Aldena Windham Davis Smith
A young Black woman with hair cut in a short bob, wearing a striped top with a scoop neckline
Aldena Windham, from a 1927 newspaper
Born
Aldena Lydia Windham

Birmingham, Alabama
Occupation(s)Singer, music educator, choral director, organist

Aldena Windham Davis Smith was an American singer, music educator, and choral director. She performed with the Fisk Jubilee Singers in the 1920s, and was director of music at Virginia Union University from 1931 to 1942.

Early life

Aldena Lydia Windham was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the daughter of Ben L. Windham and Loretta R. Windham. Her parents were both born in Louisiana; her father was a contractor, and her mother was a clubwoman, teacher, and business manager.[1][2][3] She attended Fisk University,[4][5] and graduated from Howard University in 1926.[6] She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta, and in 1937 was a charter member of the sorority's Richmond alumnae chapter.[7] She earned a master's degree in music education from Northwestern University.[1]

Career

Windham sang with the Fisk Jubilee Singers,[8] including a 1922 performance at the National Music Supervisors Conference in Nashville.[9][10] She was organist at Sixth Avenue Baptist Church in Birmingham[11] and a teacher and librarian at the city's Industrial High School before she married.[12][13]

Davis was Director of Music at the Virginia Union University in 1931 from 1942.[14] She led the school's chorus in concerts[15][16] including radio concerts,[17][18] performances in Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania,[19][20] and an appearance at the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP in 1942.[21] She was music consultant for the Richmond Public Schools, and in 1945 was appointed State Supervisor of Music in Negro Schools in Virginia.[1][22]

In East St. Louis after her second marriage, Smith was director of a day care center, and served on a state advisory committee on day care standards.[23][24]

Personal life

Windham married twice. In 1929, she married Llewellyn Davis and moved to Richmond, Virginia.[25] They had a daughter, Elvia.[22] She married one of her Fisk University friends, dentist and politician Aubrey Hinton Smith,[26] in 1951, and moved to East St. Louis.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Mrs. Aldena Windham Smith". Alabama Tribune. 1951-12-28. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-02-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ "Miss Windham Gives Supper Party". The Birmingham Reporter. 1924-01-05. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-02-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Socialite". The Weekly Review. 1949-01-28. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-02-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Fisk Students Return Home". The Birmingham Reporter. 1922-06-17. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-02-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "Miss Aldena Windham Honored". The Birmingham Reporter. 1920-09-25. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-02-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Student Recitals" The Hilltop (April 21, 1926): 1.
  7. ↑ "Chapter History". Richmond Alumnae, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
  8. ↑ "Directs Va. Union Choral Club". Call and Post. March 30, 1939. p. 12. Retrieved February 12, 2022 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  9. ↑ Wiggers, Alvin S., "Fisk Songs Delight Music Supervisors" Fisk University News 11(March 1922): 13.
  10. ↑ "Fisk Jubilee Concert" Music News 14(March 31, 1922): 3.
  11. ↑ "Miss Aldena Windham". The Voice of the People. 1920-01-17. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-02-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Choir Gives Organist Shower". The Birmingham Reporter. 1929-09-07. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-02-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Miss Aldena Windham Who Has Accepted Work at High School". The Birmingham Reporter. 1927-02-05. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-02-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ Harris, George (1940-01-12). "Richness Shown by Luther King, Negro Tenor". The Times Dispatch. p. 12. Retrieved 2022-02-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "Virginia Club Wins Applause at Concert". The Akron Beacon Journal. 1939-03-24. p. 25. Retrieved 2022-02-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "Sing for Scholarship Fund". The Akron Beacon Journal. 1939-03-20. p. 10. Retrieved 2022-02-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "Va. Union Chorus Broadcasts Program of Songs". The Richmond News Leader. 1938-04-06. p. 28. Retrieved 2022-02-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "Those Wild Radio Waves" The Phoenix Index (April 20, 1940): 4.
  19. ↑ "Va. Union's Choir Will Give Recitals". The Richmond News Leader. 1940-03-04. p. 18. Retrieved 2022-02-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ "Will Direct Singers". Baltimore Afro American. March 25, 1939. p. 15. Retrieved February 12, 2022 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  21. ↑ "Branch News". The Crisis: 37. January 1942.
  22. 1 2 "Club News". The Weekly Review. 1945-07-21. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-02-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ↑ "2 Women Named to Advisory Group". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. 1962-02-20. p. 35. Retrieved 2022-02-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ↑ "Five Named to Committee for Day Care Units". The Dispatch. 1962-02-20. p. 15. Retrieved 2022-02-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ↑ "Japanese Breakfast Party Given by Sinovodad Club". The Birmingham Reporter. 1929-08-31. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-02-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ↑ "Dr. Aubrey H. Smith Funeral". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 1979-12-31. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-02-12 – via Newspapers.com.
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