In February, Black History Month, we told the stories of four incredible black women who earned their PhD’s. Last week we looked at two more amazing women who were outstanding in their fields, Mary W. Jackson, first female engineer at NASA and Mary J. Patterson, first Black woman to earn a BA in education.
This week we continue with our series on “Black Women in America” by recounting the stories of great black female educators. Many of our stories over the coming months will feature “firsts”. Black women faced a lot of obstacles in their paths to obtain equal opportunities. Our first six stories in this series are all about courageous Black women Firsts and these next stories are no exception. Sarah Jane Woodson Early is considered to be the first black woman college educator. Mary McLeod Bethune was a first in many areas of education especially for poor blacks. Charlotte Hawkins Brown was the first black woman to be elected to the national board of the YWCA among other things. Each of these women combined faith and fortitude to make life better for untold thousands of black children and adults.
Sarah Jane Woodson Early (1825-1907) First Professor
Sarah was born to Jemima and Thomas Woodson in Chillicothe, Ohio on November 15, 1825. She was the fifth daughter and the youngest of the Woodson’s eleven children. Thomas and Jemima had moved to Ohio in 1821 from Virginia where they had received their freedom from slavery. Ohio was a free state and many blacks moved there.
Thomas helped to found the African American[1] community of Berlin Crossroads, Ohio in 1830. Sarah grew up in that black farming community. With the freedom they enjoyed in Ohio the Woodsons founded their own school, stores, and the first black Methodist church west of the Alleghenies. In 1839, Sarah, her parents and several siblings joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). Thomas and two of Sarah’s brothers were ministers there.
The Woodson believed strongly in education for everyone including their daughters. Oberlin College accepted not only blacks but women, so Sarah enrolled in 1833. She taught at several schools over the years while in college. She graduated in 1856 becoming one of the first black women to graduate with a BA in education. In 1858, Sarah accepted a position at Wilberforce University[2] to teach English.
In those days women often did not get the recognition for their accomplishments that they deserved. At first at Wilberforce Sarah was not given the title of professor but was a member of the faculty. However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that she was the first African American (black) college instructor in the United States.
For a number of years, she taught at many schools. In 1866 she was re-hired by Wilberforce to teach English and Latin. She also served as lady principal and matron. Later that year, Sarah gave a speech entitled, “Address to Youth to the Ohio Colored Teachers Association”.[3] Sarah was a dedicated teacher who believed in the principle of education and self-help. Sarah encouraged the young people to get careers in education and the sciences to improve life for themselves and others. In 1868, Sarah left Wilberforce to teach at a girls’ school in North Carolina.
That year, Sarah at age 42 married Jordan Early, an AME preacher. Jordan had been married and widowed. He and his wife, Louisa Carter Early had 8 children, only four of whom survived to adulthood. Louisa died in 1862. The Early’s had sent their children to Wilberforce and that is where Jordan likely met Sarah. Having married late in life, Sarah had no children. Feeling very dedicated as a preacher’s wife, Sarah helped Jordan Early with his ministry for nearly twenty years. Later she wrote a book about him, Life and Labors of Rev. Jordan W. Early, One of the Pioneers of African Methodism in the West and South (1894).
Sarah retired in 1888 having served as principal of four large schools and taught over six thousand children. She and Jordan moved to Nashville where she turned her attention to reform movements. Sarah became involved in the Colored Division of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), serving a four-year term as national superintendent. She traveled many miles giving over 100 speeches in five states encouraging black women to get involved in their communities. She also spoke in churches, colleges, prisons, and at least two national church conventions.
Sarah was named Representative Woman of the Year at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. She was included by Lawson Scruggs in his famous work Women of Distinction.[4]
Sarah served her whole life as a pioneer and champion for black education, especially for women. Sarah Jane Woodson Early died on August 15, 1907, age 82, in Nashville, Tennessee. She was buried in Nashville’s’ Greenwood Cemetery.
Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955)
Through love and faith and determination I have been persistently facing obstacles, small and large, and I have made them stepping stones upon which to rise. Mary McLeod Bethune
Mary McLeod Bethune is remembered as an educator and an activist. Mary was born with three strikes against her – she was poor, black, and female. This indomitable woman who believed that “Love, not hate, has been the fountain of my fullness” spent her life building a better world.
Mary McLeod Bethune was born on July 10, 1875, near Mayesville, South Carolina. This was during the period of ‘reconstruction’ in the South. Tempers often ran as hot as the weather and as the nation adjusted, unfair anti-black violence escalated. Through it all many black men and women maintained their faith in God. There was a strong belief that education would raise the status of black people in the perceptions of others and would result in better jobs.
Originally Mary trained at Moody Bible Institute (as it is called today) to become a missionary to Africa. It seems incredible to us now, but she was told that black women were not allowed to go on the mission field. This didn’t stop Mary for long. Realizing that this setback was only a ‘stepping stone upon which to rise’ she put her heart and soul into educating poor black children, starting with girls. Mary believed that as the mothers in the homes, girls would grow up to have a profound impact on their children’s education.
Mary married Albert McLeod Bethune in 1898. They had one son. Sadly, due to disagreements that couldn’t be reconciled Mary and Albert ended the marriage in 1907.
Mary founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls in Daytona, Florida in 1904. She started with only five students, but the school grew to over 250 students in only a few years. Mary remained the president and leader for many years. In 1923 the school combined with the Cookman Institute for Men. The newly combined school, called the Bethune-Cookman College, was one of the few places where black students could get a college degree.
Besides her important work at the school, Mary also became politically involved. She was president of the Florida chapter of the National Association of Colored Women for many years. Mary worked with presidents Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin D. Roosevelt to improve life for black citizens. She served on many committees and started up her own organization – the National Council of Negro Women. In 1936 President Roosevelt appointed her to be the director of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration. In this position Mary was able to help young people find jobs. At this time Mary also served as an advisor to both Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.
In 1942 Mary retired from Bethune-Cookman college. She moved to Washington DC and lived there for several years. She was an early member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In the early 1950’s, President Truman appointed her to be the official delegate to Liberia for the inauguration of their new president.
Eventually Mary returned to Florida to retire. She passed away on May 18, 1955.
Before she died Mary wrote “My Last Will and Testament.” She wanted to leave her people with a legacy of serving. Here are her “bequests”.
I leave you love.
I leave you hope.
I leave you the challenge of developing confidence in one another.
I leave you a thirst for education.
I leave you a respect for the uses of power. (This power should be placed on the side of human justice.)
I leave you faith.
I leave you racial dignity.
I leave you a desire to live harmoniously with your fellow men.
I leave you finally a responsibility to our young people.
Faith Courage, brotherhood, dignity, ambition, responsibility – these are needed today as never before. We must cultivate them and use them as tools for our task of completing the establishment of equality for the Negro.
If I have a legacy to leave my people, it is my philosophy of living and serving. As I face tomorrow, I am content, for I think I have spent my life well. I pray now that my philosophy may be helpful to those who share my vision of a world of Peace, Progress, Brotherhood and Love.
In 1973, eighteen years after her passing, Mary McLeod Bethune was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. In 1974, a seventeen-foot bronze sculpture commemorating Mary’s work in education was erected in Lincoln Park, Washington DC. It is the first statue ever dedicated on federal land to honor either a black or a woman. The U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp in her honor in 1985. The Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site was opened in 1994.
I found a wonderful video production of Mary’s life on YouTube. It is in three parts totaling a little over 26 minutes. It gives great historical background and contains many contemporary photos. I highly recommend it!!
YouTube:
1. Mary McLeod Bethune Part One desktop, January 24, 2009, Brian Stewart 9:42
2. Mary McLeod Bethune Part Two desktop, 9:46
3. Mary McLeod Bethune Part Three desktop, 6:44
Charlotte Hawkins Brown (1883-1961)
Charlotte (born Lottie) Hawkins Brown was a pioneer in education and race relations. She maintained a love for her native state, North Carolina all her life. The granddaughter of slaves, she was born on a farm near Henderson to Caroline Frances Hawkins on June 11, 1883. Her father has not been identified. Both her mother and grandmother were strong advocates of education. This was well for Lottie who was a bright and gifted child. Her mother recognized her qualities and taught her to read and to appreciate art and music. All of these advantages would later help Lottie in her future as one of the foremost educators of her day.
