Jean Hamilton Walls
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1885
Jean Hamilton Walls | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jean Hamilton 1885 |
| Died | December 9, 1979 (aged 93–94) |
| Known for | First African American woman to enroll at the University of Pittsburgh, first African American woman to earn a PhD there |
Jean Hamilton Walls (1885 – December 9, 1979)[1] was the first African American woman to enroll at the University of Pittsburgh and to receive a PhD from that institution, in 1938.[2][3] She earned a bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics at the University of Pittsburgh in 1910, becoming the university's first black female graduate.[4]
Jean Hamilton was born in 1885 in Pittsburgh’s North Side, one of six siblings, and the only one to live beyond the age of 41. Her mother, Sadie Black Hamilton, had studied at Wilberforce University and was a leader in their community.[5] Walls graduated from Allegheny High School in 1904. In 1906, she was the first African American woman to enroll at the University of Pittsburgh, graduated in 1910 in physics and mathematics.[6] She earned a master's degree in education from Howard University in 1912, with a thesis entitled “Teacher Training in Negro Normal Schools”.[7][5]
In 1935, Walls undertook a PhD at the University of Pittsburgh, the first African American woman to do so. Her dissertation was A Study of Seventy-Eight Negro Graduates of the University of Pittsburgh from 1920-1936, and she graduated in 1938. She was one of only nine African Americans to earn a PhD that year in the entire United States.[5]