Tag: Yale University
A Long Overdue Tribute to the First Black Woman to Graduate from the Yale School of Music
Helen Eugenia Hagan graduated from the Yale School of Music in 1912. She went on to a long career as a concert pianist and an educator. She died in 1964 but until recently her remains were buried in an unmarked grave in New Haven's Evergreen Cemetery.
Yale University Honors Its First Black Student
James W.C. Pennington took classes at Yale Divinity School beginning in 1834. He was not allowed to enroll but could audit courses from the back of classrooms. Pennington could not participate in classroom discussions and he was not allowed to take out books from the library.
In Memoriam: Gloria Naylor, 1950-2016
Naylor, who taught creative writing at several universities, was best known for her her 1982 novel The Women of Brewster Place, for which she won the National Book Award for the best first novel.
In Memoriam: Benjamin Franklin Payton, 1932-2016
Dr. Payton served as president of Tuskegee University in Alabama from 1981 to 2010. Earlier in his career, Dr. Payton was president of Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina.
Higher Education Grants of Interest to African Americans
Here is this week’s news of grants to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.
Three Black Academics Awarded MacArthur Foundation Fellowships
Of this year’s 23 MacArthur Fellows, four are African Americans and three have current ties to the academic world.
Dining Hall at Yale’s Calhoun Residential College Named for an African American
The dining hall at Calhoun Residential College will be renamed to honor Roosevelt L. Thompson. A resident of Calhoun college, Thompson was killed in an automobile accident during his senior year at Yale, after he had been selected as a Rhodes Scholar.
Yale Worker Breaks Stained Glass Window That Depicted Slaves
A dishwasher at the Calhoun residential college at Yale University, used a broom handle to punch out a stained glass window that depicted slaves carrying cotton. Yale later said that the windows depicting scenes from the life of slavery defender John C. Calhoun would be removed.
JoAnne Epps Named Provost at Temple University in Philadelphia
Professor Epps joined the Temple faculty in 1985. She was named associate dean of academic affairs at the law school in 1989. She was promoted to full professor in 1994. Since 2008, she has served as dean of the university's Beasley School of Law.
In Memoriam: Austin Chesterfield Clarke, 1934-2016
Clarke was a native of Barbados. He came to Canada in 1955 to study at the University of Toronto. The author of 11 novels, he taught at Yale University, Duke University, and the University of Texas.
New Yale Award Program for High School Students Honors Ebenezer Bassett
Ebenezer Bassett was the first African American student to enroll at the Connecticut Normal School, which is now Central Connecticut State University. He taught at what is now Cheyney University and later became the first African American to serve as a diplomat for the United States.
University of Chicago Historian Thomas Holt Elected to the American Philosophical Society
Thomas C. Holt is the James Westfall Thompson Distinguished Service Professor of American and African American History at the University of Chicago. Other African Americans elected members of the society are Roger W. Ferguson of TIAA-CREF and Risa J. Lavizzo-Mourney of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Three Black Scholars Making News
Duane Lee Holland Jr. has been hired as the first hip-hop dance faculty member at the Boston Conservatory. Sydney Freeman Jr. of the University of Idaho is named a certified online instructor and Emily Greenwood was named chair of the department of classics at Yale University.
Black Americans in the 2016 Class of Truman Scholars
This year, 54 Truman scholars were selected from 775 candidates nominated by 305 colleges and universities. Of this year’s 54 Truman Scholars, it appears that nine, or 16.7 percent, are Black Americans.
Yale University Names a Residential College in Honor of Pauli Murray
Yale is keeping the name of slavery proponent John Calhoun for one of its residential colleges but a new college will be named for Pauli Murray, the civil rights pioneer who earned a doctorate at Yale Law School in 1965.
Professor Anita Hill to Be Honored With the $10,000 Spendlove Prize
Professor Hill will be honored on October 24 by the University of California, Merced, 25 years after she testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, alleging sexual harassment by Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.
Four Blacks Scholars Appointed to Endowed Professorships
The appointees are Corey O. Montgomery at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, James. R. Martin at Clemson University in South Carolina, Pierre Saint-Armand at Yale University, and Stephanie R. Yates at the University of Alabama Birmingham.
A Tribute to the First African American Woman Graduate of the Yale School of Music
Helen Eugenia Hagan was an accomplished concert pianist, composer, and educator who graduated from the Yale School of Music in 1912. She is buried in an unmarked grave in New Haven's Evergreen Cemetery. That is about to change.
