Jane Ellen McAllister: The first African American woman to earn a PHD in Education in the world.

VICKSBURG, Miss. by Evan Winschel  (VDN) — The year was 1896. The Supreme Court had just ruled that racial segregation was not in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The years to follow would have the unofficial motto of “separate but equal” and passively put limitations on what an entire race of people were capable of achieving. Little did Richard and Flora McAllister know that one of their children would advance beyond barriers and earn distinguishment within the pages of history. Richard and Flora were both intellectuals and graduates of JSU and would go on to establish themselves as members of a burgeoning middle class within the African American community. Richard becoming one of the first black mail carriers in the state and her mother becoming a successful and respected teacher. On October 24th, 1899, they welcomed into the world their first of three children, Jane Ellen McAllister.

“I wanted that PhD. If there were a higher degree, I would’ve gone for it.”

That is the level of determination that Jane was imbued with from birth. Through her parents’ example and guidance, Jane would develop a voracious appetite for education that would last her entire life. Attending a segregated school with limited resources, her parents would compensate with at home lessons using books her father borrowed to ensure she had a solid foundation in the required prerequisites for college. So successful was their tutelage that Jane would assist teaching first graders by the time she was in second grade. Graduating from high school at the age of 15, she enrolled in studies at Talladega College where she would graduate with honors in 1919. With her thirst for knowledge seemingly unquenchable, she would further her education at the University of Michigan where she graduated with an M.A. in 1921.

Already exceeding the expectations of many, she would add to her innumerable accomplishments while making history when she became the first African American to earn a PhD in Education in 1929. Coincidentally, this achievement also made her the first person of African descent in the entire world to be a doctoral candidate in the field of education. After many years of diligent studying, she had reached the pinnacle of educational degrees and soon became a coveted professor at many universities. Like a bird without a cage, she flew from one institution of higher learning to another: Emerson College, to Grambling State, to Virigina State, to Straight University, to Fisk College, to Southern University, ending at Jackson State University. When asked by the then president of Grambling why she moved around so much in an attempt to retain her, she responded that, “It was only natural to want more money for less work.” That no-nonsense and frank approach would define her teaching style. Adverse to coddling, students were sure not to expect any high marks in her class that were not merited.

The decades of the 1930s and ’40s would see Dr. McAllister extend her reach overseas when she and her sister Dorothy would teach in regions of South America and Africa during school breaks. The picture of independence, Dr. McAllister would set off on her own remarking, “As soon as it was light, I liked to go out and mingle with the natives.” When not trapsing around the world, she would continue to distinguish herself among her peers: From becoming the first person to bring tele-lecture technology to JSU, to developing programs aimed at helping disadvantaged children make it to college, to serving on a myriad of education boards, to authoring countless articles in educational journals. She did it all and more before retiring in 1969.

Returning to Vicksburg, she spent her remaining years maintaining autonomy over every aspect of her life. Where she was unflinchingly tough in the classroom, she was exceptionally soft when it came to stray animals. Fostering many discarded animals and forging a symbiotic relationship of sorts as they assisted her with yard work. “We fight the bad grass. I pull it up and they scratch the ground so that it won’t come back.”  In 1996 Dr. McAllister took her leave and passed away at the age of 96. Ever the educator, she donated her body to science for the furtherment of knowledge. Her remains now rest with her parents in the family plot in Cedar Hill Cemetery.