Challenging Inequalities: The First African American Female Ph.D.s

• In Event: 75.061 - Roundtable Session 34
  In Roundtable Session: 75.061-1 - Critical Issues in the Education of Minorities in the United States

Abstract

1921 was a pivotal year in the history of African American education and specifically for African American women. In June of 1921, three African American women earned their Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees within two weeks of each other. Drs. Georgianna Simpson, Sadie Alexander and Eva Dykes were heralded in their communities for their extraordinary accomplishments. A historical examination of these three early African American academicians will enrich the body of scholarship on African American women in higher education. This paper examines the educational journeys of these women, the unique ties that bound them together and the battles that they fought in their quest for social equality both within and outside of the academy.

Author

• Kijua Sanders-McMurtry, Agnes Scott College