African American educator, author, and vocalist Evangeline Harris (Merriweather) was born in Terre Haute. She graduated from Indiana State Normal School and taught over 25 years at Booker T. Washington and Lincoln schools. She composed “The Ivy Hymn” for her Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and was a charter member of its Alpha Eta Omega Chapter. Her 1937 master's thesis in education surveyed hundreds of black schools and determined a need for an illustrated school reader featuring African American children. As a result, she published a three-part primary-grades series, The Family (1938) and presented biographies of prominent African Americans in Stories for Little Tots (1940). Her books were highly praised.