Volume 2 Issue 3 March 1, 2017 Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Eastern Shore

Women’s History Month: The Voice of Polly Stewart

Polly Stewart, who died in February of

2013, continues to have an impact on

Salisbury, the Eastern Shore, and beyond.

Few may realize her lasting significance.

Every time a student of history taps into the

Polly Stewart Collection at the Edward H.

Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History

and Culture, someone new is impacted by one

of Stewart’s many contributions to Salisbury

University.

The Nabb Center’s description of the Polly

Stewart Papers summarizes the breadth of her

interests as a person and as a folklorist:

“The papers of Polly Stewart document her

educational work as well as her research and

dedication to folk lore and folk life on

Maryland’s Eastern Shore and other cultural

groups from 1964-2013, with the bulk of the

material dating from her professorship at

Salisbury University, 1974-2000. The material

contains teaching notes from courses at

Salisbury University including literature,

mythology, as well as LBGTQ and Feminism

studies, research materials on lynchings,

folklore, folk life, cultural exploration, and her

records of participation in a variety of

societies such as the Maryland Folklore

Festival.”

The oral histories conducted by her

students are a treasure trove of glimpses into

Eastern Shore history. And few know that she

contributed to the early development of the

Nabb Center, as she eagerly embraced the

mission of professors Sylvia Bradley and Dr.

Ray Thompson in developing that archive by

contributing her materials to the effort.

When Stewart retired after 30 years at

Salisbury University, she returned to her home

state of Utah and hit the ground running to

further her folklorist interests. As noted in her

obituary, she spearheaded the Urban Pioneers

1960s Folk Music Revival Concert. She was

inspired by reminiscences with folk singer

Utah Phillips, and the resulting concert, a

Utah Humanities Council granted-funded

project, included interviews with local folk

musicians including Rosalie Sorrels, Utah

Phillips, Hal Cannon and others.

That concert must have been a riveting

experience. And Stewart participated in just

about every way, including singing. As

described in the Deseret News website of

January 26, 2007, “Polly (Stewart) and the

Valley Boys (Utah Phillips and Dave

Roylance) sang with what Phillips called

‘crude vigor rather than polished banality,’ but

they were great fun.”

By Linda Duyer

As described in the Desert News of

January 21, 2007, that concert reflected a

larger slice of Utah musical history. As

Stewart then explained, Utah’s musical

folklore had been a “brief, incandescent and

almost completely undocumented slice of

Utah history,” noting that she intended to

change that.

Upon arrival home after retirement and

while looking further into Utah’s musical

history, she was shocked to realize a lack of

documentary evidence of the rich folk music.

The result of her work benefited the local

music scene and Utah’s history. This is what

folklorists do.

Also noted in her obituary, “Polly

supported the activities of Utah Pride Center,

American Folklore Society, Salisbury

University Nabb Research Center, Salisbury

University Wildfowl Museum, University of

Utah School of Humanities, University of

Oregon Folklore Program, Southern Poverty

Law Center, ACLU of Utah, Human Right

Campaign, and Unitarian Universalists.”

And of particular note, Stewart excelled

“as a member of the Salt Lake Choral Society

with a stellar soprano voice.”

Stewart’s early research into the history

of lynching on the Maryland’s Eastern Shore

provided not only information but also

insights into the resistance she encountered in

sharing this history early on. These insights

are included in a 2007 NPR radio interview

“Confronting a Legacy of Lynching” created

at the time of the debut of Sherrilyn Ifill’s

book, On the Courthouse Lawn.

Polly Stewart was born July 27, 1943, and

in high school and at the University of Utah,

took part in plays and musical productions,

(Continued at Polly Stewart on page 2)

The Delmarva Chronicle Page 2 March 1, 2017

Polly Stewart

with an interest in folksinging. She earned her

Ph.D. at the University of Oregon, the first

graduate of Barre Tolkien. She specialized in

Medieval studies and folklore, landing a 30-

year position at Salisbury University where

she had a strong interest in oral history,

resulting in the collection available today.

