Every day this month, the Center for Black Educator Development, in partnership with Education Post and Philly’s 7th Ward, will highlight a Black Educator Hall of Famer.
But, don’t forget, e’ry month is Black History Month and February is just the Blackest. All year are ongoing opportunities to learn and teach and the colossal impact Black educators have had on society.
Today, our featured Black educator is Annette Lewis Phinazee.
Alethia Annette Lewis Hoage Phinazee was born on July 23, 1920 in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Both her parents were educators and with that upbringing, education was very important to Phinazee and her family. She attended and graduated from Orangeburg public schools. She’s an alum of Fisk University where she graduated with a degree in modern foreign languages in 1939.
After, she earned her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in library science from the University of Illinois, in 1941 and 1948 respectively. She attended Columbia University and became the first African American to earn a doctorate in library science from the university in 1961.
Her dissertation, The Library of Congress Classification in the United States: A Survey of Opinions and Practices with Attention to the Problems of Structure and Application, has been described as a seminal work in library science. Her research which examined how Library of Congress classification was used by library staff and patrons was one of the first instances where patron use of the system was considered.
Prior to this dissertation there were virtually no studies examining patrons’ use of the classification system. The dissertation is helpful in that it not only presents a statistical look at how the system is being used but that it also presents an overview of the system along with narrative comments about what librarians think of various details of the system.
Phinazee dedicated her teaching career to the work of Library Sciences. She was a professor and instructor at Atlanta University Library School, a librarian at Talladega College, Lincoln University of Jefferson City Missouri, and Southern Illinois University. She was also the dean of the North Carolina Central University School of life science and assistant director of The Cooperative College Library Center (Atlanta); a library-centric service adjunct of the United Board for College Development which had a mission was to develop the libraries of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
Phinazee was a renowned by colleagues as an educator and counselor to generations of Black Librarians receiving honors from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association in 1978. In a world where books are being banned, librarians matter more than ever, particularly those who curate information. Dr. Phinazee is an example of why we need more librarians dedicated to Black youth.
Annette Lewis Phinazee; a member of the Black Educator Hall of Fame.
For more information on Annette Lewis Phinazee, visit the following site.
