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 Dr. Euphemia Lofton Haynes.
Dr. Euphemia Lofton Haynes was born on September 11, 1890, in Washington D.C. She was a graduate of the M Street School in 1907 and a graduate of Minor Normal School in 1909 where she graduated with distinction.
She attended Smith College in Massachusetts where she graduated with her bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1914. She returned many years later to the University of Chicago to receive her master’s degree in education and she received her PhD in Mathematics from the Catholic University of America in 1943, becoming the first African-American woman to earn a PhD in mathematics.
Dr. Haynes would dedicate the entirety of her career to teaching in public schools. She taught in the Washington DC public schools for 47 years, teaching grade schools in high schools where she taught mathematics. She was also the first Black woman to chair the DC School Board upon her retirement from the public school system. Her tenure saw the establishment of collective bargaining rights for teachers in Washington DC, a process allowing teachers to regulate their working conditions along with their employers.
Dr. Haynes’ career also extended into higher education where she was a professor of mathematics at Minor Teachers College, where she established their Mathematics Department, and the District of Columbia’s Teachers College, where she chaired the Division of Mathematics and Business Education. She also occasionally taught part-time at Howard University.
Not only was Dr. Haynes a master educator but she was also an advocate for her students. She advocated for schools to be desegregated and she also spoke out against student tracking which disproportionately harmed Black students over time. She also advocated for indigent students to have their circumstances properly accounted for within their education.
Upon her death, Dr. Haynes donated seven hundred thousand dollars from her estate to establish an endowed chair and a Student Loan Fund in the Education Department at the Catholic University of America.
Dr. Haynes as an educator and advocate allowed her words and her work to speak volumes to the importance of dedicating oneself to the education of children, particularly Black children. May her life and work be an example to all educators of Black children, that we may do the same.
Dr. Euphemia Lofton Haynes; a member of the Black Educator Hall of Fame.
For more information on Martha Euphemia Lofton Haynes, visit the following site.