Lottie was a high achiever at Cambridge English High School. Her talents in art and music were developed there. She was involved in many other activities at home and in church. At age fourteen she demonstrated her leadership abilities with the organization of the kindergarten department in the Sunday school at Union Baptist Church in Cambridge. Lottie took a job caring for two infants to earn money for her graduation. While pushing the baby carriage with one hand, she was reading a selection from the Roman author Virgil in her Latin book with the other hand. Alice Freeman Palmer, president of Wellesley College, observed this and spoke to Lottie. Alice became a benefactor and influenced Lottie for the rest of her life.
When she was ready to graduate, Lottie changed her name to Charlotte Eugenia Hawkins because she thought “Lottie” looked too ordinary for her diploma. She desired to go to college though her mother felt that her high school education was enough. Charlotte had been inspired by Booker T. Washington to use her good education to help black people in the South. Charlotte compromised with her mother and attended a two-year normal school. Alice Freeman Palmer paid her expenses.
Eager to help black children in the South, Charlotte went to a rural school in Sedalia, near Greensboro, in 1901. The school was in a run-down church and Charlotte began with only fifty poor students. She settled in an attic room over the parsonage of the Bethany Congregational Church. Her salary was thirty dollars a month and Charlotte spent much of it on clothes and school supplies for the children.
The school only lasted one term, but the townspeople wanted Charlotte to stay. She postponed her own education and went to work building a school for the community. She raised some money in New England and established the Palmer Institute. Alice Palmer died in 1902 and Charlotte changed the name of the school to the Palmer Memorial Institute. The first class met in a remodeled blacksmith’s shed with the support of the community.
Many children who were eager for an education walked for miles to attend Palmer because it was the only school in a large area. If they could not afford to pay for the classes, they were given extra jobs at the school growing food. Every student had chores because Charlotte believed that working gave them a sense of responsibility.
In 1911 Charlotte met and married Edward Sumner Brown. Edward lived in Sedalia with Charlotte but left a year later. He and Charlotte continued to correspond for a while, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1915. They had no children, but Charlotte raised her brother Mingo’s four children when their mother died. She also took in her Aunt Ella Brice’s three children when Ella’s musical career kept her away from home. All seven children graduated from the Palmer Memorial Institute and went on the higher education. Interestingly, one of the Hawkins children, Maria went to Hollywood to pursue a musical career. There she met and married the famous Nat “King” Cole.
In the 1920’s the school concentrated less on the agricultural and vocational components and began to emphasize the secondary and postsecondary components. The school focused on cultural education, highlighting drama, music, art, math, literature, foreign languages, education and government. Through the following years Charlotte built the Palmer Memorial Institute into one of the leading preparatory schools for black children in the country. As the school grew, Charlotte achieved state and national recognition.
In 1927 Charlotte was able to return to her studies. She attended Wellesley while lecturing at Smith, Wellesley, Mr. Holyoke, Radcliffe, Howard University, Hampton Institute and Tuskegee Institute. She received six honorary degrees including honorary doctorates from Lincoln University, (1937), Wilberforce University (1939) and Howard University (1944).
Charlotte was also active in her community. A biographer said of her, “Year by year, Charlotte Hawkins Brown became a more vital source of their inspiration and their guiding spirit.”[5] She often spoke out against the unfair treatment of blacks in North Carolina and across the country. She supported women’s rights including the right to vote.
She was especially fervent about improving race relations in the South. She was a charter member of Southern Commission for Interracial Cooperation; an executive board member of the Southern Region of the Urban league; a member of eh Negro Business League; and a member of the home nursing council of the American Red Cross. As one of Charlotte’s “firsts”, she was the first black to be appointed by Governor Clyde R. Hoey of North Carolina to the state Council of Defense in 1940.
