Jewel Alma Woodward Simon (July 28, 1911—1996) was an American teacher, artist, and poet.

Early years

Jewel Alma Woodward Simon was born on July 28, 1911, in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

to Rachel Lee (Williams) Woodward and Chester Arthur Woodward. She grew up in the Fifth Ward, where she studied at Crawford Elementary School and the "Old Colored High." She graduated as the class Valedictorian when she was fifteen years old. She earned a mathematics degree with honors from

Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded on September19, 1865, as Atlanta University, it was the first HBCU in the Southe ...

in 1930.

Career

In 1931 she accepted a position as a mathematics teacher at

Jack Yates High School Jack Yates Senior High School is a public high school located at 3650 Alabama Street, very near Texas Southern University, in the historic Third Ward in Houston, Texas. Yates High School handles grades nine through twelve and is part of the Hous ...

in Houston, and shortly later was promoted to the head of the department. In Atlanta she began art training at her home. Though she was producing paintings and sculptures, she faced obstacles as a black artist, and was not able to protect her intellectual property until 1952. She graduated with a fine arts degree at the University of Atlanta in 1967. She exhibited in traveling shows reaching Texas, California,

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, the Soviet Union, and

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Personal life

Simon married Edward Lloyd Simon on February 19, 1939. They moved to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, where she became a housewife. They had two children, Ed and Margaret.

References

{{Authority control 1911 births 1996 deaths 20th-century American educators