DateDate Unknown
MediumSilver Gelatin Print
Dimensions4 x 5 in. (10.2 x 12.7 cm)
Object numberMSS 110.2.3
Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum
DescriptionPhotographic portrait of Lydia Grinnell Brown (1892-1945), the first Black graduate of Simmons College in 1915 with a bachelor's degree in Secretarial Studies. She worked as a translator in Washington, D.C. during World War I, was a language arts teacher in Washington, D.C. area at Dunbar High School and Cardozo High School in the 1930s, and was a member of the Linguistic Society of America. In 1921, along with W.E.B. DuBois and Walter F. White, Lydia was one of 33 US delegates for the Pan-African Congress in Paris, Long, Brussels, and served as a translator of French, German and Spanish. The Pan-African Congress discussed issues facing Africa as a result of European colonization and was committed to ending colonial rule and racial discrimination. Lydia died in New York City in 1945 and is buried in New Bedford's Rural Cemetery.On View
Not on view
1820
early 20th Century
1725-1960