She is also remembered for working with

undergraduates to form the first LGBT student

group on campus, and for her personal efforts

to help students navigate the fearful and

dangerous world which sought to not accept

them. Stewart discusses her personal

experience and her helping of students in a

December 2011 interview on Contemporary

Western Women, a project of the USU Center

for Women and Gender and Utah Public

Radio, shared again following Polly Stewart’s

passing in 2013.

Upon her passing, one person posted

reflections of her impact: “I was one of those

undergrads whom Dr. Stewart worked with to

form the first student LGBT group on the

(Continued from page 1) Salisbury University Campus. She was one of

the most highly respected professors on

campus before she came out, and when she

did, the shift it created in LGBT perceptions

on the campus was nothing short of tectonic.

In my life she was a transformative figure.”

One cannot quite convey the impact of

the late Polly Stewart. She seems to have

touched everyone she met, wherever she met

them.

Personally, sadly I can count few times

I’ve actually met and talked with Polly

Stewart. Though each time was brief, they

were memorable. The first was at the Charles

H. Chipman Cultural Center when the former

Salisbury African American church celebrated

becoming the Charles H. Chipman Cultural

Center. She was taking a tour of the place, and

the awe on her face and in the words she

expressed about the place registered with me

forever.

I remember briefly attending some

meeting she was leading, wishing I had half of

the energy and enthusiasm she showed. My

last memory of her was even more fleeting, as

on her last return visit to Salisbury she took

the time to peek in at a program I was

presenting at the Nabb Center. She couldn’t

stay, but she made a point of stopping by to

say hello, and to leave, with a wave.

Now, reflecting on her past as a folklorist,

her passion with documenting local history

particularly through oral history interviews,

her love of music, her counseling of LGBT

students, her part as Polly and the Valley

Boys, I see now what Polly Stewart was most

of all — a voice.

Gloria Richardson

From the National Women’s History Museum website:

“Gloria Richardson was a leader in the Civil Rights Move-

ment. She was born in 1922 and grew up in Cambridge, MD.

Richardson attended Howard University and earned a degree

in sociology. She then worked as a civil servant during World

War II. After the war, she tried to get a job as a social worker but the Maryland Department of So-

cial Services would not hire her or any other African American social workers. Richardson helped

create the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee in 1962. The organization fought to desegre-

gate public institutions. Despite the name, the group refused to commit to non-violence. One protest

resulted in Maryland Governor J. Millard Tawes sending in the Maryland National Guard, which

remained in the city for about a year. Richardson’s work influenced a rising generation of Black

power leaders, including H. Rap Brown, Stokely Carmichael, and Cleveland Sellers. She was also

on the program to speak at the March on Washington, but was only given the chance to say hello

before the microphone was taken away.”

The Delmarva Chronicle Page 3 March 1, 2017

Check out the latest at the Crisfield Story Project Facebook page, click on above image.

The Delmarva Chronicle Page 4 March 1, 2017

Mary Louise “Tip” Quinton of San

Domingo, Wicomico County, Maryland,

passed away, August 4, 2013, some 92 years

since being born into a sharecropping

life. She was a Stanley, quite a prominent

family name in the area. San Domingo,

located between Mardela and Sharptown, is

known as established as a free African

American community.

I knew “Tip,” as knick-named during

childhood for her penchant for running around

on her “tippy toes,” as she put it, during the

1990s when learning more about the

community. There was something about this

quiet, thoughtful person that kept me coming

back, usually showing up at her back door

unannounced. And there was something about

her property, acreage on Quinton Road

stretching back to woods and including

boisterous animals, that attracted myself and

others. She held all sorts of animals,

Wicomico County’s “Tip” Quinton

practically a zoo where she would invite

groups of eager children to enjoy her

menagerie

Her back yard was a source of comfort to

her. She would sit there for hours listening to

the sounds of the animals, the domesticated

ones and the wild ones.

