Cunningham Dolby a local trailblazer
First African-American woman to graduate from Manchester started out in Howard County
Today’s article is brought to you by the Howard County Democratic Party. Join the Dems on Oct. 22 for their annual Celebrate Democracy dinner.
When exploring African American history, there are well-known notables such as Martin Luther King Jr., Madam CJ Walker, Malcolm X, Ida B Wells, Booker T. Washington, Harriet Tubman, George Washington Carver, and many more.
As significant a mark these individuals made to change the trajectory for the black man and woman in America, residents of Howard County, Indiana, might find it a bit difficult to make a connection with the nationally recognized figures. If there are trailblazers of African American descent worthy of national or international acclaim locally, they are little known. However, that may not be the case anymore because of Martha Cunningham Dolby.
Dr. Nicholas Patler, from the University of Virginia, presented at the Kokomo Howard County Public Library Main campus on Oct. 15 to share the life of Dolby, a magnificent woman in American history. It just so happens that this Afro American woman was a resident of Howard County in her formative years.
Dolby was the Virginia adjunct professor’s topic for the day. Martha, or “Mattie,” was born in Howard County in 1878 and was the oldest of 11 siblings. She took great pride in helping raise and look after her younger siblings and growing up in the New London area. Patler stated that, “her personality was shaped, and her memories were formed” there.
“Before she was in her teens, Cunningham was helping take care of the chickens, farming the garden, driving the horse and buggy into New London to run errands for her family,” said Patler. “She was also a regular visitor to Kokomo where she attended Wayman Chapel AME church as well as to socialize with the local black community.”
As it was the common belief system of the day, Cunningham’s father felt and was quoted as saying “to wash and cook and have babies” was the role of a woman in that day. An intellectual, an extraordinarily brilliant mind, and prodigious scholar, Cunningham had bigger goals and dreams for herself. She did not immediately accept the role of being a wife and mother as early on in life as most.
Cunningham and her brother, Joseph’s, successes as high school students were astonishing, as academics were not as highly praised or prized, especially for young women in the African American community. It was understood in that day that hands were of more value on the farm and around the home than in the pursuit of an education.
In 1900, Cunningham, without the blessing of her father and no financial support, with her brother who did have the support of their father, set off for college to become the first black students admitted to Manchester College, a brethren college which was an all-white school at the time. The significance of that accomplishment was that it challenged the mentality of the day, and of those in higher authority in the land. President Woodrow Wilson once said to a black applicant of Princeton, “it is altogether inadvisable for a black man to enter Princeton.”
When the two arrived on campus, they were met with opposition. In their first year they couldn’t even eat on campus. The following year, a student-led organization supported the Cunninghams and stood with them in solidarity. To the credit of Mattie and Joseph, they transgressed the protocol of the day and integrated a space of higher learning in an era of intense racial violence.
Despite working and taking a heavy course load, Mattie excelled tremendously and achieved, scoring A’s in her classes. She was an active member of chorus and the Bible society and would have likely been considered magna cum laude, which Manchester did not award to students at the time.
Even when “one half of 1 percent of African American women in that day were in college,” said Palter, Cunningham would not be denied education even in the face of systemic racism.
While both she and her brother shined in academia and were highly involved at Manchester College, it is a well-known fact that Mattie was the more gifted scholar. “She could have even had a photographic memory,” said Patler. “They said she could recall things with hardly any effort at all.”
Joseph was not too shabby as a scholar himself. He ended up finding great favor on the campus of Manchester, having possibly integrated the first basketball team. He joined the Lincoln Society literacy group and was a fine debater. After college, Joseph moved to Chicago and became a doctor. There is little known about how the rest of his life turned out.
After college, Mattie Cunningham distinguished herself even more from the rest of society as a black woman in the early 20th century. After graduating from Manchester with a dual degree in Bible and English in 1903, Mattie at the age of 29 would find a husband in Newton Dolby. Newton was an engineer at Wilberforce College, and together they had six children. He died prematurely of a heart attack in 1926 in Urbana, Ohio.
Mattie’s faith was an ever-present calling, and she pursued it with great ferocity. In her defining moment, “On Dec. 31, 1911, in Urban, Ill., Mattie Cunningham Dolby became not only the first woman installed as a minister, but the first African American woman installed as a minster of the Church of Brethren,” said Patler.
There was more racism to endure as a minister, and in one instance she was pushed out by new administration. Privy to the idea that not even religion was exempt from the ugliness of racism, she moved on. She lived her final days in Urbana, Ohio, in 1956 at the age of 78.
For Mattie’s dedication and commitment to helping impoverished Black families in the South, her tenacity, courage, and achievement in education, as well as perseverance through the adversity she faced becoming a Black woman minster, Manchester University in North Manchester, Ind., has dedicated an Academic Center in honor of Mattie and Joseph.
Manchester President Dave McFadden stated, “I can think of no better way for Manchester to honor the Cunninghams than to name a hall of learning for them.”