Lucy Diggs Slowe, a Woman of Change

Born in Berryville, Virginia in 1885, her parents died when she was young. She was raised by her aunt Martha in Virginia and they moved to Baltimore, Maryland when Slowe was thirteen.

Slowe attended the Baltimore Colored school, graduating second in her class in 1904. She then went on to attend Howard University. She was an active student at Howard, singing in the university choir and serving as president of the women's tennis team.

One of her first legacies, Slowe became the first African-American to win any sports title when she won the women's title at the American Tennis Association (ATA) which governed tennis tournaments for black athletes.

Even as she was competing in tennis tournaments, Slowe was teaching Armstrong Manual Training School, only one of three black high schools in D.C. The District's Board of Education requested Slowe to organize Shaw Junior School, the first black junior high school in the D.C. area. Slowe also served as principal.

Slowe was adamant about improving educational opportunities and experiences for African-Americans. While she was teaching at Douglass High School in Baltimore, she was also attending the Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Science and obtained a Master's degree in 1915. She also attended Columbia's Teacher's College with classes in Student Personnel.

In 1908, Slowe was one of the sixteen original founders of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. She was vital to the drafting of the sorority's constitution and served as the chapter's first president. Alpha Kappa Alpha was incorporated in 1913. Today, the sorority has a membership of more than 250,000 women in over 900 chapters in the United States and several other countries.

In 1922, Slowe returned to Howard University as Dean of Women, the first African-American woman to serve in that position. The first thing she did was to create a women's campus for women's "physical and social development as well as for the training of their minds." [1] Three new women's dormitories were built on Howard's campus.

That same year, Slowe helped organize the National Association of College Women (NACW) and served as its president. The organization was dedication to raising college standards for black women.

As Slowe put it in an NACW conference, "An important task of the National Association of College Women is that of educational standards to meet those of the very best institutions in our land. If a college accepts women students and employs women faculty, it should give them the same status as it gives male students and teachers, respectively." [1]

In 1929, Slowe hosted the first meeting of the National Association of Women's Deans and Advisors of Colored Schools. As first president of the organization, Slowe loutlined changes needed for women college administrators. Her work on behalf of women didn't go unnoticed. She was invited to address the National Association of Women Deans in 1931, speaking to a predominately white audience.

She continued her work into the thirties to improve conditions for both students and women administrators on college campuses. She lobbied for better academic standards and health conditions as well as better working conditions for female administrators.

On Oct 21, 1937, Slowe died from kidney failure.

Lucy D. Slowe Hall stands on Howard's campus and an elementary school in D.C. is named for her. A plaque dedicated to Lucy Diggs Slowe hangs in the D.C. headquarters of the National Association of Women Deans.

Source:
[1] Celebrating Black History Month