Jacqueline Steiner

Jacqueline Steiner (born c. 1924) is an American folk singer, songwriter and social activist. Steiner is known for having written the lyrics to the song "M.T.A.", about a man stuck on the Boston subway because he could not pay the exit fare. "M.T.A." was co-written with Bess Lomax Hawes as part of a Boston political campaign in 1949 and later altered slightly by the popular folk group the Kingston Trio, becoming one of their hits in 1959.[1]

Steiner graduated from Vassar College and attended graduate courses at Radcliffe College.[2]

She married Arnold Berman (the couple divorced in 1954) and was active in the folk scene in the 1950s and 60s, singing (as Jackie Berman) with Pete Seeger and others on Hootenanny Tonight!, recorded in 1954 and released by Folkways Records in 1959.[2][3]

As Jacqueline Sharpe, she released an album of antiwar songs in 1966 entitled No More War.[4] Steiner is a linguist and demonstrated this interest in 1991 with her album Far Afield: Songs of Three Continents.[2]

Steiner joined the Norwalk, Connecticut branch of the African American civil rights advocacy group the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1991, serving several years as the chapter's secretary and receiving the Roy Wilkins Leadership Award for service from the state NAACP in 2010.[5]

Personal life

Her son is the novelist Matthew Sharpe.

References

  1. ↑ Moskowitz, Eric (December 26, 2010). "Charlie’s true history moves out from the underground". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Peter Dreier and Jim Vrabel (Spring 2010). "Did He Ever Return?: The Forgotten Story of "Charlie and the M.T.A."". American Music (University of Illinois Press) 28 (1): 3–43. doi:10.5406/americanmusic.28.1.0003. ISSN 0734-4392.
  3. ↑ "Children's Peace Song". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
  4. ↑ "Still Records Catalogue". Still Records. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
  5. ↑ "Steiner Award". NAACP Norwalk Connecticut Branch. Retrieved 27 December 2010.

Further reading