American educator and athlete
Lucy Diggs Slowe
(July 4, 1885 – October 21, 1937) was an American educator and athlete, and the first Black woman to serve as Dean of Women at any American university. She was a founder of
Alpha Kappa Alpha
sorority
, the first sorority founded by African-American women.
Slowe was a
tennis
champion, winning the national title of the
American Tennis Association
's first tournament in 1917, the first African-American woman to win a major sports title. In 1922, Slowe was appointed the first Dean of Women at
Howard University
. She continued in that role for 15 years until her death. In addition, Slowe created and led two
professional associations
to support college administrators.
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Lucy Diggs Slowe was born in
Berryville, Virginia
to Henry Slowe and Fannie Potter Slowe. While various sources put her birth year as 1885,
[3]
[4]
others have said 1883.
[5]
She was one of seven children. Her father's occupation has been reported as a hotel operator, restaurant proprietor and farmer. He died before Lucy turned one and her mother died shortly after. Following her mother's death, Lucy and her sister Charlotte were raised by her aunt Martha Price in
Lexington, Virginia
.
[5]
At thirteen, Lucy and her family moved to
Baltimore, Maryland
, where she attended the
Baltimore Colored High and Training School
. She graduated second in her class in 1904, receiving one of the two-sponsored scholarships to Howard from the Baltimore City School Board
[6]
[7]
Slowe was the first person from her school to attend
Howard University
,
[6]
[7]
the top historically black college in the nation, at a time when only 1/3 of 1% of African Americans and 5% of whites of eligible age attended any college.
[8]
After graduation in 1908, Slowe returned to Baltimore to teach English in high school. During the summers, she started studying at
Columbia University
in New York, where she earned her
Masters of Arts
degree in 1915.
[9]
[10]
Slowe is buried in the
Lincoln Memorial Cemetery
in
Suitland
,
Maryland
.
Career
[
edit
]
After earning her M.A. she returned to Washington, DC to teach.
[9]
Because the District was run as part of the Federal government, African-American teachers in the public schools were part of the civil service and paid on the same scale as European Americans. The system attracted outstanding teachers, especially for Dunbar High School, the academic high school for African Americans.
[12]
In 1919, the District of Columbia asked Lucy Slowe to create the first junior high school in its system for blacks and then appointed her as principal. She led Shaw junior high school until 1922, creating the first integrated in-service training for junior high school teachers in the District. In 1917, Slowe won the
American Tennis Association
's first tournament. She was the first
African-American
woman to win a major sports title.
[13]
In 1922, Howard University selected Lucy Slowe as its first Dean of Women. Slowe was the first African-American female to serve in that position at any university in the United States.
[10]
As Dean of Women at Howard University, she imparted her vision of training women for the modern world. According to Slowe’s writings, she defined the modern world as a place where all people “strove for professional achievement and personal fulfillment.” Slowe took major professional risks to implicate sexual harassment against female students by male faculty members. In 1927, she composed a memo regarding a parent's concerns over a professor's vulgar and "improper" language. This was one of the first written sexual assault cases involving Black women.
[14]
After advocating for the female students, Slowe's relationship with male faculty members was difficult for the remainder of her time at Howard.
In addition to being Dean of Women, Slowe was a faculty member of the English department.
[5]
Slowe continued to serve as a college administrator at Howard for the rest of her career, until her death on October 21, 1937.
[6]
[15]
Activism
[
edit
]
Lucy Diggs Slowe was one of the nine original founders of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated at Howard University. She was instrumental in drafting the sorority's
constitution
.
[1]
She also served as the chapter's first president.
[9]
Slowe has been active in both local and national political scenes. She was a member of the DuBois Circle, a Black women’s group that met to discuss current issues and the arts.
[5]
She also founded both the
National Association of College Women
, which she led for several years as first president, and the
Association of Advisors to Women in Colored Schools
.
[6]
[10]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Slowe met
Mary P. Burrill
, a playwright and fellow educator, in 1912. After Slowe moved to DC, the two women bought a house together. They were a couple for 25 years, but they hid their romantic relationship from all but their close friends. After Slowe was appointed Dean of Women at Howard, they purchased a house in nearby
Brookland
, where they lived for 15 years until Slowe's death.
[16]
[17]
The
Slowe-Burrill House
was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
in 2020.
[18]
Honors
[
edit
]
- In 1942, the United States government built a dormitory to house African-American female government workers, as housing in the city was extremely crowded because of new workers for the war effort. After World War II, the government transferred the building to Howard University for use as a dormitory. Named Lucy Diggs Slowe Hall in her honor, it opened in 1943.
[19]
Located at 1919 Third Street NW, the hall today is operated by Howard as a co-ed residence.
[20]
- The District of Columbia named an elementary school in Northeast DC after her. (It closed in 2008 and was re-opened as a charter school named for
Mary McLeod Bethune
).
