Nina Simone’s Mother: The Church Pianist Who Spotted Genius
Preacher’s wife Mary Kate Waymon recognized her daughter’s talent when Nina played church piano before age four. She cleaned houses to pay for Nina’s classical piano lessons with a white teacher during segregation. When Nina performed at her teacher’s recital, Mary Kate refused to move when white audience members tried to displace her from the front row. Her stand for dignity shaped Nina’s later civil rights activism and musical expression.