Charlotte was the first black woman to be elected to the National Board of the YWCA. She was president of the Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs in North Carolina where she led to the establishment of a state-funded home for delinquent black girls.
During her fifty-year career Charlotte saw many students graduate from Palmer Memorial Institute. She resigned in 1952 and was succeeded by a former student, Wilhelmina M. Crosson. Charlotte stayed on as financial director until 1955. She began to develop health problems and died in 1961.
The Palmer Memorial Institute closed ten years later. Today the campus is the site of the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum. Here is another “first” for Charlotte as she was the first black woman to be honored by North Carolina with a state historic site.
Truly this tough and resourceful woman who helped to lead North Carolina through changes in interracial understanding that led to better race relations deserves to be remembered and honored by the people of her beloved North Carolina. As the memorial on her plaque at her gravesite says, Charlotte Hawkins Brown’s memory continues to “lend inspiration always to this place and its people.”
[1] I know that the correct term for today is “black” but until recently “African American” was the acceptable term. When I am writing stories, I have to choose whether or not to use the historical term. Sometimes I will use the term that is historical as in the report above, because that is what earlier people expected. Historical terms include “Negro”, “Colored”, “African American” and “Black”. Someone should write a history of terminology focusing on why the term has changed in different eras. I think it would be very enlightening.
[2] Wilberforce was named after William Wilberforce a famous English abolitionist. It is the oldest private historically black college or university in the United States.
[3] The term in use at the time for black people was “colored”.
[4] Dr. Lawson A. Scruggs. Women of Distinction: Remarkable in Works and Invincible in Character. (Raleigh, NC. 1893)
[5] Constance Hill Marteena. The Lengthening Shadow of a Woman: A Biography of Charlotte Hawkins Brown. (Hicksville, NY: Exposition Press, 1977) p. 55
I don’t face any particular problems as a women president because I have been a professional for a long time. I keep telling people: I am a technocrat who happens to be a woman.
Black Women Educators in America
Black Women Educators
In February, Black History Month, we told the stories of four incredible black women who earned their PhD’s. Last week we looked at two more amazing women who were outstanding in their fields, Mary W. Jackson, first female engineer at NASA and Mary J. Patterson, first Black woman to earn a BA in education.
This week we continue with our series on “Black Women in America” by recounting the stories of great black female educators. Many of our stories over the coming months will feature “firsts”. Black women faced a lot of obstacles in their paths to obtain equal opportunities. Our first six stories in this series are all about courageous Black women Firsts and these next stories are no exception. Sarah Jane Woodson Early is considered to be the first black woman college educator. Mary McLeod Bethune was a first in many areas of education especially for poor blacks. Charlotte Hawkins Brown was the first black woman to be elected to the national board of the YWCA among other things. Each of these women combined faith and fortitude to make life better for untold thousands of black children and adults.
Sarah Jane Woodson Early (1825-1907) First Professor
Sarah was born to Jemima and Thomas Woodson in Chillicothe, Ohio on November 15, 1825. She was the fifth daughter and the youngest of the Woodson’s eleven children. Thomas and Jemima had moved to Ohio in 1821 from Virginia where they had received their freedom from slavery. Ohio was a free state and many blacks moved there.
Thomas helped to found the African American[1] community of Berlin Crossroads, Ohio in 1830. Sarah grew up in that black farming community. With the freedom they enjoyed in Ohio the Woodsons founded their own school, stores, and the first black Methodist church west of the Alleghenies. In 1839, Sarah, her parents and several siblings joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). Thomas and two of Sarah’s brothers were ministers there.
The Woodson believed strongly in education for everyone including their daughters. Oberlin College accepted not only blacks but women, so Sarah enrolled in 1833. She taught at several schools over the years while in college. She graduated in 1856 becoming one of the first black women to graduate with a BA in education. In 1858, Sarah accepted a position at Wilberforce University[2] to teach English.
