Talley-Brady Hall

Talley-Brady Hall on the Fisk University campus is named after two notable African-American chemistry professors, Thomas Talley (1870-1952) and Saint Elmo Brady (1884-1966). Talley earned his B.A. and M.A. at Fisk and spent most of his career here from 1903 to 1942. He taught chemistry and biology and served as chair of the chemistry department for 25 years. He was also a noted collector of African-American folk music and stories. In 1922, he published the first scholarly work of secular folksongs in Tennessee called Negro Folk Rhymes. Brady was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry (1916) and, like Talley, also served as chair of the Fisk University chemistry department.

Thomas Talley

Thomas Talley was born on October 9, 1870 in Shelbyville, Tennessee to formerly enslaved parents, Charles and Lucinda Talley. He was one of nine children. Talley attended public schools growing up and attended Fisk University, earning his B.A. in 1890 and his M.A. three years later. His teaching career began in 1891 when he was hired by Alcorn A&M College, which is located in Mississippi. He next taught at Florida A&M from 1893 to 1900, and then at the Tuskegee Institute until 1903 when he joined Fisk. In 1896, he obtained a doctorate of science degree from Walden University and participated in post graduate summer programs at Harvard in 1914 and 1916. He later earned his Ph.D. in 1931 from the University of Chicago.

Talley was always interested in music. While an undergraduate at Fisk, he sang with the First Jubilee Singers, which went on tour in 1890. He also sang in a quartet, was a member of a classical music group called the Mozart Society, conducted the Fisk choir, and was active in the music activities at Fisk Union Church. He also wrote a Christmas song called "Behold That Star."

Talley began collecting rural African-American folksongs when he was about 50 years old. Negro Folk Rhymes was the first collection of African-American folksongs compiled by a black scholar. Talley never published his collection of African-American folk stories, which he titled "Negro Traditions," but it was published in 1993.

Talley left Fisk in 1942 then worked for the War Department during World War II. After living for a time in Jefferson City, Missouri, he came back to Nashville where he remained for the rest of his life. During that time he continued to write about science topics. He died on July 14, 1952. He married his wife, Ellen, in 1899 and they had two daughters, both of whom had successful music careers.

Saint Elmo Brady

Brady was born on December 22, 1884 in Louisville, Kentucky. He attended Fisk and graduated in 1908 then began teaching at the Tuskegee Institute, where he befriended its founder, Booker T. Washington. Four years later, Brady enrolled in graduate school at the University of Illinois where he earned his master's in chemistry in 1914 and his Ph.D. in 1916. During that time he became the first African American admitted into the chemistry honor society, Phi Lambda Upsilon. For his achievement of becoming the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry, the NAACP monthly magazine, The Crisis, named Brady the November 1916 issue's "man of the month."

Brady returned to the Tuskegee Institute and remained until 1920 when he was hired by Howard University. Seven years later, he joined the chemistry faculty at Fisk and taught until he retired in 1952. However, he came out of retirement to establish the chemistry department at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi. He died on December 25, 1966 in Washington D.C. He and his wife, Myrtle, had two sons, Robert and St. Elmo Brady, Jr.

Cockrell, Lucinda Poole. "Thomas Washington Talley." Tennessee Encyclopedia. October 8, 2017. https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/thomas-washington-talley.

"Noyes Laboratory at the University of Illinois." American Chemical Society. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/noyeslaboratory.html#st-elmo-brady-biography.

"St. Elmo Brady Collection on Booker T. Washington and Maggie Washington Papers, 1901-1922." https://www.fisk.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/brady-st.elmocollectiononbookert.andmaggiewashington.pdf.

"Talley-Brady Hall." The Historical Marker Database. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=4503.

"Thomas W. Talley Collection Papers, 1891-1951." Fisk University. Accessed July 25, 2023. https://www.fisk.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/talley-thomasw.collection1891-1951.pdf.