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Mary Jane Patterson nel 1862

Mary Jane Patterson (Raleigh, 12 settembre 1844 – Washington, 24 settembre 1894) è stata una docente, preside ed abolizionista statunitense, nata da madre schiava e padre libero.[1] È famosa perché si dice che sia stata la prima donna afroamericana a ricevere un bachelor of arts. Nel 1862 completò il “corso per gentiluomini” di quattro anni all'Oberlin College.[2] Dapprima insegnò all'Istituto per giovani di colore di Filadelfia. Successivamente insegnò alla Preparatory High School for Colored Youth, oggi conosciuta come Dunbar High School,[3] a Washington. Divenne la prima preside nera.[4][5][6] Fu per tutta la vita una sostenitrice dell'istruzione dei neri, contribuendo a fondare la Colored Woman's League, che in seguito divenne la National Association of Colored Women.[7][8] Impegnata a livello umanitario, dedicò tempo e denaro alle istituzioni nere di Washington.[9].

Vita e formazione giovanile

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Mary Jane Patterson was the oldest of Henry Patterson and Emeline (or Emmeline) Eliza (Taylor) Patterson's children. There is conflicting data on how many siblings she had, but most sources cite between seven and ten.[7][10] Henry Patterson worked as a bricklayer and plasterer. Although some accounts relate that he gained his freedom from slavery in 1852, he was in fact freeborn.[1][11] Having bought his enslaved intended wife, Emeline, he petitioned to emancipate her in 1838 and again, successfully, in 1840. The couple waited to have children until after Emeline was freed, in 1840 or 1841. Their eldest child, Mary Jane Patterson, was born in 1844. Thus, despite some accounts stating that the family were runaway slaves, they were in fact free when they moved north from Raleigh, North Carolina, to settle in Oberlin, Ohio, an abolitionist town, in 1852.[1][12]

In 1857, Patterson took a one year preparatory course at Oberlin. She did not follow that up with the usual academically less challenging two year course for ladies at Oberlin. She elected instead to follow a degree course including modules on Greek, Latin, and higher mathematics, a course designed for 'gentlemen'.[13][12] Mary Jane Patterson was the first African-American woman to achieve a BA degree;[2] Lucy Stanton Day Sessions graduated twelve years before Patterson but was not enrolled in a program offering the equivalent degree.[14] Four of the Patterson children graduated from Oberlin College and all four became teachers.[15] Henry Patterson, who as a child was friends with future US president Andrew Johnson,[16][17] worked as a master mason in Oberlin. For many years the family boarded large numbers of Black students in their home.[7] The Patterson extended family also owned a grocery in Oberlin called Patterson's Corner.[18]

Her home in Washington D.C.

Carriera di insegnante

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After graduation, Patterson was listed as teaching in Chillicothe, Ohio. On settembre 21, 1864, she applied for a position in Norfolk, Virginia at a school for Black children. On ottobre 7, 1864, E. H. Fairchild, principal of Oberlin College's preparatory department from 1853 to 1869, wrote recommending her for an "appointment from the American missionary Association as a ... teacher among freedmen." In this letter he described her as "a light quadroon, a graduate of this college, a superior scholar, a good singer, a faithful Christian, and a genteel lady. She had success in teaching and is worthy of the highest ... you pay to ladies."[19]

Although the African American educator Fanny Jackson Coppin had graduated from Oberlin College with a bachelor's degree three years after Patterson, Patterson became an assistant to Coppin in 1865 at the Philadelphia's Institute for Colored Youth (now Cheyney University of Pennsylvania).[20] In 1869 to 1871, Patterson taught in Washington, D.C., at the Preparatory High School for Colored Youth, known today as Dunbar High School. Dunbar was the first public high school for African Americans in the USA.[21] Patterson served as the school's first Black principal, from 1871 to 1872. She was demoted and served as assistant principal under Richard Theodore Greener who was the first Black Harvard University graduate and was the father of Belle da Costa Greene.[22]

When Greener left after one year, Patterson was reappointed as principal and served from 1873 to 1884. During her administration, she was mentor to many Black women educators[23] and the school flourished.[24] It grew from fewer than 50 students to 172, the name "Preparatory High School" was dropped, high school commencements were initiated, and a teacher-training department was added. Patterson's commitment to thoroughness as well as her "forceful" and "vivacious" personality helped her establish the school's strong intellectual standards.[25] In 1884, the administrators of the school decided however that a school of such size would be better headed by a male principal. Patterson was forced to step down for the second time. She continued to teach at the High School until her death.[2][26][27][18] Neither Patterson nor her sisters ever married.[28][29]