In those days women often did not get the recognition for their accomplishments that they deserved. At first at Wilberforce Sarah was not given the title of professor but was a member of the faculty. However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that she was the first African American (black) college instructor in the United States.
For a number of years, she taught at many schools. In 1866 she was re-hired by Wilberforce to teach English and Latin. She also served as lady principal and matron. Later that year, Sarah gave a speech entitled, “Address to Youth to the Ohio Colored Teachers Association”.[3] Sarah was a dedicated teacher who believed in the principle of education and self-help. Sarah encouraged the young people to get careers in education and the sciences to improve life for themselves and others. In 1868, Sarah left Wilberforce to teach at a girls’ school in North Carolina.
That year, Sarah at age 42 married Jordan Early, an AME preacher. Jordan had been married and widowed. He and his wife, Louisa Carter Early had 8 children, only four of whom survived to adulthood. Louisa died in 1862. The Early’s had sent their children to Wilberforce and that is where Jordan likely met Sarah. Having married late in life, Sarah had no children. Feeling very dedicated as a preacher’s wife, Sarah helped Jordan Early with his ministry for nearly twenty years. Later she wrote a book about him, Life and Labors of Rev. Jordan W. Early, One of the Pioneers of African Methodism in the West and South (1894).
Sarah retired in 1888 having served as principal of four large schools and taught over six thousand children. She and Jordan moved to Nashville where she turned her attention to reform movements. Sarah became involved in the Colored Division of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), serving a four-year term as national superintendent. She traveled many miles giving over 100 speeches in five states encouraging black women to get involved in their communities. She also spoke in churches, colleges, prisons, and at least two national church conventions.
Sarah was named Representative Woman of the Year at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. She was included by Lawson Scruggs in his famous work Women of Distinction.[4]
Sarah served her whole life as a pioneer and champion for black education, especially for women. Sarah Jane Woodson Early died on August 15, 1907, age 82, in Nashville, Tennessee. She was buried in Nashville’s’ Greenwood Cemetery.
Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955)
Through love and faith and determination I have been persistently facing obstacles, small and large, and I have made them stepping stones upon which to rise. Mary McLeod Bethune
Mary McLeod Bethune is remembered as an educator and an activist. Mary was born with three strikes against her – she was poor, black, and female. This indomitable woman who believed that “Love, not hate, has been the fountain of my fullness” spent her life building a better world.
Mary McLeod Bethune was born on July 10, 1875, near Mayesville, South Carolina. This was during the period of ‘reconstruction’ in the South. Tempers often ran as hot as the weather and as the nation adjusted, unfair anti-black violence escalated. Through it all many black men and women maintained their faith in God. There was a strong belief that education would raise the status of black people in the perceptions of others and would result in better jobs.
Originally Mary trained at Moody Bible Institute (as it is called today) to become a missionary to Africa. It seems incredible to us now, but she was told that black women were not allowed to go on the mission field. This didn’t stop Mary for long. Realizing that this setback was only a ‘stepping stone upon which to rise’ she put her heart and soul into educating poor black children, starting with girls. Mary believed that as the mothers in the homes, girls would grow up to have a profound impact on their children’s education.
Mary married Albert McLeod Bethune in 1898. They had one son. Sadly, due to disagreements that couldn’t be reconciled Mary and Albert ended the marriage in 1907.
Mary founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls in Daytona, Florida in 1904. She started with only five students, but the school grew to over 250 students in only a few years. Mary remained the president and leader for many years. In 1923 the school combined with the Cookman Institute for Men. The newly combined school, called the Bethune-Cookman College, was one of the few places where black students could get a college degree.
Besides her important work at the school, Mary also became politically involved. She was president of the Florida chapter of the National Association of Colored Women for many years. Mary worked with presidents Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin D. Roosevelt to improve life for black citizens. She served on many committees and started up her own organization – the National Council of Negro Women. In 1936 President Roosevelt appointed her to be the director of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration. In this position Mary was able to help young people find jobs. At this time Mary also served as an advisor to both Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.
