Ariel Serena Hedges Bowen (1862—1904) was a writer, Temperance movement

Temperance movement

A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...

 activist, and professor of music at Clark University

Clark Atlanta University

Clark Atlanta University is a private, historically black university in Atlanta, Georgia. It was formed in 1988 with the consolidation of Clark College and Atlanta University...

 (Atlanta) in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Twentieth Century Negro Literature (1902) noted that "she is regarded as one of the foremost and best cultured women of her race."

Biography

Ariel Serena Hedges was born in Newark, N.J. Her father was a Presbyterian clergyman in that city. He had graduated from Lincoln University, Pa., and had organized churches in New York State. Her mother represented one of the oldest Presbyterian families of that State. Her grandfather was a bugler in the Mexican war, and was a Guard of Honor when Lafayette revisited the United States. Her parents removed early to Pittsburgh, Pa., where she attended the Avery Institute. She completed the Academic course of this school. Her parents then moved to Baltimore, Md., where her father became pastor of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, and finally of Grace Presbyterian Church. She was sent to the High School of Springfield, Mass., where she remained and graduated with honor in a large class in 1885. She also took the Teachers' Course and Examination and passed a creditable examination and was favorably considered as teacher for one of the schools of that city. She was then called to teach History and English Language in the Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Ala., under Prof. B. T. Washington. She read Greek, Latin and German with facility.

In the year 1886 she was married to Dr. J. W. E. Bowen (John W. E. Bowen, Sr.) of Gammon Theological Seminary, Atlanta, Ga. She became a Life Member of the Woman's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. She moved to Atlanta with her husband in 1893, where the couple raised a family of four children (one son and three daughters).

Bowen became Professor of Music in Clark University

Clark Atlanta University

Clark Atlanta University is a private, historically black university in Atlanta, Georgia. It was formed in 1988 with the consolidation of Clark College and Atlanta University...

 in 1895, writing broadly on music (Music in the Home), as well as being an accomplished vocalist and musician with the piano and pipe organ.

Bowen was also a notable figure in the southern Women's Christian Temperance Union, writing The Ethics of Reform and serving as State President of the Georgia W. C. T. U., No. 2.

Ariel Bowen Memorial United Methodist Church in Atlanta, Georgia is named in her memory.

Sources

• Twentieth Century Negro Literature, edited by D. W. Culp, 1902 http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18772

Further reading

• Twentieth Century Negro Literature or, A Cyclopedia of Thought on the Vital Topics Relating to the American Negro, Edited by Daniel Wallace Culp, published 1902, Project Gutenberg EBook #18772, Release Date July 2006
• Index to Women of the World from Ancient to Modern Times: Biographies and portraits, By Norma Olin Ireland. Westwood, MA: F.W. Faxon Co., 1970
• Notable Black American Women. Book II. Edited by Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1996.
• In Black and White: a guide to magazine articles, newspaper articles, and books concerning Black individuals and groups. Third Edition. Edited by Mary Mace Spradling. Detroit: Gale Research, 1980.