She had an intriguing pride and an awe-

inspiring sense of self. Shortly before the first

election of President Obama, I asked her who

she was voting for. Of course I knew, but I

wanted to hear her say it. She refused to tell

me. When pressed, she told me she never tells

who she votes for; and although she didn’t

exactly explain why, I somehow knew she

regarded the vote as a special gift that she

believed to be as private as a prayer.

Tip was born in a Rider tenant house, torn

down since photographed in the 1990s. She

took me to see it and as I photographed the

property, she gazed at about in deep

By Linda Duyer

thought. Although the family was treated well

on the Rider farm during her time there, said

Quinton, living in a tenant house was horrid to

her and she vowed to never EVER again live

on a white man’s property. Not only was it a

practical thing (always being beholden to

work and never having enough money), but it

was also a pride thing. She accomplished her

goal by marrying a Quinton, landholders from

way back.

She didn’t go to high school because her

family didn’t have the small amount of money

needed to pay the gas for the bus ride into

Salisbury. At that time, schools were

segregated and there was no public

transportation for black children. Several

enterprising community members throughout

the county acquired buses and operated

independent bus routes to the segregated high

school in Salisbury. Parents were charged a

small amount in order to keep the buses

operating, but even the low fee was too much

for the family. So as she navigated adulthood

and raised a family, it was a source of pride

that all her children went to college, a major

family accomplishment.

Asked what would she have studied had

she gone to college. She thought about it a

few seconds and said astronomy. All her life

she spent countless hours looking at the sky, a

source of wonderment for her. She also loved

watching the wildlife around her, particularly

the birds. She told me it was clear to her, from

listening to those in her backyard for hours,

that the birds had conversations.

Throughout her life she took on all sorts

of jobs to make ends meet. Her home lacked

conveniences because her children’s education

was her priority. She did not expect her

children to contribute to the family expenses

when they worked during the summer months,

as was the custom of many similar families.

Her children were allowed to keep what they

made. But, they were required to pay with

their own money for certain amenities, such as

special clothing. Her children would later

describe this with a certain pride, a feeling

that they knew was instilled in them by their

mother.

Sitting around the kitchen table one day

in the 1990s, watching some of the visiting

adult children chattering on and passing the

food, “Tip” remained mostly quiet, smiling,

watching her family of which she was

immensely proud.

The Delmarva Chronicle Page 5 March 1, 2017

Below left, Mary Louise “Tip”

Quinton, in the 1990s. Below

right, Tip and her husband

George Bernard Quinton (photo

courtesy the Quinton family).

Right, the Rider farm sharecrop-

per house where Tip was born.

The Delmarva Chronicle Page 6 March 1, 2017

Check out the fascinating array of images on shipbuilding

in Seaford, at the Seaford Delaware, a look back in time

Facebook page. Click on the above image for a link to the

internet page.

Check out the latest at the Seaford Delaware, a look back in time Facebook page, click on image.

The Delmarva Chronicle Page 7 March 1, 2017

Images from the Seaford Delaware, a look back in time Facebook page. Check out the website.

The Delmarva Chronicle Page 8 March 1, 2017

Click on the above image to view the PBS Newshour online article.

March salutes Harriet Tubman Expect to notice Harriet Tubman taking a bow historically-speaking,

during the month of March as she is honored with the new Harriet Tub-

man Underground Railroad Visitor Center in Dorchester County, begin-

ning March 11-12. But the stars are aligning for Harriet Tubman in other

ways, as her New York home in Auburn is gaining new attention as well.

And all of this is happening amid the backdrop of a newly-found photo-

graph of Tubman has hit the news.

Harriet is a celebrity!

Check out the internet article by PBS Newshour, as well as the web-

site honoring the Dorchester County premier opening of the new museum,

and the link to the upcoming annual Harriet Tubman Conference held in

Cambridge, Maryland.

The Delmarva Chronicle

Linda Duyer, Publisher and Editor

Email DelmarvaChronicle@gmail.com