Early life
Mary Godfrey was born on July 3, 1913, in the small southern town of Charlotte Court House, Virginia, and was one of eight children of Henry B. Godfrey and Louise (née Reid) Godfrey. During an interview Godfrey states she was born in New York City. Godfrey's family maintained a farm in Charlotte Court House and a residence in New York City, where her father had established a business. Godfrey's older sister, Cleveland Community Activist and journalist, Stella Godfrey White Bigham, whose work promoted interracial understanding, was the first African American woman to sit on the Cleveland Transit System board.Education
Godfrey entered the Pratt Institute Department of Teacher Training in Art Education in 1933, at the age of 20, and received a teaching certificate in 1937. Even though records indicate Godfrey received a BFA in art education, Pratt did not grant four-year bachelor's degrees until 1938. The coursework Godfrey received during her four years was equivalent to a bachelor's degree. She was qualified to teach all phases of art in public and private school from elementary to the college level in any state. Godfrey continued her education and received a master's degree from Columbia University Teachers College.Career
After Godfrey graduated from Pratt Institute she became an art teacher/supervisor for the Camden Public Schools in Camden, New Jersey from 1938 to 1947. Sara Joyner, Virginia’s first state art supervisor and founder of the National Art Education Association (NAEA), worked toward advancing art education for all children and helped to organize a Negro Art Section of the Virginia Education Association, and in 1947, she hired Godfrey as the first African American assistant supervisor of Art Education in Virginia. Her job was to supervise the Black schools in the state and to promote art education.Works
Two pieces of Godfrey's work, ''Art Lesson'', oil on canvas, and ''Lady with Cat/Daybreak'', watercolor, ink, and chalk on paper, were gifted by Godfrey's family to the Pennsylvania State University Palmer Museum of Art. ''Daybreak'' was included in the exhibition ''Those Who Taught: Selected Works by Former Faculty'' (May 20 - August 14, 2022), and ''Art Lesson'' was exhibited in ''Looking at Who We Are: The Palmer at 50'' (September 23 - December 18, 2022). https://palmermuseum.psu.edu/exhibition/looking-at-who-we-are-the-palmer-at-fifty>References
Further reading
* Darryl B. Daisey: Penn State University African American Chronicles, 1899-2016 (2nd Revised Edition). * Holt, A. (2017). Mary E. Godfrey (1913-2007): Penn State's first African American full-time faculty member. ''Studies in Art Education, 58''(3), 234–245. doi:10.1080/00393541.2017.1331088" {{DEFAULTSORT:Godfrey, Mary 20th-century African-American academics 20th-century American academics American art educators 1913 births 2007 deaths African-American women artists Pennsylvania State University faculty Teachers College, Columbia University alumni Pratt Institute alumni 20th-century American educators 20th-century American women artists American women academics 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American artists 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women