In 1942 Mary retired from Bethune-Cookman college. She moved to Washington DC and lived there for several years. She was an early member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In the early 1950’s, President Truman appointed her to be the official delegate to Liberia for the inauguration of their new president.
Eventually Mary returned to Florida to retire. She passed away on May 18, 1955.
Before she died Mary wrote “My Last Will and Testament.” She wanted to leave her people with a legacy of serving. Here are her “bequests”.
I leave you love.
I leave you hope.
I leave you the challenge of developing confidence in one another.
I leave you a thirst for education.
I leave you a respect for the uses of power. (This power should be placed on the side of human justice.)
I leave you faith.
I leave you racial dignity.
I leave you a desire to live harmoniously with your fellow men.
I leave you finally a responsibility to our young people.
Faith Courage, brotherhood, dignity, ambition, responsibility – these are needed today as never before. We must cultivate them and use them as tools for our task of completing the establishment of equality for the Negro.
If I have a legacy to leave my people, it is my philosophy of living and serving. As I face tomorrow, I am content, for I think I have spent my life well. I pray now that my philosophy may be helpful to those who share my vision of a world of Peace, Progress, Brotherhood and Love.
In 1973, eighteen years after her passing, Mary McLeod Bethune was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. In 1974, a seventeen-foot bronze sculpture commemorating Mary’s work in education was erected in Lincoln Park, Washington DC. It is the first statue ever dedicated on federal land to honor either a black or a woman. The U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp in her honor in 1985. The Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site was opened in 1994.
I found a wonderful video production of Mary’s life on YouTube. It is in three parts totaling a little over 26 minutes. It gives great historical background and contains many contemporary photos. I highly recommend it!!
YouTube:
1. Mary McLeod Bethune Part One desktop, January 24, 2009, Brian Stewart 9:42
2. Mary McLeod Bethune Part Two desktop, 9:46
3. Mary McLeod Bethune Part Three desktop, 6:44
Charlotte Hawkins Brown (1883-1961)
Charlotte (born Lottie) Hawkins Brown was a pioneer in education and race relations. She maintained a love for her native state, North Carolina all her life. The granddaughter of slaves, she was born on a farm near Henderson to Caroline Frances Hawkins on June 11, 1883. Her father has not been identified. Both her mother and grandmother were strong advocates of education. This was well for Lottie who was a bright and gifted child. Her mother recognized her qualities and taught her to read and to appreciate art and music. All of these advantages would later help Lottie in her future as one of the foremost educators of her day.
Lottie was a high achiever at Cambridge English High School. Her talents in art and music were developed there. She was involved in many other activities at home and in church. At age fourteen she demonstrated her leadership abilities with the organization of the kindergarten department in the Sunday school at Union Baptist Church in Cambridge. Lottie took a job caring for two infants to earn money for her graduation. While pushing the baby carriage with one hand, she was reading a selection from the Roman author Virgil in her Latin book with the other hand. Alice Freeman Palmer, president of Wellesley College, observed this and spoke to Lottie. Alice became a benefactor and influenced Lottie for the rest of her life.
When she was ready to graduate, Lottie changed her name to Charlotte Eugenia Hawkins because she thought “Lottie” looked too ordinary for her diploma. She desired to go to college though her mother felt that her high school education was enough. Charlotte had been inspired by Booker T. Washington to use her good education to help black people in the South. Charlotte compromised with her mother and attended a two-year normal school. Alice Freeman Palmer paid her expenses.
Eager to help black children in the South, Charlotte went to a rural school in Sedalia, near Greensboro, in 1901. The school was in a run-down church and Charlotte began with only fifty poor students. She settled in an attic room over the parsonage of the Bethany Congregational Church. Her salary was thirty dollars a month and Charlotte spent much of it on clothes and school supplies for the children.
The school only lasted one term, but the townspeople wanted Charlotte to stay. She postponed her own education and went to work building a school for the community. She raised some money in New England and established the Palmer Institute. Alice Palmer died in 1902 and Charlotte changed the name of the school to the Palmer Memorial Institute. The first class met in a remodeled blacksmith’s shed with the support of the community.
