Philadelphia Tribune - Index

Philadelphia Tribune - Summer Sojourner 2008 - Index

Ruth Wright Hayre
Educator
(1910-1998)
After teaching at William Penn High School,
Ruth Wright Hayre paved the way for Black
educators in Philadelphia by becoming the
first African American to become a full-time
high school teacher in the city in 1944, and
later to become the first Black high school
principal in Philadelphia.
She was the daughter of an African
Methodist Episcopal Bishop and the granddaughter
of pioneer banker and entrepreneur
R.R. Wright Sr.
In 1985, Hayre was elected to the
Philadelphia Board of Education, and became
the first African American and first woman to
be elected president of the board five years
later. She is the coauthor of “Tell Them We
Are Rising: A Memoir of Faith in Education,”
published in 1997.
Richard Theodore Greener
Educator, Lawyer, Consular Officer,
Reformer
(1844-1922)
In 1870, Richard Theodore Greener became
the first African American to graduate from
Harvard University.
From there, Greener became principal of
the Male Department at Philadelphia’s
Institute for Colored Youth, which later
became Cheyney University.
Three years later, he became a professor of
metaphysics at the University of South
Carolina. He also assisted the
Latin, Greek, mathematics,
and constitutional
history
departments.
During this
time, Greener
attended the
University of
South Carolina’s
law school. He was
admitted to the
Supreme Court of South Carolina in 1877 and
began practicing in Washington, D.C. the following
year after Black students were banned
from the university. He headed the Howard
University law school and became a notable
speaker and writer.
Cynthia Delores Nottage Tucker
Politician
(1927-2005)
Politically active even as a teenager, Cynthia
Cameos of the Past
Dolores Nottage Tucker marched in 1965
with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., in
Selma, Ala.
In her career
she was active
in national
and statelevel
politics
and became
the first
Black woman
cabinet member
in Pennsylvania
when she was appointed
secretary of state in 1971. Tucker also held
high-level positions with the Democratic
Party, the National Women’s Caucus and
the NAACP.
William Harvey Carney
Sergeant
(1840-1908)
For his bravery as the sergeant of Company
C, Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Colored
Infantry, William
Harvey Carney was
the first African
American in the
Civil War to
earn the Medal
of Honor.
He enlisted
on February 17,
1863 and earned
his medal five
months later at Fort
Wager, SC, where he was wounded but
refused to let the flag fall to the ground.
Carney was not awarded his medal until
1900. Upon his death, the flag on the
Massachusetts state house was flown at half
mast, an honor formerly reserved for presidents,
governors and senators.
Juanita Kidd Stout
Judge
(1919-1998)
Originally from
Oklahoma,
Juanita Kidd
Stout taught
grade school
there until the
outbreak of
World War II.
She passed the
Pennsylvania bar
exam in 1954 and
became the first female judge in
SOJOURNER SUMMER 2008
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Pennsylvania five years later.
Stout was appointed to the
Philadelphia Municipal Court and elected
to a 10-year term. After her term,
Stout spent 20 years on the court of
common pleas and became the first
Black woman to serve on any state
supreme court.
James Durham
Physician
(1762-?)
James Durham was the first regularly
recognized Black physician in the U.S.
Born a slave Philadelphia, he was
taught the fundamentals of reading and
writing by early owners. Bought by several
physicians, he was sold to New
Orleans where he was hired by a
Scottish doctor to perform many medical
services in 1773.
After buying his freedom in 1783, he
returned to Philadelphia and had a flourishing
practice until restricted by the
city council in 1801 because he was
unlicensed and untrained.
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Author
(1825-1911)
Author of “The Two Offers,” Frances
Ellen Watkins Harper was the first Black
woman in the U.S. to publish a short
story, which was published in the Anglo-
African magazine in
1859.
Born to free
parents, she
became an
active participant
in
the abolitionmovement
and
supported the
suffrage and temperance
movements after the Civil War.
Said to have sold over 50,000 copies
of her book of poetry titled “Poems on
Miscellaneous Subjects,” Harper led a
successful career. She also published a
novel titled “Iola Leroy,” in which three
editions were printed.
Compiled by Melanie R. Holmes