Constance Hill Marteena

Constance Hill Marteena (August 24, 1897/1903 – December 29, 1978) was an American librarian and author, known for her bibliographies about Black women.

Constance Hill Marteena
Marteena in 1965
BornAugust 24, 1897 or 1903
Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
Died(1978-12-29)December 29, 1978
Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S.
Occupationlibrarian

Early life and education

Marteena was born on August 24, 1897,[1] or in 1903, in Richmond, Virginia.[2] Her parents were Irene Robinson Hill and Reuben T. Hill.[2] She attended Hartshorn Memorial College and earned her B.S. degree from Hampton Institute in 1933.[2][3] She studied library science at the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago, and received a Master of Arts degree in 1946.[2] She worked as director of public information at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University from 1929 to 1937 where she was also a founding member of the Alpha Phi chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority in 1931.[2][4]

Career

Marteena was president of the North Carolina Negro Library Association (NCNLA) from 1952 through 1954, and helped guide its merger with the North Carolina Library Association, which ended the segregation of professional library associations in North Carolina.[2][5]

Through NCNLA, she published the printed resource Achievements of Afro-American women of the twentieth century: a checklist in 1949.[6] This built on her previous publication, A bibliographic technique illustrated in the compilation of a selective guide to the literature of Afro-American women of achievement, which was published in 1946.[7] She also authored the book The Lengthening Shadow of a Woman: A Biography of Charlotte Hawkins Brown about the woman who founded the Palmer Memorial Institute.[8] Marteena was an advocate for women's education stating, "when you educate a woman you educate a family."[9]

Marteena worked at Bennett College from 1937 until 1967, retiring as director of the Thomas F. Holgate Library in Greensboro, North Carolina.[2] She was an instructor in the college's teacher-librarian certification program and worked on a library collection on African-American women.[2] The special collections room was named in her honor in 1978.[10]

Marteena died on December 29, 1978, in Greensboro.[2]

References
  1. "Marteena, Constance, 1897-1978". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  2. Speller Jr., Benjamin F. (1996). "Constance Hill Marteena (1903–1976)". In Smith, Jessie Carney (ed.). Notable Black American Women. Vol. 2. New York: Gale. pp. 432–433. ISBN 0-8103-9177-5.
  3. "An Exponential Education: The Early Students of Hartshorn Memorial College". Virginia Union University Archives & Special Collections. 2017-03-27. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  4. "Alpha Phi Chapter History". Alpha Phi Chapter. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  5. Josey, E. J. (2020-06-10). Handbook of Black librarianship. ISBN 9780810837201. Retrieved 2021-03-14 – via Internet Archive.
  6. Achievements of Afro-American women of the twentieth century : a checklist. (Book, 1949) [WorldCat.org]. OCLC 15061033. Retrieved 2021-03-14 – via WorldCat.org.
  7. A bibliographic technique illustrated in the compilation of a selective guide to the literature of Afro-American women of achievement. (Book, 1946) [WorldCat.org]. OCLC 43062280. Retrieved 2021-03-14 – via WorldCat.org.
  8. "Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum". NCpedia. 1961-01-11. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  9. Educating the majority : women challenge tradition in higher education. New York: American Council on Education. 1969. p. 210. ISBN 9780029248102. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  10. The Belle. Bennett College. 1978. p. 28. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
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