Tossie Permelia Frances Whiting (1879 – April 23, 1958) was an American educator, and Dean of Women 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 ...

from 1919 to 1936.

Early life

Tossie Whiting was born in the

Fulton Hill Fulton Hill is a neighborhood located in the East End of Richmond, Virginia. The name is used for the area stretching from Gillies Creek to the Richmond city limits. The Greater Fulton Hill Civic Association includes Fulton Bottom, part of ...

neighborhood of

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

, the daughter of Robert W. Whiting and Nancy Whiting. She graduated from

Hartshorn Memorial College Hartshorn Memorial College was a private college for African-American women in Richmond, Virginia, active from 1883 until 1932. When it closed, it was merged into Virginia Union University. History Hartshorn Memorial College was created in Ric ...

(then a high school) in 1895, then earned a bachelor's degree at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

and a master's degree at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

.Tossie P. F. Whiting Papers
Archives and Special Collections Department, L. Douglas Wilder Library, Virginia Union University.

Career

In 1901, Whiting was named a commissioner of the Negro Young People's Christian and Educational Congress. Whiting worked at Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute from 1904 until 1948, when she retired. In 1919 the position of Dean of Women was created for her, and she was dean until 1936. In 1929 she was one of the founding members of the Association of Deans of Women and Advisors to Girls in Negro Schools, an offshoot of the National Association of College Women. She was an associate professor of English at Virginia State from 1936 until 1948. In 1958, a dormitory at the school was named Whiting Hall in her honor. In 1945, she received an honorary doctorate from

Virginia Union University Virginia Union University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Richmond, Virginia. History The American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS) founded the school as Rich ...

, at a commencement ceremony where

W. E. B. DuBois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relative ...

was the speaker. She was chair of the Hartshorn Memorial College Alumni Association from 1935 to 1947.

Personal life

Whiting died in 1958, aged 79 years. A small collection of her papers are archived at Virginia Union University. Her brother Gregory W. Whiting also found a career in college administration, at

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. Their sister Beatrice was a high school teacher.Papers of Beatrice Jeanette Whiting
Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whiting, Tossie 1958 deaths 20th-century African-American academics 20th-century American academics American educators American women educators University of Chicago alumni Educators from Richmond, Virginia 1879 births 20th-century African-American women