Maudelle Bousfield

Bousfield was born Maudelle Tanner Brown in St. Louis, Missouri. Her parents were Charles Hugh Brown and Arrena Isabella Tanner Brown, who were both educators.{{Cite web|title=What's in a Name? Two C-U Buildings Named After African American Women|url=http://publici.ucimc.org/2013/03/whats-in-a-name-two-buildings-named-after-african-american-women/|last=Dolinar|first=Brian|date=March 2013|website=The Public I|language=en-US|access-date=2020-06-01}} Bousfield attended the Charles Kunkel Conservatory of Music in St. Louis during her youth.{{Cite journal|last=Danns|first=Dionne|date=2009|title=Thriving in the Midst of Adversity: Educator Maudelle Brown Bousfield's Struggles in Chicago, 1920-1950|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/25608714|journal=The Journal of Negro Education|volume=78|issue=1|pages=3–16|jstor=25608714|issn=0022-2984}}

Bousfield enrolled at the University of Illinois in 1903. She graduated with honors in 1906, with degrees in astronomy and mathematics, becoming the first African-American woman graduate from the University of Illinois.{{Cite web|title=The courage to be first|url=https://storied.illinois.edu/the-courage-to-be-first/|last=Schmidt|first=Kim|website=Storied|date=25 February 2019 |language=en-US|access-date=2020-06-01}} After her time at the University of Illinois, Bousfield took courses at the Chicago Mendelssohn School of Music, and earned a master's degree in education at the University of Chicago.{{Cite web|title=About Maudelle Bousfield|url=https://housing.illinois.edu:443/Living-Options/Residence-Halls/Undergraduate-Halls/Bousfield/about-bousfield|website=University Housing|language=en|access-date=2020-06-01}}

File:Women's Policy Committee of the War Manpower Commission. 8b07030v.jpg, chairman; and Sara Southall.]]

Bousfield played piano{{Cite web|title=Celebrating Women: Maudelle Tanner Brown Bousfield|url=https://www.wcia.com/news/local-news/celebrating-women-maudelle-tanner-brown-bousfield/|last=Kunz|first=Jessica|date=2019-03-28|website=WCIA|language=en-US|access-date=2020-06-01}} and taught mathematics before briefly resigning in 1914. Bousfield returned to teaching in 1922, later taking the principal's exam in 1926. Bousfield scored high on the exam and was assigned to head Keith Elementary School in 1927, becoming the first African–American school principal in the Chicago Public Schools district. In 1939, Bousfield became the first African–American high school principal in the same district,{{Cite journal|date=October 1939|title=Mrs. Maudelle Bousfield Appointed Head of Chicago High School|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vdAZAAAAIAAJ&q=Maudelle++Bousfield&pg=RA1-PA309|journal=Opportunity|volume=17|pages=309}} after being assigned to head the predominately African–American Wendell Phillips High School in Bronzeville neighborhood of the city. In addition to her tenure as principal, Bousfield served on the Women's Policy Committee of the War Manpower Commission,{{Cite news|date=1942-09-12|title=Mrs. Maudelle Bousfield Favors Women Replacing Men in War Industry|pages=10|work=The Pittsburgh Courier|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52578398/mrs-maudelle-bousfield-favors-women/|access-date=2020-06-01|via=Newspapers.com}} with Margaret A. Hickey and Sara Southall during World War II.{{Cite web|title=Women's Policy Committee of the War Manpower Commission. At the first meeting of the Women's Policy Committee of the War Manpower Commission on October 1, 1942, three members get acquainted. They are, left to right: Maudelle Bousfield, Margaret A. Hickey, chairman; and Sara Southall. The committee was formed to aid in mobilizing women workers for the war effort|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2017698282/|website=Library of Congress|date=January 1942 |access-date=2020-06-01}} Bousfield retired from Wendell Phillips High School after eleven years in 1950, with plans to travel: "I'll have a chance to see some of the far away places that have made atlases so fascinating to me."{{Cite news|last=Lynch|first=Agnes|date=1950-06-11|title=Teacher Closes Desk in Phillips for Final Time|pages=88|work=Chicago Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52578474/teacher-closes-desk-in-phillips-for/|access-date=2020-06-01|via=Newspapers.com}}

In her later years, Bousfield traveled,{{Cite news|date=1951-05-20|title=Mrs. Bousfield to Tell of Extensive Travels|pages=1|work=Chicago Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/52578741/mrs-bousfield-to-tell-of-extensive/|access-date=2020-06-01|via=Newspapers.com}} worked with the United Negro College Fund, and taught at Fisk University. She also wrote a gardening column for the Chicago Defender newspaper. Bousfield served as the sixth international president (Supreme Basileus) of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the historically black sorority.{{Cite web|title=Bousfield, Maudelle Brown - Sixth International President|url=http://akapioneers.aka1908.com/index.php/component/mtree/vocations/education-1/first-black-women-to-become-principals-in-k-12-schools-2/1512-bousfield-maudelle-brown|website=AKA's Pioneering Sorors Open Doors|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-06-01}} She was a charter member of the National Association of Negro Musicians.{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Jessie Carney|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ssMBzqrUpjwC&q=Maudelle++Bousfield&pg=PA41|title=Notable Black American Women|date=1992|publisher=VNR AG|isbn=978-0-8103-9177-2|pages=41–43|language=en}} Bousfield died on October 14, 1971, aged 86, in Chicago.{{Cite journal|date=November 4, 1971|title=Maudelle B. Bousfield Dies; Pioneer Black Educator|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bLEDAAAAMBAJ&q=Maudelle++Bousfield&pg=PA48|journal=Jet|pages=48}}

Bousfield was married once and had a daughter. In 1914, she married physician Midian Othello Bousfield and together they had a daughter, Maudelle (b. 1915; d. 2013). Bousfield's daughter was married businessman W. Leonard Evans Jr. Midian Bousfield died in 1948. Bousfield's cousin was artist Henry Ossawa Tanner. In 2013, a new residence hall at the University of Illinois was named Bousfield Hall, in her memory.{{Cite web|title=New UI residence hall will bear name of university's first African-American alumna, a true pioneer|url=https://www.news-gazette.com/news/new-ui-residence-hall-will-bear-name-of-universitys-first-african-american-alumna-a-true/article_71cf7651-4f47-595d-ba9a-8979e1b17dd5.html|last=Wurth|first=Julie|date=February 10, 2013|website=The News-Gazette|language=en|access-date=2020-06-01}} The Maudelle Brown Bousfield Apartments are run by the Chicago Housing Authority.{{Cite web|title=Maudelle Brown Bousfield Apartments|url=https://www.thecha.org/residents/public-housing/find-public-housing/maudelle-brown-bousfield-apartments|website=The Chicago Housing Authority|access-date=2020-06-01}}

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Category:1885 births

Category:1971 deaths

Category:20th-century American educators

Category:African-American women academics

Category:American women academics

Category:20th-century African-American academics

Category:20th-century American academics

Category:Educators from Chicago

Category:Educators from St. Louis

Category:20th-century American women educators

Category:20th-century African-American women

Category:20th-century African-American educators

Category:Alpha Kappa Alpha presidents

Category:University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni