Joan Imogen Howard (7 November 1848,

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

– 8 November 1937,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

)1937 Philadelphia death certificate was an American educator and principal from the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. Characterized as a "black liberal integrationist", she was the first African American graduate of Girls High and Normal School in

, as well as the only African American to serve on a state board for the

Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

Early years and education

Joan Imogen Howard, was born in Boston in 1848, though both 1850 and 1851 have also been mentioned. Her father, Edwin Frederick Howard, was a well-known citizen of that city, and her mother, Joan Louise Turpin Howard, was a native of New York. She had one sister, Adeline Turpin Howard, the principal of the Wormley School,

Washington, D. C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

, and one brother, Edwin Clarence Joseph Turpin Howard, M. D., the first African American graduate of

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

, and a prominent physician in

. She was a cousin of the well-known elocutionist, Ednorah Nahar. She graduated from the Wells Grammar School, Blossom Street, Boston, as one of ten honor pupils who received silver medals. Her parents encouraged her to pursue a higher course of instruction, and consequently, after a successful entrance examination, she became a student of the Girls' High and Normal School, as it was then called. She was the first African American women to enter, and after a three years' course, to graduate from this, which was, at that time, the highest institution of learning in Boston.

Career

A situation as an assistant teacher in Colored Grammar School No. 4, later Grammar School No. 81, was immediately offered. For several years an evening school, which was largely attended and of which she was principal, was carried on in the same building. Later, she took a course in “Methods of Instruction” at the Saturday sessions of the Normal College of New York City, receiving a Master of Arts diploma from this institution (1877). In 1892, she received the degree of Master of Pedagogy at the University of the City of New York. She held a special position on the Board of Women Managers of the

State of New York New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state ...

for the Columbian Exposition, one of five of the Committee on Education.

References

Attribution

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Joan Imogen 1848 births 1937 deaths People from Boston 19th-century American educators Educators from Massachusetts African-American educators 19th-century American women educators 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women