Mary Annette Anderson

Mary Annette Anderson (July 27, 1874 – May 2, 1922) was an American professor of grammar and history and the first African American woman elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Mary Annette Anderson
Born(1874-07-27)July 27, 1874
Shoreham, Vermont, U.S.
DiedMay 2, 1922(1922-05-02) (aged 47)
Alma materMiddlebury College (B.S.)
OccupationProfessor
Spouse(s)Walter Lucius Smith

Anderson was born in Shoreham, Vermont, to William and Philomine (Langlois) Anderson. Her father, a farmer, was a freed slave originally from Virginia, and her mother was a Canadian immigrant of French and Native American ancestry.[1] Anderson was educated at the Northfield School for Young Ladies in Northfield, Massachusetts, before entering Middlebury College in 1895. She graduated in 1899 as valedictorian, becoming the first African American woman elected to Phi Beta Kappa.[2]

Following graduation from Middlebury, Anderson taught at Straight University in New Orleans before being appointed a professor of English grammar and history at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She married Walter Lucius Smith on August 7, 1907, and gave up teaching.[3] She died on May 2, 1922, after a short illness.[4]

References
  1. Bittinger, Cyndy (2010-03-08). "The Story of Nettie Anderson". Vermont Public Radio. Retrieved 2010-03-08.
  2. "Fall Issue" (PDF). Retrieved 2017-12-26.
  3. Wiley, Edgar J. (1917). Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Middlebury College, Middlebury College.
  4. "Obituary". The Enterprise and Vermonter. May 11, 1922. p. 4. Retrieved April 8, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
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