[6]
- In 1986, the 70th convention of the
National Association of Women Deans, Administrators and Counselors
' formally recognized Slowe's contributions. It presented a plaque dedicated to her to hang at its headquarters in Washington, DC.
[6]
- Slowe was featured among the women champions of the exhibit
Breaking the Barriers: The ATA and Black Tennis Pioneers
, sponsored by the
International Tennis Hall of Fame and Museum
from August 25 to September 9, 2007.
[21]
- On April 11, 2015, the First Street Tunnel project named its Tunnel Boring Machine "Lucy" in honor of Slowe.
- In 2017 the
Virginia Department of Historic Resources
erected a historic marker dedicated to Slowe in her hometown of Berryville.
[22]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
McNealey, Earnestine G. (2006).
Pearls of Service: The Legacy of America's First Black Sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha
. Chicago: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
p. 43.
- ^
"Slowe, Lucy Diggs (1885?1937)"
.
I
Encyclopedia.com
. 2002
. Retrieved
March 10,
2018
.
During the last 15 years of Slowe's life, Mary Burrill , a recognized Washington, D.C., public school teacher and playwright, was her partner and housemate.
- ^
McNealey, Earnestine G. (2006).
Pearls of Service: The Legacy of America's First Black Sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha
. Chicago: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. p. 43.
- ^
"Slowe, Lucy Diggs (1885?1937)"
.
Encyclopedia.com
. 2002
. Retrieved
2022-08-11
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Overlooked No More: Lucy Diggs Slowe, Scholar Who Persisted Against Racism and Sexism,"
The New York Times
, October 1, 2020.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
"Lucy Diggs Slowe"
. Theta Rho Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. Archived from
the original
on 2008-01-01
. Retrieved
2007-12-04
.
- ^
a
b
Perkins, Linda M. "Lucy Diggs Slowe: Champion of the Self-Determination of African-American Women in Higher Education."
The Journal of Negro History
, Vol. 81, No. 1/4, Vindicating the Race: Contributions to African-American Intellectual History. (Winter - Autumn, 1996), pp. 89-104.
- ^
James D. Anderson,
The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860?1935
. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1988, p.245
- ^
a
b
c
"Alpha Kappa Alpha Centennial: Founders"
(PDF)
. Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. April 2007. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 2007-09-27
. Retrieved
2007-08-15
.
- ^
a
b
c
"The History of Jim Crow"
.
jimcrowhistory.org
.
New York Life
. Archived from
the original
on 2002-06-29
. Retrieved
2007-12-05
.
- ^
"About Slowe Hall"
.
Louis Justement, architect. Lucy Diggs Slowe Residence Hall, 3rd and T St
. Library of Congress
. Retrieved
2007-11-29
.
- ^
Thomas Sowell,
"The Education of Minority Children"
, Retrieved 12 December 2007
- ^
Cahn, Susan K.; Jean J. O'Reilly (2007).
Women and Sports in the United States: A Documentary Reader
. Boston: Northeastern University Press.
ISBN
978-1-55553-671-8
.
- ^
Bell-Scott, Patricia (1997). "To Keep My Self-Respect: Dean Lucy Diggs Slowe's 1927 Memorandum on the Sexual Harassment of Black Women".
NWSA Journal
.
9
(2): 70?76.
JSTOR
4316507
.
- ^
"Dean Lucy D. Slowe Passes Away Following Illness of Three Months"
.
The Hilltop
. October 27, 1937. p. 1
. Retrieved
June 18,
2019
.
- ^
Beemyn, Genny, 1966-.
A queer capital : a history of gay life in Washington, D.C.
New York.
ISBN
978-0-415-92172-5
.
OCLC
369140942
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link
) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
Cobb, Elizabeth; Curl, Jordyn (2018).
"Biographical Sketch of Mary P. Burrill"
.
Alexander Street
. Retrieved
2020-12-06
.
- ^
"Weekly List 20201009"
.
National Register of Historic Places (U.S. National Park Service)
. 2020-10-09
. Retrieved
2020-12-06
.
- ^
"Lucy Diggs Slowe Residence"
. Cultural Tourism D.C
. Retrieved
2007-11-29
.
[
dead link
]
- ^
"Lucy Diggs Slowe Hall"
. Howard University. Archived from
the original
on 2007-11-20
. Retrieved
2007-11-29
.
- ^
"International Tennis Hall of Fame to Present Breaking the Barriers Exhibit"
. United States Tennis Association. 2007-08-25. Archived from
the original
on 2007-10-20
. Retrieved
2007-11-29
.
- ^
"Lucy Diggs Slowe Historical Marker"
. Retrieved
29 January
2018
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Carroll L.L. Miller, Anne S. Pruitt-Logan.
Faithful to the Task at Hand: The Life of Lucy Diggs Slowe
.
SUNY Press
, 2012.
External links
[
edit
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