Academic Study Finds Racial Differences in Smoking Behavior
African American are less likely than Whites to begin smoking in their teen years when most people who smoke start their habits. But, Blacks are less likely than Whites to quit smoking once they get older.
Laboratory Used by Edward Bouchet Designated a Historic Site by the American Physical Society
Edward A. Bouchet was the first African American to earn a doctorate from an American university when he received a Ph.D. in physics at Yale University in 1876. The laboratory where he did much of his research has been named the 37th historic site in the history of physics.
Notable Honors and Awards for Five Black Scholars
The honorees are Stephan Moore of the University of the Virgin Islands, Sharon Draper, an author and retired educator, Alfred Whitesides Jr., former chair of the board at the University of North Carolina Asheville, Tanure Ojaide of the University of North Carolina Charlotte, and Airea D. Matthews of the University of Michigan.
In Memoriam: Russell G. Hamilton, 1934-2016
Dr. Hamilton, professor emeritus of Spanish and Portuguese at Vanderbilt University, joined the faculty at the university in 1984 as dean for graduate studies and research. He was the first African American to serve as a dean of a Vanderbilt school or college.
Yale Scholar Edits the Earliest-Known Manuscript of an African American Prison Inmate
Austin Reed, an indentured servant who was born free in Rochester, New York, describes his experiences in the 1830s through 1858 in New York's House of Refuge, a juvenile reformatory.
Yale University Reports a Sharp Rise in African American Applicants
Yale reports that over the past four years, the number of applications it has received from all U.S. high school students has increased by 5 percent. But during the same period, the number of applicants it has received from African American students is up 36 percent.
Yale University Removes Portraits of John Calhoun, a Proponent of Slavery
John C. Calhoun graduated from Yale University in 1804. He went on to become vice president of the United States, serving under both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. A native of South Carolina, Calhoun was a major defender of the institution of slavery.
African American Finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Awards
The National Book Critics Circle Awards are given out in six categories with five finalists in each category. Several of the finalists are African Americans who currently hold academic posts at American colleges and universities.
Yale Bestows Further Honors on the First Black Person to Donate Money to the University
Mary K. Goodman, a Black laundry woman in New Haven, Connecticut, died in 1872. She left her life savings of $5,000 to Yale University to support the education of African American divinity students.
Steven Nelson to Lead the African Studies Center at UCLA
Dr. Nelson is a professor of African and African American art and architectural history at the university. Professor Nelson is currently working on books about the Underground Railroad and the history of the city of Dakar.
New Administrative Posts in Higher Education for Three African Americans
The African Americans in new administrative posts in higher education are Eva K. Pickens at Texas Southern University, Adriel A. Hilton at Grambling State University in Louisiana, and Howard Blue at Yale University Health.
Three African American Faculty Members Taking on Added Responsibilities
Taking on new duties are Jacquelyn Taylor at the Yale University School of Nursing, Barbara Krauthamer at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and S. David Mitchell at the University of Missouri.
New Director Seeks to Expand the Focus of Emory’s James Weldon Johnson Institute
Andra Gillespie, an associate professor of political science at Emory University, is seeking to expand the scope of the institute from one dealing mostly with the humanities to a large number of academic disciplines.
Two African American Scholars Honored With Major Awards
The honorees are Katherine Grace Hendrix, a professor in the department of communication at the University of Memphis and Anthony Reed, an associate professor of English and African American studies at Yale University.
University Scientists Develop Portable Device for Sickle Cell Diagnosis
Scientists at the University of Connecticut, Yale University, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a new method of detecting sickle cell disease that can be used in remote areas that do not have advanced medical technology.
University President Proposes Several Initiatives Aimed at Producing a “More Inclusive Yale”
Yale University President Peter Salovey has announced a series of new initiatives aimed at producing "a better, more diverse, and more inclusive Yale." A new academic center, increased student financial aid, a doubling of the budget for the Afro-American Cultural Center, and enhanced diversity training are among the initiatives.
After Campus Protests, a Backlash of Racist Incidents Occur on College Campuses
It comes as no surprise that in the aftermath of campus protests on issues dealing with race, there has been a backlash, with several race-related incidents occurring on campuses across the nation.
New York University Historian to Be Awarded the Frederick Douglass Book Prize
Ada Ferrer, professor of history and professor of Latin American and Caribbean studies, will be awarded the $25,000 prize for the best book of the year on slavery or abolition that was written in the English language.
