Edythe J. Gaines
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![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f8/Edythe_J._Gaines.jpg/220px-Edythe_J._Gaines.jpg) |
Born
| Edythe Pauline Jones
September 6, 1922
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Died
| March 23, 2006
(2006-03-23)
(aged 83)
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Occupation
| Educator
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Known for
| First
African American
and first woman to serve as a school superintendent in
Connecticut
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Edythe J. Gaines
(September 6, 1922 ? March 23, 2006) was an American educator. She was the first
African American
and first woman to serve as a school superintendent in
Connecticut
. She was inducted into the
Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame
in 1996.
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Edythe Pauline Jones was born in
Asheville, North Carolina
, in 1922, the daughter of Jacob Jones, an
Episcopal
clergyman, and teacher Jennie Dillard Jones. She was raised in
New York City
after her father's death. Jones attended
Hunter College
as an undergraduate, earning her bachelor's degree in history and political science in 1944. She pursued further study at
New York University
, earning a master's degree in 1947, and much later an Ed.D. from
Harvard University
in 1969.
[1]
Career
[
edit
]
Gaines taught in the New York City public schools. In 1964, she became the second African American principal at a school in the district, and first to head a secondary school.
[2]
[3]
She became an assistant superintendent of schools in 1967, and in 1973 the New York Board of Education appointed Gaines as Executive Director of the Office of Educational Planning and Support.
[4]
In 1972, her brother Frederick D. Jones, New York City regional director of the
NAACP
and founder of Edu-Force, a grading and testing service, was killed in his
Bronx
apartment.
[5]
There was an investigation of Gaines' involvement with her late brother's testing service, but she was cleared of any ulterior motives.
[6]
[7]
From 1975 to 1978, Gaines served as superintendent of the
Hartford
city public schools, the first African American to hold that position, and the first woman to be a superintendent in a Connecticut school district. During her superintendency, she was also elected to be a director of the Hartford National Bank and Trust.
[8]
She was listed among the "Highest Paid Black Public Officials" by
Ebony
magazine in 1978.
[9]
In 1979, Gaines joined Connecticut's State Department of Public Utility Control as a commissioner. She was named to the Board of Governors of Higher Education in 1992, and to the Connecticut State Board of Education in 1995. She was a trustee of
Montclair State University
from 1968 to 1975.
[10]
She was inducted into the
Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame
in 1996.
[1]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Edythe Jones married Albert Denis Gaines, an engineer, in 1941. They had two sons together. Albert Gaines died in 1995.
[4]
Gaines remained active in the
Episcopal church
during her adult life, as chair of the Commission on Ministry for the
Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut
, and as the head of St. Monica's Development Corporation's Second Century Plan for elderly housing in the city.
[11]
She died in 2006, at age 83, in
Hartford, Connecticut
.
[12]
An Edythe J. Gaines Award for Inclusive Education is given annually by the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.
[13]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Edythe J. Gaines"
Archived
2016-02-04 at the
Wayback Machine
Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame.
- ^
"NYC's 860 Public Schools Get 2nd Negro Principal"
Jet Magazine
(May 21, 1964): 27.
- ^
Cynthia Wolf Benton,
Remarkable Women of Hartford
(History Press 2014): 125.
ISBN
9781625848130
- ^
a
b
Margalit Fox,
"Edythe Gaines, 83, a Top-Ranked Educator, Dies"
New York Times
(April 1, 2006).
- ^
"New York NAACP Director is Found Fatally Stabbed"
Jet Magazine
(June 8, 1972): 44.
- ^
"Probe Won't Affect Hartford Appointment"
Naugatuck Daily News
(December 26, 1974): 6. via
Newspapers.com
- ^
Dan Hall,
"A Black Superintendent Talks About Her Job"
Times Record
(January 10, 1976): 8. via
Newspapers.com
- ^
"People"
Jet Magazine
(May 13, 1976): 21.
- ^
"Highest Paid Black Public Officials"
Ebony
(March 1978): 30.
- ^
Montclair State University,
"Former Members of the Board of Trustees"
.
- ^
Tom Condon,
"Church Prepared a Place for Itself"
Hartford Courant
(March 4, 2007).
- ^
Rachel Gottlieb,
"A Life of Inspiration in City Ends"
Hartford Courant
(March 24, 2006).
- ^
CHRO 2015 Leaders and Legends Awards.
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