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 Vivienne Malone-Mayes.
Dr. Vivienne Malone-Mayes was born February 10, 1932 in Waco, TX. The daughter of two educators, Dr. Malone-Mayes was always aware that her education was important; both inside and outside of school.
One day, she received a tough lesson outside of school. While in preschool, Malone-Mayes made the unfortunate mistake of drinking water from the “whites-only” water fountain at a local store. To protect her, Malone-Mayes’s mother quickly pushed her to the side of the colored water fountain—so she would not be seen. On the spot, her mom taught her how to distinguish the words Black and white. Sadly, this lesson would prepare her for the world of Jim Crow thrust upon her innocence.
She succeeded despite the racism she experienced that day and her days moving forward. At sixteen years old, she graduated from high school. She enrolled at Fisk University where she graduated with both her bachelor’s (1952) and master’s (1954) degrees. She was inspired by one of her professors to pursue math for her graduate studies; Dr. Evelyn Boyd Granville, the second Black woman in the U.S. to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics. She was foundational for Malone-Mayes.
After her time at Fisk, Malone-Mayes returned to Waco, serving as the Chair of the Mathematics Department at Paul Quinn College from 1954 to 1961. Malone-Mayes decided to take a few graduate courses to “refresh herself,” attempting to enroll at Baylor University. But she was denied admittance due to the school’s strict segregation policy.
Determined nonetheless, Malone-Mayes enrolled at the University of Texas Austin for her Ph.D. in Mathematics. UT-Austin had already desegregated due to a federal order. According to Malone-Mayes on the denial from Baylor: “It was a blessing, really… If they’d accepted me at Baylor, I would have just taken a few courses and not pursued a doctorate.” Baylor didn’t offer a doctorate in mathematics.
Despite bigotry of some faculty, as well as from many of her peers, Malone-Mayes would graduate in 1966 with her Ph.D. from UT-Auston; becoming the fifth Black woman with a doctorate in math nationally and the first Black woman to graduate from UT-Austin with a doctorate, period.
While at UT, Malone-Mayes took part in civil rights demonstrations and she continued to excel in her studies. She did it because although she excelled, she faced discrimination and racism. She couldn’t sit with white classmates, she couldn’t eat at certain eateries and certain professors denied her access to their class because she was Black.
One of her professors, complaining about the civil rights demonstrations, said, “If all those out there were like you, hard-working and studious, we wouldn’t have any problems.” She replied, “If it hadn’t been for those hell-raisers out there, you wouldn’t even know me.” After receiving her Ph.D., Malone-Mayes would be the first Black faculty member at the school that denied her admission, Baylor University. She would teach there for 28 years. She retired in 1994.
Vivienne Malone-Mayes; a member of the Black Educator Hall of Fame.
For more information on Vivienne Malone-Mayes, visit the following site.
