Mary Hayes Allen (born Mary Magdalene Rice; March 2, 1875 – October 10, 1935) was an American educator. She served as the president of

Virginia Theological Seminary and College Virginia University of Lynchburg is a private historically black Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia. The university is accredited by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools and offers instruction and degrees, pri ...

from 1906 through 1908.

Biography

Mary Magdalene Rice was born on March 2, 1875, in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She was the illegitimate daughter of former

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

Malinda Rice and a former

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between ...

general,

John R. Jones John Robert Jones (March 12, 1827–April 1, 1901) was a Virginia educator who became a Brigadier general (United States), brigadier general in the Confederate States Army, Confederate army during the American Civil War, during which he twice ...

. She attended

Hartshorn Memorial College Hartshorn Memorial College was a school for African-American women in Richmond, Virginia, from 1883–1932, when it merged into Virginia Union University. History Hartshorn Memorial College was created in Richmond, Virginia, in 1883 as a colleg ...

. In 1895, she married educator

Gregory W. Hayes Gregory W. Hayes (died December 2, 1906) was a prominent leader in the Baptist community of African Americans in Richmond, Virginia. He graduated from Oberlin College. In 1891 he became the second president of the Virginia Seminary, which he led ...

. They had seven children, five surviving infancy. In 1891, Gregory Hayes became the second president of the Virginia Theological Seminary and College (now Virginia University of Lynchburg). He served as president until his death in 1906. His widow served as president immediately following her husband's death through 1908 when

James Robert Lincoln Diggs James Robert Lincoln Diggs (7 November 1866 – April 14, 1923) was an American civil rights leader, college president, pastor, and college football coach. Early life and studies Diggs earned degrees from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Penn ...

took over. In 1911, she married William Allen, with whom she had three children. The couple settled in Montclair, New Jersey. They sued for racial equality in the local schools, fighting a losing battle to

desegregate Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...

the Montclair public school. She was active in the Montclair chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

) in the 1920s through the 1930s. She died on October 10, 1935. Her daughter,

Carrie Allen McCray Carrie Allen McCray (October 4, 1913 – July 25, 2008) was an African-American writer. Early and family life Carrie Allen was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, October 4, 1913, and raised in that city, where she came to know poet Anne Spencer, ...

, wrote a biography of her mother entitled ''Freedom's Child: The Life of a Confederate General's Black Daughter'', which was published by

Algonquin Books Workman Publishing Company, Inc., is an American publisher of trade books founded by Peter Workman. The company is comprised of either imprints: Workman, Workman Children’s, Workman Calendars, Artisan, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill and Algon ...

in 1998. In 2018, the Virginia Capitol Foundation announced that Hayes Allen's name would be in the Virginia Women's Monument's glass Wall of Honor.

References

External links

Letter from Mary Rice Hayes-Allen to W. E. B. Du Bois, February 18, 1918
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Mary Hayes 1875 births 1935 deaths Educators from Virginia 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American educators 20th-century American educators Heads of historically black universities and colleges in the United States Seminary presidents Women heads of universities and colleges