THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 26, 1997 TAG: 9701260015
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B6 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 47 lines
Dr. Martha Hursey Brown, an associate professor of American history at Old Dominion University, died Friday, Jan. 17, 1997, of pancreatic cancer. She was 72.
An educator for more than 40 years, she had taught at Old Dominion since 1990. Dr. Brown was a social activist and through teaching programs and quiet actions, she contributed to black causes throughout her life. During the 1960s, as president of the Women's Civic League in her native Bridgeton, N.J., she worked for school integration and the raising of political consciousness in the city.
Dr. Brown was a member of Mount Zion AME Church in Bridgeton and was affiliated with AME churches wherever she lived.
She received doctoral and master's degrees in history from Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh. She also earned a master's in library science from Drexel University in Philadelphia and received her bachelor's degree from Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J.
Dr. Brown co-authored a junior-senior history textbook, ``Faces of America,'' and published in educational journals and anthologies. Her recent research at Old Dominion included black women during the Civil War, blacks in the military during the 19th century, Harriet Tubman and black women in the church.
Dr. Brown also taught at Central Michigan University, Langston University and Oberlin College. Four years ago, she was one of 20 women honored as part of a Centennial Project of the Women's Studies Program at Central Michigan University.
During the summer of 1996, Dr. Brown studied for eight weeks at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg campus, in South Africa under a National Endowment for the Humanities grant. She had a passion for traveling and had gone on previous trips to Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania, Egypt and Brazil, where she conducted sponsored research under a Fulbright Fellowship.
Survivors include three children, Sally Brown of Fairbanks, Alaska, and Sherill and Saul Brown of Norfolk; and a grandchild, Aaron Tschetter of Fairbanks. Surviving sisters and brothers include Christina Miles, James S. Hursey, Carole H. Laster and DeEdwin Hursey, all of Bridgeton.
A funeral was Saturday in Mount Zion AME Church, Bridgeton. The family received friends at Wesley Funeral Home.
A memorial service will be held in Norfolk at 3 p.m. Thursday in New Mount Zion AME Church, 113 Seekel St., in front of Granby High School. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
KEYWORDS: DEATH OBITUARY