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Elizabeth Ross Haynes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elizabeth Ross Haynes
Born(1883-07-31)July 31, 1883
DiedOctober 26, 1953(1953-10-26) (aged 70)
New York City
NationalityAmerican
EducationState Normal School of Montgomery
Alma materFisk University, Columbia University
SpouseGeorge Edmund Haynes
Scientific career
Fieldssociology
InstitutionsYoung Women's Christian Association,

Elizabeth Ross Haynes (1883–1953) was an African American social worker, sociologist, and author. She wrote the book Unsung Heroes about African Americans and their achievements.

Biography

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Elizabeth Ross was born on July 31, 1883, in Mount Willing, Alabama[1] to formerly enslaved parents Henry and Mary (née Carnes) Ross. She was valedictorian of her class at the State Normal School of Montgomery. She won a scholarship to Fisk University and received her AB from there in 1903. From 1905 to 1907 she summered in Chicago, attending graduate school at the University of Chicago. In 1908 she became the first black national secretary of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). She married sociologist George Edmund Haynes in 1910 and had a son, George Jr., in 1912. She volunteered at what would become the United States Women's Bureau and became a domestic service secretary for the United States Employment Service. In 1919, with Elizabeth Carter and Mary Church Terrell, she petitioned the International Congress of Working Women to offer programs relevant to black women. She wrote the 1921 book Unsung Heroes which details African-American lives and achievements.[2]

Haynes pursued her master's degree at Columbia University where her thesis was "Two Million Negro Women at Work", a landmark study on black women and employment. She received her MA in 1923. She was elected to the national board of the YWCA in 1924.[2] Haynes was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Ross published The Black Boy of Atlanta, her biography of R.R. Wright in 1952. Ross died in New York City on October 26, 1953.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Carlton-LaNey, I. (November 1, 1997). "Elizabeth Ross Haynes: An African American Reformer of Womanist Consciousness, 1908-1940". Social Work. 42 (6): 573–583. doi:10.1093/sw/42.6.573.
  2. ^ a b c Reveal, Judith C. (2002). "Haynes, Elizabeth Ross (1883–1953)". In Commire, Anne (ed.). Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Connecticut: Yorkin Publications. ISBN 0-7876-4074-3. Archived from the original on 2016-02-20.
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