Rose Butler Browne (March 19, 1897 – December 1, 1986) was an American educator, engineer and author of ''Love My Children''. In 1939 she became the first black woman to gain a PhD in education from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
.
[Tenzing Tsering]
Profile: Rose Butler Browne
in A. Rutherford (ed.), Psychology's Feminist Voices. Accessed 5 July 2020.
Life
Rose Butler Browne was born in
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
,
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 ...
, on March 19, 1897, the daughter of John R. Butler, a brickmason and Hannah F. McClenney, who worked at a laundry.
[ Her maternal great-grandmother, Charlotte Ann Elizabeth Lindsey, was a daughter of a native American chief who married a southern slave, worked six years to buy his freedom and later migrated to a Boston ghetto to improve the life of their children. In her autobiography ''Love My Children'', Browne attributed most of her success to the influence of her great-grandmother, called the "High Priestess" by her family.][
She moved with her family to ]Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...
, where she grew up, attending Shiloh Baptist Church. While working as a live-in domestic she earned a bachelor's degree at Rhode Island State College
The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-gra ...
(now the University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of Rhode Island. The univer ...
). She went on to earn her master's degree at Rhode Island College of Education (now Rhode Island College
Rhode Island College (RIC) is a public college in Rhode Island, United States, with much of the land in Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, and other parts in North Providence, Rhode Island, North Providence. The college was established in 18 ...
) and then to Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
where, in 1939 she became the first black woman to earn a doctoral degree in education. In 1950, she received an honorary degree from Rhode Island College. Browne was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated.
Dr. Browne taught for many years at Virginia State University
Virginia State University (VSU or Virginia State) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically Black land-grant university, land-grant university in Ettrick, Virginia, United States. Founded on , Vi ...
and North Carolina College
North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a public historically black university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliation with the Chautauqua movement in 1909, it was supported by pri ...
. She was devoted to improving education for minority children. Dr. Browne served on the facilities of Virginia State College, West Virginia State College
West Virginia State University (WVSU) is a public historically black, land-grant university in Institute, West Virginia, United States. Founded in 1891 as the West Virginia Colored Institute. It is one of the original 19 land-grant colleges a ...
, and Bluefield State College
Bluefield State University is a public historically black university (HBCU) in Bluefield, West Virginia. The university is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
History
The Bluefield Colored Institute was founded in 1895 as ...
in West Virginia before becoming chairman of the education department at North Carolina College. A crusader for black rights, Dr. Browne once refused to send students into teaching jobs in West Virginia as long as State Board of Education continued paying black teachers lower salaries than white teachers. The publicity and subsequent shortage of teachers forced the board to alter its policies.[
After retiring in 1963, Dr. Browne operated a day care center for children at the Mt. Vernon Baptist Church in ]Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England
**County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States
Durham may also refer to:
Places
...
, where her husband was the pastor. Returning to Rhode Island, she operated a summer school aimed at the culture gap faced by black children, and later worked with senior citizens.[
In 1969 a seven-story Rhode Island College residence hall was named in her honor. After an extended illness, Browne died on December 1, 1986, in ]Providence, Rhode Island
Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...
. She is buried in Durham, North Carolina.[ A leadership class and mentoring program offered through the Center for Leadership Development at the ]University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of Rhode Island. The univer ...
is named in her honor.[
]
Works
*Browne, Rose Butler. ''Love My Children: an Autobiography''. New York: Meredith Press
Meredith Press was a publishing company based in New York, with a focus on science fiction and general literature. While Already in 1950 they had y published the Better Homes and Gardens Story Book, they were particularly active in the years 1967 ...
, 1969.
References
External links
Multicultural Alumni
at the University of Rhode Island
{{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Rose
1897 births
1986 deaths
20th-century American educators
Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni
Virginia State University faculty
University of Rhode Island alumni