Altri impegni

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Patterson was a humanitarian and active in many organizations. She devoted time and money to Black institutions in Washington, D.C. Her obituary in the Evening Star said she "co-operated heartily in sustaining the Home for the Aged and Infirm Colored People in this city and other Kindred organizations."[30][9] Patterson also worked in 1892 with Mary Church Terrell, Anna Julia Cooper, Josephine Beall Bruce, and others, all supporters of the education and development of Black people at a local and national level, to form the Colored Woman's League of Washington D.C., which was committed to the "racial uplift" of colored women.[8][31][32] The league later became the National Association of Colored Women. The league focused on kindergarten teacher training, rescue work, and classes for industrial schools and homemaking.[33][22]

Morte ed eredità

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Patterson died at her Washington, D.C. home, settembre 24, 1894. She is recognized as a pioneer in Black education, paving the way for other Black female educators and leaders such as Fanny Jackson Coppin, Mary Church Terrell and Anna Julia Cooper.[34] Her life was spent giving young African Americans the same educational chances that she had been granted at Oberlin College.[35] Her old home is on the route of Washington, D.C.'s historic walking tour.[36]

In Terrell's words, "She was a woman with a strong, forceful personality, and showed tremendous power for good in establishing high intellectual standards in the public schools. Thoroughness was one of Miss Patterson's most striking characteristics as a teacher. She was a quick, alert, vivacious and indefatigable worker."[37] In 2019, a scholarship was established in Patterson's name as part of the California State University, Long Beach, Teachers for Urban Schools project.[38][39]

