Maud Lindsey's home as it looks today |
Governor Robert Burns Lindsey July 4, 1824-Feb 13, 1902 |
Maud McKnight Lindsay May 13, 1874-May 30, 1941 |
International educator and author Maud Lindsay was born at this home, then a frame structure in 1874. She was the daughter of Governor Robert B. Lindsay (see other side) and Sarah M. Winston Lindsey.
In 1898, after working in a private kindergarten in Tuscumbia, "Mis Maud" crossed social barriers and established Alabama's first free kindergarten program in the working-class cotton mill district of East Florence.
She remained the teacher and principal of the school for more than four decades. In 1900, Milton Bradley Company published Lindsay's first book. Mother Stories. She subsequently authored sixteen additional works, many of which reflected her childhood experiences in Alabama. Although she had no formal higher education, Lindsay became a sought-after speaker.
She lectured on the art of storytelling at New York University. Rebuffing many offers to teach elsewhere, including an invitation from renowned Italian educator Maria Montessori, Lindsey chose to remain in Alabama. Her childhood friend Helen Keller described her as "one of the truly progressive women of the southland and an example of Alabama's true wealth and greatness." Lindsay was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1995.
Maud Lindsey Kindergarten Florence, Alabama |
Maud McKnight Lindsey The Florence Free Kindergarten |