E’ry day this month, Philly’s 7th Ward, in partnership with the Center for Black Educator Development, will highlight a “Black Educator Hall of Famer.“ But, don’t forget, e’ry month is Black History Month. February is just the Blackest. Every day is an ongoing opportunity to learn and teach the colossal impact Black educators have had on society.
Dr. Gloria Wade Gayles.
Dr. Gloria Wade-Gayles was born on July 1, 1937, in Memphis, Tennessee. She grew up in a loving family with her mother, grandmother, sister, and uncles. That family structure shaped her, with Wade-Gayles’ mother fostering a love of literature and reading, encouraging both daughters to excel in school. Wade-Gayles said of her mother in her 1993 memoir:
“Mama envisioned my sister Faye and me earning graduate degrees, giving speeches, publishing, traveling abroad, winning medals… And toward that end, she `scrimped and saved,’ as she put it, and `went without…’ Mama had what she called a `single eye.’ It focused on our education.”
Encouraged by her mother’s belief in her and in the importance of education, Wade-Gayles received a full scholarship to LeMoyne College, the only Memphis college that accepted African-American students, and in 1959 she earned her bachelor’s degree in English, graduating cum laude with distinction. Wade-Gayles continued with her education, earning her M.A. in American Literature from Boston University in 1962 (as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow) and a Ph.D. in American Studies from Emory University in 1981.
Wade-Gayles first teaching assignment was at Spelman College in 1963, where she taught American Literature. But she wasn’t simply a professor. She was an eduactivist. She was dismissed from Spelman due to her activism in the Civil Rights Movement and her refusal to remain silent in the face of injustice. As she writes in her memoir, [she was] one of the “faculty at the black colleges who were tampering with Atlanta’s image.”
Undeterred, Wade-Gayles joined the Mississippi Freedom Summer to teach Mississippians who had long been denied a proper education. From there, she joined the faculty at Howard University and met her husband, Joseph Gayles (whom she married in 1966), who received his doctorate from Brown University in 1967. After earning her doctorate, Wade-Gayles returned to Spelman to teach, and this time her tenure would span 40 years.
Wade-Gayles is the author of many books and the recipient of many awards. Some of those book titles include: No Crystal Stair: Visions of Race and Sex in Black Women’s Fiction (1984); Anointed to Fly (1991); Pushed Back to Strength: A Black Woman’s Journey Home (1993); My Soul is a Witness: African-American Women’s Spirituality (1995); Rooted Against the Wind: Personal Essays (1996); Father Songs: Testimonies by African-American Sons and Daughters (1997); In Praise of Teachers (2003); and Conversations With Gwendolyn (2003).
Some of the awards include: the Emory Medal for outstanding scholarship and service of an alumna of Emory University, the Spelman College President’s Award for Outstanding Scholarship, the LeMoyne-Owen DuBois Scholar’s Award, and the Malcolm X Award for Community Service in the City of Atlanta for work as an activist in the Civil Rights Movement and her continued work for justice.
Sadly, Dr. Wade-Gayles recently passed away on January 26, 2026 at the age of 88.
Happy Black History Month and make sure to read up on Gloria Wade-Gayles.
