Mary Elizabeth Branch
{{Short description|American educator, college president (1881–1944)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Mary Elizabeth Branch
| birth_date = May 29, 1881
| birth_place = Farmville, Virginia, US
| relations = Tazewell Branch (father)
| education = Virginia State University,
University of Chicago
| office = 11th President of Tillotson College
| term_start = 1930
| term_end = 1944
| death_date = 1944
| death_place = Baltimore, Maryland, US
}}
Mary Elizabeth Branch (May 29, 1881{{Spaced en dash}}1944) was an American educator and academic administrator. She was Black, and served as president of Tillotson College (now Huston–Tillotson University), a HBCU in Austin, Texas. She was the first female president for the college.
Early life and education
Branch was born on May 29, 1881, in Farmville, Virginia, to formerly enslaved parents Tazewell Branch and Harriet Branch. Her father served two terms the Virginia House of Delegates. Both her parents were literate, and taught Mary at home, though she also attended school.
After high school she earned her teaching degree at Virginia State College (now Virginia State University), and taught at an elementary school in Blackstone, Virginia.
Professional career
Branch returned to Virginia State College to teach; she stayed there for twenty years, and at the same time earned a BA (1922) and then an MA (1925) from the University of Chicago.{{Cite web |last=Howard |first=Judy |date=2018-09-30 |title=Mary Elizabeth Branch (1881-1944) |url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/branch-mary-elizabeth-1881-1944/ |access-date=2021-04-06 |website=Blackpast.org}}
After Virginia State College, Branch became a dean at Vashon High School in St Louis. After that she became president at Tillotson College in Austin, Texas, where she stayed until retirement. The college had seen enrollment decline, and the year before Branch's arrival it was demoted to a junior college for women. Branch had new buildings built and existing ones renovated. The library was enlarged, and so was the number of teachers.{{Cite book|last1=Glasrud|first1=Bruce A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OHlpfowPLvYC&pg=PA143 |title=Black Women in Texas History|author2-link=Merline Pitre|last2=Pitre|first2=Merline|date=2008-03-03|publisher=Texas A&M University Press|isbn=978-1-60344-031-8}} With a successful recruitment strategy, aided by her ability to raise funds, she managed to grow enrollment from less than 150 in 1930 to 500. She also strengthened ties with the community.{{Cite book|last1=Ohles|first1=Frederik|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PBj5-zHEMvoC&pg=PA39 |title=Biographical Dictionary of Modern American Educators|last2=Ohles|first2=Shirley G.|last3=Ohles|first3=Shirley M.|last4=Ramsay|first4=John G.|date=1997|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-29133-3}}
After five years, Tillotson became a co-ed four-year college and joined the American Association of Colleges. Branch was the first and only African American female president of an institution in this Association. In 1944, she assisted in establishing the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and served as President of the Austine chapter. Branch was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha.{{Cite journal |date=1938 |title=Southeastern Region Meets at Tuskegee: Theme The Alpha Kappa Alpha woman and racial responsibility. |journal=The Ivy Leaf |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=25}}
She died in 1944 in Baltimore, Maryland.
Awards
In 1935, Lyndon B. Johnson appointed her to the National Youth's Administration's Negro Advisory Board for Texas. At her alma mater, Virginia State University named a residence after Branch. Branch was awarded degrees of honor from Virginia State College and Howard University.{{Cite web |title=Mary Elizabeth Branch |url=https://www.womenintexashistory.org/biographies/mary-elizabeth-branch/ |access-date=2021-04-06 |website=Women in Texas History (WTH) |publisher=Ruthe Winegarten Memorial Foundation for Texas Women’s History}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Branch, Mary Elizabeth}}
Category:Presidents of Huston–Tillotson University
Category:African-American educators
Category:African-American women educators
Category:People from Farmville, Virginia
Category:Virginia State University alumni
Category:Women heads of universities and colleges
Category:African-American women academic administrators