Many children who were eager for an education walked for miles to attend Palmer because it was the only school in a large area. If they could not afford to pay for the classes, they were given extra jobs at the school growing food. Every student had chores because Charlotte believed that working gave them a sense of responsibility.
In 1911 Charlotte met and married Edward Sumner Brown. Edward lived in Sedalia with Charlotte but left a year later. He and Charlotte continued to correspond for a while, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1915. They had no children, but Charlotte raised her brother Mingo’s four children when their mother died. She also took in her Aunt Ella Brice’s three children when Ella’s musical career kept her away from home. All seven children graduated from the Palmer Memorial Institute and went on the higher education. Interestingly, one of the Hawkins children, Maria went to Hollywood to pursue a musical career. There she met and married the famous Nat “King” Cole.
In the 1920’s the school concentrated less on the agricultural and vocational components and began to emphasize the secondary and postsecondary components. The school focused on cultural education, highlighting drama, music, art, math, literature, foreign languages, education and government. Through the following years Charlotte built the Palmer Memorial Institute into one of the leading preparatory schools for black children in the country. As the school grew, Charlotte achieved state and national recognition.
In 1927 Charlotte was able to return to her studies. She attended Wellesley while lecturing at Smith, Wellesley, Mr. Holyoke, Radcliffe, Howard University, Hampton Institute and Tuskegee Institute. She received six honorary degrees including honorary doctorates from Lincoln University, (1937), Wilberforce University (1939) and Howard University (1944).
Charlotte was also active in her community. A biographer said of her, “Year by year, Charlotte Hawkins Brown became a more vital source of their inspiration and their guiding spirit.”[5] She often spoke out against the unfair treatment of blacks in North Carolina and across the country. She supported women’s rights including the right to vote.
She was especially fervent about improving race relations in the South. She was a charter member of Southern Commission for Interracial Cooperation; an executive board member of the Southern Region of the Urban league; a member of eh Negro Business League; and a member of the home nursing council of the American Red Cross. As one of Charlotte’s “firsts”, she was the first black to be appointed by Governor Clyde R. Hoey of North Carolina to the state Council of Defense in 1940.
Charlotte was the first black woman to be elected to the National Board of the YWCA. She was president of the Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs in North Carolina where she led to the establishment of a state-funded home for delinquent black girls.
During her fifty-year career Charlotte saw many students graduate from Palmer Memorial Institute. She resigned in 1952 and was succeeded by a former student, Wilhelmina M. Crosson. Charlotte stayed on as financial director until 1955. She began to develop health problems and died in 1961.
The Palmer Memorial Institute closed ten years later. Today the campus is the site of the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum. Here is another “first” for Charlotte as she was the first black woman to be honored by North Carolina with a state historic site.
Truly this tough and resourceful woman who helped to lead North Carolina through changes in interracial understanding that led to better race relations deserves to be remembered and honored by the people of her beloved North Carolina. As the memorial on her plaque at her gravesite says, Charlotte Hawkins Brown’s memory continues to “lend inspiration always to this place and its people.”
[1] I know that the correct term for today is “black” but until recently “African American” was the acceptable term. When I am writing stories, I have to choose whether or not to use the historical term. Sometimes I will use the term that is historical as in the report above, because that is what earlier people expected. Historical terms include “Negro”, “Colored”, “African American” and “Black”. Someone should write a history of terminology focusing on why the term has changed in different eras. I think it would be very enlightening.
[2] Wilberforce was named after William Wilberforce a famous English abolitionist. It is the oldest private historically black college or university in the United States.
[3] The term in use at the time for black people was “colored”.
[4] Dr. Lawson A. Scruggs. Women of Distinction: Remarkable in Works and Invincible in Character. (Raleigh, NC. 1893)
[5] Constance Hill Marteena. The Lengthening Shadow of a Woman: A Biography of Charlotte Hawkins Brown. (Hicksville, NY: Exposition Press, 1977) p. 55
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I don’t face any particular problems as a women president because I have been a professional for a long time. I keep telling people: I am a technocrat who happens to be a woman.
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