Adelaide McGuinn Cromwell (November 27, 1919 – June 8, 2019) was an American sociologist and

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

, where she co-founded the African Studies Center in 1959, and directed the graduate program in Afro-American studies from 1969 to 1985. She was the first African-American instructor at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

and at

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

. In 1974 she was appointed as the first African-American Library Commissioner for the

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. She wrote several books on black history, including a groundbreaking study of Boston's black upper class and a biography of

Adelaide Casely-Hayford Adelaide Casely-Hayford (née Smith; 2 June 1868 – 24 January 1960), was a Sierra Leone Creole advocate, activist of cultural nationalism, teacher, fiction writer, and feminist. Her commitment to public service led her to improving the condit ...

. She died in June 2019 at the age of 99.

Early life and education

Adelaide Cromwell was born into a prominent

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

family on November 27, 1919. Her grandfather, John Wesley Cromwell, was a well-known civil rights activist and educator, and her father, John Wesley Cromwell Jr., was the first black

certified public accountant Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Stat ...

in the United States. Her aunt, Otelia Cromwell, was the first black graduate of

, and her cousin,

Edward Brooke Edward William Brooke III (October 26, 1919 – January 3, 2015) was an American lawyer and Republican Party politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1967 to 1979. He was the first African American elected to t ...

, was a Senator of Massachusetts and the first popularly elected Black State Attorney General. Cromwell graduated from Dunbar High School in 1936. She received an A.B. degree in sociology from Smith College in 1940 and an M.A. degree in sociology from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in 1941. She earned a certificate in social casework from

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

, and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in sociology from Radcliffe College in 1946.

Career

After graduating from Radcliffe, Cromwell taught sociology at Hunter College, where she was the first African-American instructor. She again broke the color line when she taught at Smith College in the late 1940s. In 1951 she joined the faculty at

, where she taught sociology until 1985. In 1959 Cromwell co-founded the university's African Studies Center. From 1969 to 1985 she directed the African-American Studies program. In 1960, Cromwell traveled to Ghana to convene the first conference of West African social workers. She also served on a committee commissioned by the American Methodist Church to evaluate the state of higher education in the Belgian Congo (now the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

). She was appointed in 1974 as Library Commissioner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the first African American in this position. In 1983 she convened a conference of policymakers and scholars at the

University of Liberia The University of Liberia (UL or LU in older versions of abbreviation) is a publicly funded institution of higher learning located in Monrovia, Liberia. Authorized by the national government in 1851, the university opened in 1862 as Liberia Coll ...

. Cromwell served on the executive council of the

American Society of African Culture The American Society of African Culture (AMSAC) was an organization of African-American writers, artists, and scholars. The society was founded as a result of the Congress of Negro Writers and Artists in 1956 based on the idea of the French '' :fr ...

, the now-defunct American Negro Leadership Conference in Africa, and the

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 1961 and reorganized in 1998 ...

's Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid (ACVFA). She was a member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...

, the

African Studies Association The African Studies Association (ASA) is a US-based association of scholars, students, practitioners, and institutions with an interest in the continent of Africa. Founded in 1957, the ASA is the leading organization of African Studies in North ...

, the

Association for the Study of African American Life and History The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) is a learned society dedicated to the study and appreciation of African-American History. The association was founded in Chicago on September 9, 1915, during the Natio ...

(ASALH), and the

American Sociological Association The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fi ...

. She was president of the Heritage Guild, which she co-founded in 1975 to document, preserve, and raise awareness of Boston's black history. At that time, few Bostonians realized the historical significance of sites such as the

African Meeting House The African Meeting House, also known variously as First African Baptist Church, First Independent Baptist Church and the Belknap Street Church, was built in 1806 and is now the oldest black church edifice still standing in the United States. A ...

on Beacon Hill, or knew that Boston's West End had once been a major center of the

abolitionist movement Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was France in 1315, but it was later used in its colonies. T ...

. The Heritage Guild has called the public's attention to historical sites and the achievements of people such as Butler R. Wilson, founder of the Boston NAACP. Cromwell wrote several books on black history, including a study of Boston's black upper class, ''The Other Brahmins.'' She was honored by the

Massachusetts Historical Commission The Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) is a review board for state and federal preservation programs for the United States state of Massachusetts. It consists of 17-member panel of appointed representatives from state and private agencies a ...

in 2015 for her contributions.

Selected writings

Books

* * * Routledge, 2014, * *

Articles

* * * * Barbour, Floyd B., ed. (1970). "Black Education in the Seventies: A Lesson From the Past". ''The Black Seventies.'' Porter Sargent Publishers. pp. 51–67. * * *

Honors and awards

* Citation from the National Order of Côte d'Ivoire * Smith College Medal * Carter G. Woodson Medal from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History * Honorary degrees from

Southeastern Massachusetts University The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMass Dartmouth or UMassD) is a Public university, public research university in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. It is the southernmost campus of the University of Massachusetts system. Formerly "Southeas ...

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

, Boston University, and Smith College * Historic Preservation Award from the Massachusetts Historical Commission, 2015

References

External links

*
Cromwell Family papers
in the

Smith College Archives Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college with coed graduate and certificate programs, located in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. The Smith College Archives document the life of the College by collecting mate ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cromwell, Adelaide M. 1919 births 2019 deaths Smith College alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Radcliffe College alumni Boston University faculty Smith College faculty Hunter College faculty American sociologists American women sociologists African-American historians American women historians African-American women academics Academics from Brookline, Massachusetts Academics from Washington, D.C. Historians from Massachusetts 20th-century American historians 20th-century American women writers 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century African-American academics 20th-century American academics 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century American academics 21st-century African-American women African-American sociologists African-American history in Boston 20th-century American women academics