Note

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  1. ^ a b c (EN) Catherine Bishir, Patterson, Henry J. (1805-1886) and John E. (1804-1880), su North Carolina Architects & Builders: A Bibliographical Dictionary, 2018. URL consultato il 2 agosto 2024.
  2. ^ a b c (EN) Mary Jane Patterson, su oberlin.edu. URL consultato il 23 maggio 2024.
  3. ^ (EN) Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, su pld.fcps.net, 18 ottobre 2024. URL consultato il 21 ottobre 2024.
  4. ^ (EN) Terri Watson e Patrice McClellan, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education, Oxford University Press, 30 giugno 2020.
  5. ^ (EN) A Stewart, First Class: The Legacy of Dunbar, America's First Black Public High School, Chicago, Il, Lawrence Hill Books, 2013, pp. 32.
  6. ^ (EN) Hans Ostrom, Forgotten African American Firsts: An Encyclopedia of Pioneering History, Greenwood, 2023, ISBN 978-1-4408-7535-9.
  7. ^ a b c (EN) Historical profile of Mary Jane Patterson, in Dayton Daily News, 28 febbraio 2005, p. 12. URL consultato l'8 giugno 2024.
  8. ^ a b (EN) Robin Brooks, Looking to Foremothers for Strength: A Brief Biography of the Colored Woman's League, in Women's Studies, vol. 47, 6ª ed., 18 agosto 2018, pp. 609–616, DOI:10.1080/00497878.2018.1492407, ISSN 0049-7878 (WC · ACNP).
  9. ^ a b (EN) Historical profile of Mary Jane Patterson., in Dayton Daily News, 28 febbraio 2005, p. 12. URL consultato il 23 maggio 2024.
  10. ^ (EN) Stacy M. Brown, Black History Month: Remembering Mary Jane Patterson, su The Washington Informer, 15 febbraio 2017. URL consultato l'8 giugno 2024.
  11. ^ (EN) Old Times in Raleigh, in The Gazette, (Raleigh, N.C.), 10 ottobre 1891.
  12. ^ a b (EN) Erin Blakemore, How the Daughter of a Slave Became the First African-American Woman to Earn a Bachelor’s Degree, in TIME, 23 maggio 2017. URL consultato il 23 maggio 2024.
  13. ^ (EN) Sowell Thomas, Black excellenc: the case of Dunbar High School (PDF), in The Public Interest, primavera 1974, p. 7.
  14. ^ (EN) Carla Garner, Mary Jane Patterson (1840-1894), su blackpast.org, 3 dicembre 2010. URL consultato il 1º aprile 2024.
  15. ^ (EN) Mary Jane Patterson, first black woman to be granted a bachelor's degree in the U.S. (Oberlin College, 1862), su ohio5.contentdm.oclc.org. URL consultato il 22 maggio 2024.
  16. ^ (EN) The Papers of Andrew Johnson, vol. 4, Knoxville, Tennessee, 1976, pp. 537-538.
  17. ^ (EN) Stacy M. Brown, Black History Month: Remembering Mary Jane Patterson, su The Washington Informer, 15 febbraio 2017. URL consultato il 23 maggio 2024.
  18. ^ a b (EN) Stephanie Y. Evans, Black women in the ivory tower, 1850 - 1954: An intellectual history, 1 in brossura, Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 2008, ISBN 978-0-8130-3268-9.
  19. ^ Smith, Jessie Carney. "Mary Jane Patterson." Notable Black Women, Book 1. Gale Research 1992.
  20. ^ (EN) Oberlin Heritage Center Blog, su www.oberlinheritagecenter.org. URL consultato il 222 maggio 2024.
  21. ^ (EN) Karla Rixon, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School (1870- ), su blackpast.org, 7 dicembre 2010. URL consultato il 23 maggio 2024.
  22. ^ a b (EN) Patterson, Mary Jane (1840–1894), su encyclopedia.com. URL consultato il 23 maggio 2024.
  23. ^ (EN) Jacqueline Bobo, Cynthia Hudley e Claudine Michel (a cura di), The Black studies reader, New York, Routledge, 2004, ISBN 978-0-415-94553-0.
  24. ^ (EN) M Hundley, The Dunbar Story 1870-1955, New York, Vantage Press, 1965.
  25. ^ (EN) "Mary Jane Patterson, Pioneering Educator Born", African American Registry.
  26. ^ (EN) Carla Garner, Mary Jane Patterson (1840-1894), su blackpast.org, 3 dicembre 2010. URL consultato il 23 maggio 2024.
  27. ^ (EN) Obituaries, in Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 25 settembre 1894.
  28. ^ (EN) Doris Weatherford, American Women's History, New York, Prentice Hall, 1994, ISBN 978-0-671-85009-8.
  29. ^ (EN) Ellen Henle, Marlene Merrill, Antebellum Black Coeds at Oberlin College, in Women's Studies Quarterly, primavera 1979.
  30. ^ (EN) Death of Miss Patterson, in The Evening Star, 25 settembre 1894, p. 7.
  31. ^ (EN) Linda M. Perkins, The Impact of the "Cult of True Womanhood" on the Education of Black Women, in Journal of Social Issues, vol. 39, 3ª ed., ottobre 1983, pp. 17–28, DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1983.tb00152.x, ISSN 0022-4537 (WC · ACNP).
  32. ^ (EN) Deborah Gray White, Too heavy a load: Black women in defense of themselves, 1894-1994, 1ª ed., New York, Norton, 1999, ISBN 978-0-393-31992-7.
  33. ^ (EN) Louise Daniel Hutchinson, Anna J. Cooper, A Voice From the South, Washington, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981, ISBN 978-0-87474-528-3.
  34. ^ (EN) Ellen Henle e Marlene Merrill, Antebellum Black Coeds at Oberlin College, in Women's Studies Quarterly, vol. 8, Spring 1979, pp. 380.
  35. ^ (EN) Tamara Bertrand Jones, LeKita Scott Dawkins, Melanie Hayden Glover e Marguerite M. McClinton (a cura di), Pathways to Higher Education Administration for African American Women, New York, Routledge, 3 luglio 2023, DOI:10.4324/9781003446293, ISBN 978-1-003-44629-3.
  36. ^ (EN) 19th-century Women's Antislavery Activism in the Lake Erie Borderlands (Tour), su Clio. URL consultato il 6 luglio 2024.
  37. ^ (EN) Mary Church Terrell, History of the High School for Negroes in Washington, in The Journal of Negro History, vol. 2, 3ª ed., luglio 1917, pp. 209–344, DOI:10.2307/2713767. Ospitato su 2713767.
  38. ^ (EN) Mary Jane Patterson Scholars | California State University Long Beach, su www.csulb.edu, 6 novembre 2019. URL consultato il 22 maggio 2024.
  39. ^ (EN) Rosenberg, David e Tara Anderson, "Frequent, growth-oriented feedback at DC public schools" (PDF), in Education Resource Strategies, 2017.

Bibliografia

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  • (EN) Jessie Carney Smith (a cura di), Notable Black American Women, vol. 1, Detroit, Gale Research, 1992.
  • (EN) Dorothy Sterling, We Are Your Sisters: Black Women in the Nineteenth Century, New York, W. W. Norton, 1984.
  • (EN) Mary Gibson Hundley, The Dunbar Story (1870-1955), New York, Vantage Press, 1965.
  • (EN) Weatherford, Doris, American Women's History, New York, Prentice Hall, 1994.
  • (EN) Baumann, Roland M., Patterson, Mary Jane, in Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Evelyn Brooks (a cura di), African American National Biography, Higginbotham, W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research and Oxford University Press, 2013.

Collegamenti esterni

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