Maude Brooks Cotton

Maude Brooks Cotton (1872-1945), a native of Oberlin, Ohio, received her early school training at Knoxville College. Later she enrolled at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she received a Bachelor of Music degree in 1896. In 1900 she was married to Reverend John Adam Cotton (1865 - 1943), and immediately journeyed in the mission field for the United Presbyterian Church. In 1903, she joined her husband in Henderson, North Carolina, where he was called to pastor and serve as president of the Henderson Normal School. Making him the second African American to do so. She was an active member of the organization and also wrote the words and music for the Federated Song. "We Are Lifting as We Climb." She was a charter member and local and state president of the Parent -Teachers Association. In 1943, she accompanied her husband to Knoxville College, where he was named the first black president and served until his death that same year. She was the mother of Carol C. Bowie, an educator. She is interred on the grounds of Jubilee Hospital.

Sources: Vance County, North Carolina, By Andre Vann, (2000); Beck Cultural Exchange Center, Knoxville, Tennessee; Knaffl Brothers, Knoxville, Tennessee;Courtesy of Andre D. Vann