Music / Civil rights & activism
Martha Glaser
1921–2014 · jazz manager, producer, civil rights activist
Daughter of Hungarian Jewish immigrants who grew up in southwest Detroit, turned to civil rights work after the 1943 Detroit riot and became the longtime manager of jazz pianist Erroll Garner.
- Born
Duquesne, Pennsylvania- Died
aged 93- Birth name
- Martha Farkas
- Also known as
- Martha Farkas Glaser
- Detroit years
- 1920s–1943
- Field
- Music, Civil rights & activism
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Martha Farkas was born in 1921 near Pittsburgh to Samuel and Pearl Farkas, Hungarian Jewish immigrants, and grew up in Detroit, where she graduated from Southwestern High School, the school of the Hungarian neighborhoods of Delray and Springwells. She earned a degree in government, with minors in economics, sociology and history, at Wayne State University in 1942. The Detroit race riot of June 1943 shaped her life's work: she helped form the Entertainment Industry Emergency Committee to fight what it called race hatred, then handled publicity on racial issues for the Mayor's Commission on Human Relations in Chicago from 1944 to 1946. In the early 1950s she met pianist Erroll Garner and became his manager, producer and business partner, running his career until his death in 1977 and guarding his legacy afterward. Her archive of Garner's papers and recordings went to the University of Pittsburgh.
Highlights
- Graduated from Southwestern High School in Detroit
- Wayne State University degree in government, 1942
- Fought 'race hatred' after the 1943 Detroit riot
- Manager, producer and partner of Erroll Garner from the early 1950s
- Garner archive donated to the University of Pittsburgh
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1930s
Southwestern High School
Closed · 1916–2012
Southwest Detroit high school serving Delray and Springwells, whose early students were largely Hungarian-American.
Studied here · 1938–1942
Wayne State University
Where she earned her degree in government in 1942.