Black Women in the Ivory Tower, 1850–1954: An Intellectual History

6. “The Third Step”: Doctoral Degrees, 1921–1954

6 “The Third Step” Doctoral Degrees, 1921–1954 Progress toward building a critical mass of undergraduate degree holders moved at a tortoise’s pace for black women; their attainment of graduate degrees proceeded at an even slower snail’s pace. The first and second waves of undergraduate studies illustrated a compelling ebb and flow of knowledge consumption. In the third wave of attainment, black women’s graduate research reflected an equally compelling story of intellectual production. Progression to the Doctorate In The Negro College Graduate, Johnson calculated that by 1933, 75 doctorates had been awarded to black men and 10 to black women. By 1936, African Americans had earned 1,555 M.A.s, and 153 Ph.D.s. But here, as before, the quantitative historical record is not consistent. In Holders of Doctorates among Negroes, Harold Greene calculated only 296 M.A.s had been awarded to African Americans. Again, the discrepancy arose from the number of institutions counted. While Johnson’s number reflected all known counted degrees, Greene’s number reflected degrees awarded from only fifty colleges classified as “eminent” top-ranked universities. While each calculation represents the researcher’s unique perspective, both numbers indicate the relatively low participation of blacks in graduate education. In all, African Americans were far behind in degree attainment: It was estimated that by 1876, 25 PWIs had already awarded 44 Ph.D.s, putting black scholars six decades behind in doctoral degree attainment.1 By Greene’s account of the 381 known doctoral degrees awarded to African Americans by 1943, only 48 had been awarded to women.2 Here, the estimates of black doctorates were problematic for different reasons than in previous studies. Whereas earlier researchers faced the difficulty of finding black scholars in PWIs that did not record race or those in which black or mixed-race students passed for white, Greene had trouble differentiating between black scholars and scholars of black studies. An amusing example is Herbert Aptheker, whom Greene mistakenly counted as an African Ameri- Figure 7. Dr. Eva Beatrice Dykes. Courtesy of Moreland-Spingarn Research Center. Figure 8. Dr. Georgiana Simpson. Courtesy of Moreland-Spingarn Research Center. Figure 9. Dr. Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander. Courtesy of University of Pennsylvania Archives. 122 Black Women in the Ivory Tower, 1850–1954 can Ph.D. because Aptheker’s dissertation topic, slave revolts, addressed black history. Again, accurate numbers of graduates remained elusive. Gender also posed a problem with precision in the historic record. Some scholars were listed by initials only, and scholars with names like Allison Davis might easily be mistaken for a woman by those unfamiliar with past naming patterns.3 Topping the list of doctoral degree–granting institutions for African Americans by the 1930s were University of Chicago (40 graduates); Columbia (35); University of Pennsylvania (28); Cornell (25); Harvard (25); and Yale (10). Radcliffe had awarded only three degrees. Most degree earners lived in Washington, D.C. In the 1940s, 85 black doctorate awardees (22 percent) lived in D.C.; Howard alone employed 70, including 8 women. An additional 6 of the 48 black women Ph.D. earners taught at Miner’s Teacher’s College; overall, one-quarter of all black women doctorates resided in the nation’s capital after graduation.4 Explaining the narrow opportunity for black women to be properly prepared for graduate study, historian Linda Perkins reported: Of the top five institutions that had awarded baccalaureate degrees to the black Ph.D.s, two were male institutions—Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. The other Map 5. Greene, Doctorates among American Negroes (1946). Created by Stephanie Y. Evans. “The Third Step”: Doctoral Degrees, 1921–1954 123 three—Howard, Fisk, and Virginia Union—were institutions with strong liberal arts and professional schools that enrolled large numbers of men. None of the teacher-training institutions or black state land-grant colleges, where women were heavily concentrated, ranked among even the top twenty baccalaureate-producing institutions. Overwhelmingly, the black women who received doctorates were graduates of white undergraduate institutions where they had taken liberal arts courses compatible with graduate training.5 Of the first four black women Ph.D. earners, only one, Eva Dykes, attended an HBCU, and she had to repeat her entire undergraduate degree when she attended a PWI for graduate school. Because of the heavy recruitment of women to the teaching profession, there was little or no support for advanced...