Otelia Shields Howard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
September 15, 1900
Columbia University (MA)
Otelia Shields Howard | |
|---|---|
 Otelia Shields, from a 1921 graduation photograph in The Crisis | |
| Born | Otelia Roberta Shields September 15, 1900 Petersburg, Virginia |
| Died | December 13, 1945 Petersburg, Virginia |
| Alma mater | Fisk University (BA) Columbia University (MA) |
| Occupation | English professor |
| Relatives | Audrey S. Penn (niece) |
Otelia Roberta Shields Howard (September 15, 1900[1] – December 13, 1945) was an American professor of English. She taught more than twenty years at Virginia State College, and founded the school's newspaper, the Virginia Statesman.
Otelia Roberta Shields was born in Petersburg, Virginia, the daughter of James E. Shields and Otelia Jones Shields. Her father, a school principal, was a member of the first graduating class at the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute in 1886. She trained as a teacher at the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute, then attended Fisk University, where she was a member of the Fisk Pageant Singers and earned a bachelor's degree in English with high honors in 1921.[2] She earned a master's degree from Columbia University in 1926.[3]
Her brother, James E. Shields Jr., was a physician trained at Howard University. Neurologist Audrey S. Penn is her niece.[4]
