Pauline J. Sims Puryear (June 6, 1900 – August 2, 1971) was an American social worker and clubwoman, the fourth international president of the

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen stud ...

sorority, and Dean of Women at Florida A&M State College. (Her surnames are written with and without the hyphen in various sources.)

Early life

Pauline J. Sims was born in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

, the daughter of Felix R. Sims and Emma E. Griffin Sims. Her brothers David, George, and Yancey were all ordained ministers; one of them, David Henry Sims, was 55th bishop of the

African Methodist Episcopal Church The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a Black church, predominantly African American Methodist Religious denomination, denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexionalism, c ...

; his wife Mayme Holden Sims was also a church and community leader. Pauline Sims graduated from

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

in 1918.

Career

Puryear was the fourth international president of Alpha Kappa Alpha, serving from 1925 to 1927. As president of Alpha Kappa Alpha, she corresponded with

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in ...

. She was a charter member of the sorority's first New Jersey chapter in 1934, along with

Myra Smith Kearse Myra Smith Kearse (May 18, 1899 – February 14, 1982) was an American physician and community leader in New Jersey. Early life Myra Lyle Smith was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, the daughter of T. Parker Smith and Clara Alexander Smith. Her fat ...

. She and Kearse were also founding members of the College Women's Club of Union County. In the 1940s and 1950s, Puryear was a social worker in Newark, New Jersey. She was ordained as a minister in the AME Church. She spoke at churches and at national and regional church conferences. She was an alternate delegate to the

1948 Republican National Convention The 1948 Republican National Convention was held at the Municipal Auditorium, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from June 21 to 25, 1948. New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey had paved the way to win the Republican presidential nomination in the pr ...

from New Jersey. In 1962, she was Dean of Women at Florida A&M State College. In 1967, she was still active with Alpha Kappa Alpha, as head of the sorority's "Negro heritage project". In 1970, she helped launch a "black culture reading library" at the Pearl Street YWCA in Nashville, Tennessee.

Personal life

Pauline J. Sims married Rev. Thomas Langston Puryear Sr., who was president of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA). They lived in Belleville, New Jersey and had sons Thomas and Paul. Rev. Paul Lionel Puryear became a professor at Tuskegee University and Dean of African American Affairs at the University of Virginia. Her husband died in 1958; she died in 1971, in Tallahassee, Florida. Her granddaughter Paula Puryear is a screenwriter.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sims-Puryear, Pauline 1900 births 1971 deaths People from Savannah, Georgia Florida A&M University people American social workers Alpha Kappa Alpha presidents Howard University alumni