Name Otelia Cromwell Role Educator | Died April 25, 1972 Books Lucretia Mott | |
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Education Columbia University, Yale University, Smith College | ||
Otelia Cromwell Day 2017 Workshop Algorithmic Accountability by Amelia McNamara, Smith College
Otelia Cromwell (April 8, 1874 – April 25, 1972) was the first African-American graduate of Smith College, graduating in 1900. She became an educator and professor at Miner Teachers College, serving as head of its literature department. She had earned a master's degree at Columbia University and a doctorate at Yale, becoming the first African American to be granted a degree there.
Contents
- Otelia Cromwell Day 2017 Workshop Algorithmic Accountability by Amelia McNamara Smith College
- Early life education and early career
- Career
- Honors
- References
In 1989, Smith College began to celebrate Otelia Cromwell Day each November, canceling afternoon and evening classes to provide occasions to discuss race and diversity.
Early life, education and early career
Born on April 8, 1874 in Washington, DC, Cromwell was the daughter of Lucy McGuinn and John Wesley Cromwell, and the eldest of six children. After graduating from the Miner Normal School (also known as the Normal School for Colored Girls), Cromwell taught in Washington, D.C. schools for several years before attending Howard University. In 1898 she transferred to Smith College, and graduated in 1900, the first African American to do so.
Career
Cromwell continued teaching for a few years before resuming her education. She earned a master's degree from Columbia University in New York City, and received her Ph.D in English from Yale University in 1926. In doing so, she was the first African-American woman to receive a Yale degree.
Directly following her time at Yale, Cromwell became an professor of English Language and Literature at Miner Teachers College, later becoming head of the literature department. She taught there until her retirement in 1944. Cromwell edited Readings from Negro Authors, an early anthology of African American literary contributions. She published a biography of Lucretia Mott in 1958, titled Lucretia Mott.
Otelia Cromwell had a brother John. She was the aunt of Adelaide M. Cromwell, a sociologist and historian who was the first African-American instructor at Smith College.