February 2, 2022

Montgomery History Black History Month Online Event on Tuesday, Feb. 8, Will Feature ‘An Illustrated Talk on the Life of Portia Washington Pittman’

Portia Washington Pittman
Montgomery History’s Celebration of Black History Month will continue at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 8, with the online presentation An Illustrated Talk on the Life of Portia Washington Pittman.

The presentation will have Susan G. Pearl, a historian for the Prince George’s County Historical Society, speaking on the life of this remarkable woman.

Portia Washington Pittman, who lived from 1883-1978, was the oldest child and only daughter of Booker T. Washington. She was born in Tuskegee, Ala., at the institute founded by her father, and had become an accomplished pianist by age 10.

Having graduated from college in 1905, Ms. Pittman then spent two years in Germany studying piano with a former student of Franz Liszt. After returning to Tuskegee in October 1907, she married architect William Sidney Pittman. They settled in Fairmount Heights in Prince George’s County.

The Pittman family moved to Dallas, Tex., in 1913, where Ms. Pittman taught music in a high school named for her father. She later taught at Tuskegee. After retirement, she returned to Washington D.C., where she devoted herself to recognition of her father’s place in history.

To register for the webinar, go to https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Y2eQ_wV3SWCk71Y1NICHvA.