courant. June 28, 1996. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
  11. ^ "The Horizon". The Crisis: 75. December 1924.
  12. ^ Fulton, Charlotte (January 10, 2016). "Arise & Build: Trinity play opens soon". The News Courier. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
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