Emma Chambers Maitland

Emma Chambers Maitland (1893 – March 1975), born Jane Chambers, was an American dancer, teacher, and boxer.

Early life Jane Chambers was born near Richmond, Virginia, the daughter of Wyatt Chambers and Cora Chambers. Her parents were sharecroppers, and she had seven brothers. She changed her first name when she moved to Washington, D.C. as a young woman.

Career Chambers was a teacher as a young woman in Virginia. As a widow with a young daughter to support, Maitland moved to Paris. She danced at the Moulin Rouge, modeled for artists, and did a boxing act with another American performer, Aurelia Wheedlin (or Wheeldin). She became serious about boxing, trained with American boxer Jack Taylor, and toured with Wheedlin in Europe, billed as the world's lightweight female boxing champion. She also boxed in Canada, Cuba and Mexico.

Maitland moved back to the United States in 1926, lived in New York City, and continued performing as a "boxeuse". She appeared (often with Wheedlin) in clubs, in vaudeville and on the New York stage in black revues, including Messin' Around (1929), Change Your Luck (1930), and Fast and Furious (1931). She worked as a bodyguard and taught dance and gymnastics. In her later years she moved to Martha's Vineyard. Clarence Maitland died from tuberculosis within a year of their wedding. She died in early 1975, aged 82.

Maitland donated her papers and souvenirs to the Schomburg Collection at the New York Public Library, in 1943. In 2020, she was the subject of an exhibit at the Martha's Vineyard Museum.