Ann Hennington Brown Papers

Born Annie Estine Hennington in Jackson, Mississippi on September 30, 1913, Ann Hennington Brown was a pianist and organist at Arnett Chapel A.M.E. Church in Chicago’s Morgan Park neighborhood, an elementary school teacher in the Chicago Public Schools, and a librarian for the Chicago Public Library. In 1923 the Hennington family moved to Chicago, settling in Morgan Park, on the city’s far South Side. Since the 1890s, the Morgan Park neighborhood included a small and cohesive African American community, even though miles separated the neighborhood from other south side black neighborhoods.

The family joined Arnett Chapel A.M.E. Church, the oldest African American institution in Morgan Park. It was established in 1898. She was an active member of the first Junior Choir at the church, and was noted as a gifted pianist and organist. She began her education at Esmond Elementary School, which was integrated at that time. After the 1919 Chicago race riot, however, Ann Hennington and all other African American students at Esmond were removed, and sent to Shoop School, a new elementary school east of Vincennes Avenue. She continued her education at Morgan Park High School and graduated from Illinois State Normal University.

After graduation she met Oscar B. Brown, while they were both members of the Sanctuary Choir at Arnett Chapel. They were married in 1937. Oscar Brown’s family had migrated to Chicago from Memphis, Tennessee, where they had been active in church and racial justice work. His mother, Adelaide Parrish Brown, was a founder of the Gaudeamus Club and a charter member of the Alpha Suffrage Cub. She attended the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs convention, held at Wilberforce, Ohio in 1914.

Oscar B. Brown and Ann Hennington Brown had three children: Phyllis Jean, Margaret Ann and Oscar. Ann Hennington Brown was a member of Tau Gamma Delta Sorority, Inc., a business and professional women’s organization. She was also a member of the Tally-Ho Social Club. She was the author of a children’s book, “When Sock Saved the Day,” and a book of poems, “Love Is Alive.” In her later years, she joined Trinity United Church of Christ, where she served on the Stewardship Council and the Hurston-Hughes Writers Ministries. Ann Hennington Brown died on July 17, 2012.