Shirley J. Allen
Shirley J. Allen (born 1941) is an American academic. A longtime professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology, in 1992 she became the first black and deaf woman to earn a doctoral degree.
Biography
Shirley Jeanne Allen was born in Nacogdoches, Texas, in 1941.{{Cite news |date=October 1995 |title=Dr. Shirley J. Allen, the first Deaf Black woman to earn a doctorate |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nu8mAQAAMAAJ |access-date=2025-03-16 |work=Deaf Life}}{{Cite web |date=2023-02-28 |title=DEI Prof-spectives: The Intersections of Black History and D/deaf History |url=https://sites.rowan.edu/inclusive-excellence-community-belonging/blog/2023/03/dei-prof-spectives-intersection-of-black-history-and-ddeaf-history.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250118195046/https://sites.rowan.edu/inclusive-excellence-community-belonging/blog/2023/03/dei-prof-spectives-intersection-of-black-history-and-ddeaf-history.html |archive-date=2025-01-18 |website=Rowan University}}{{Cite web |title=Allen, Shirley Jean |url=https://liblists.wrlc.org/biographies/52955 |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=Gallaudet University Library Guide to Deaf Biographies and Index to Deaf Periodicals}} She graduated from E.J. Campbell High School in 1959, a decade before desegregation came to Nacogdoches.{{Cite web |title=History of E.J. Campbell School |url=https://digital.sfasu.edu/digital/collection/Community/id/467/ |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=East Texas Digital Archives |language=en}}
She then moved with her family for a period to La Marque before enrolling in the music program at Jarvis Christian College. While still in college, at age 20, she contracted typhoid fever and, after a period spent in a coma, became deaf.{{Cite web |date=2020-02-14 |title=Black History Month recognizes a worldwide "first" from Rochester |url=https://wdkx.com/black-history-month-recognizes-a-worldwide-first-from-rochester/ |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=WDKX |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last= |date=2017-10-18 |title=SHIRLEY JEANNE ALLEN |url=https://whoswhoofprofessionalwomen.com/shirley-jeanne-allen/ |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=Who's Who of Professional Women |language=en-US}}
Despite her deafness, she continued to perform piano, including for her senior recital at Jarvis.
Allen went on to complete her bachelor's degree at Gallaudet University, graduating in 1966. In 1972, she obtained a master's degree in guidance and counseling from Howard University.
In 1992, she obtained a doctorate in education, focused on counseling, from the University of Rochester. With this, she became the first black and deaf woman to earn a doctorate.{{Cite news |last=LaGorce |first=Tammy |date=2025-03-14 |title=Learning a Shared Love Language — One That Includes Signing |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/style/jerald-creer-kent-williams-wedding.html |access-date=2025-03-17 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |date=April 2021 |title='We can do anything and everything but hear' |url=https://www.rit.edu/diversity/newsletter/april-2021/story/we-can-do-anything-and-everything-hear |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=RIT}}
Allen worked as an instructor at Gallaudet from 1968 to 1973. Then, beginning in 1973, she was a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology for 28 years, teaching at the university's National Technical Institute for the Deaf. She was also involved in advocacy for deaf and black students, and served as a visiting board member at Jarvis Christian College. She retired from academia in 2001.
In 1992, Allen was named to Jarvis Christian College's Pioneer Hall of Fame.