Mazie O. Tyson

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Mazie O. Tyson
Yearbook photograph of a young African-American woman in 1921.
Mazie O. Tyson, from the Howard University yearbook in 1921.
DiedMarch 3, 1975
U. S. Virgin Islands
NationalityAmerican
Other namesMazie Tyson-Scott
OccupationProfessor of geography
Years active1920s-1970s

Mazie Oylee Tyson (born about 1900 – March 3, 1975) was an American geographer who taught at historically-black colleges from the 1920s into the 1970s, including over twenty years at Tennessee State College.

Early life and education[edit]

Tyson was originally from Jacksonville, Florida.[1] She attended Florida A & M College for two years, and graduated from Howard University in 1921.[2] In 1937 she earned a master's degree in geography at Ohio State University, with a thesis titled "A Florida Phosphate Landscape."[3] She did doctoral work at Syracuse University,[4] but health problems prevented the completion of her doctorate.[5]

Career[edit]

Tyson taught at Bennett College,[6] Bethune-Cookman College,[7] Florida A & M College, and Southern University, before joining the geography department at Tennessee State College in 1946.[8] She taught there until 1969,[9][10] and was considered a "legend" by colleagues for her long teaching career.[11]

During World War II, Tyson headed a panel in Leon County, Florida, to monitor black businesses' compliance with wartime price regulations.[12] She wrote about war work in articles "War and Post-War Challenges to Geographers" (1944),[13] and "What Mobilization For Peace Can Learn From Mobilization For War" (1945).[14]

Tyson was active in the Nashville branch of the American Association of University Women,[15][16] and in the sorority Zeta Phi Beta.[17] In 1954 and 1955,[18] she took leave from the college to work in the United States Virgin Islands as a teacher and consultant.[19]

Personal life[edit]

Mazie Tyson married fellow professor Aurelius Southall Scott in 1928;[1] they ran a summer camp together in Ohio, and were on the faculty together at Bethune-Cookman College,[20] before they separated in the 1930s. She retired from teaching in 1970,[21] and died from cancer and heart failure at a hospital on Saint Thomas, in the Virgin Islands, in 1975.[22]


References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Tyson-Scott Wedding". The Evening Review. 1928-06-16. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ The Enopron (Howard University yearbook, 1921): 36.
  3. ^ Alumni, 1930-1939, Department of Geography, Ohio State University.
  4. ^ "Tenn. State Teachers Study for High Degrees". Alabama Tribune. 1948-12-31. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Choi, Andrea. "Geography, Geographers, and the Geographies of Antiracism" (PhD thesis, Queen's University 2018): 82-83.
  6. ^ Senior High School of Bennett College. (1926). The Bennettite. Bennett College. pp. 25.
  7. ^ Annual Catalogue, 1930-1931 (Bethune-Cookman College 1930): 12.
  8. ^ Monk, Janice (2004-03-01). "Women, Gender, and the Histories of American Geography". Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 94 (1): 1–22. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8306.2004.09401001.x. ISSN 0004-5608. S2CID 144506143.
  9. ^ "Instructor of the Month" The Meter (University of Tennessee newspaper) (May 28, 1951): 2.
  10. ^ Bulletin 1970-1971 (Tennessee State University 1970): 19.
  11. ^ Prunty, Merle C. (1979). "Geography in the South". Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 69 (1): 54. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8306.1979.tb01229.x. ISSN 0004-5608. JSTOR 2569547.
  12. ^ "Negro Panel is Named". Tallahassee Democrat. May 28, 1944. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Tyson, M. (1944). War and post-war challenges to geographers. The Quarterly Review of Higher Education among Negroes, 12(3), 160. via ProQuest.
  14. ^ Tyson, M. (1945). What mobilization for peace can learn from mobilization for war. The Quarterly Review of Higher Education among Negroes, 13(3), 205. via ProQuest.
  15. ^ "AAUW Plans for Year Announced". The Tennessean. 1959-10-11. p. 41. Retrieved 2020-02-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "AAUW Groups Will Meet This Month". Nashville Banner. 1959-11-04. p. 16. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Miss Tyson Rites Saturday". The Tennessean. 1975-03-06. p. 78. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Geography Specialist on Leave". The Tennessean. 1954-09-26. p. 26. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Crooks, Mabel (1955-06-12). "The Week at Tennessee State". The Tennessean. p. 82. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ The Wildcat (Bethune-Cookman College 1930): 17.
  21. ^ "Honors Set for Retiring TSU Group". The Tennessean. 1970-06-03. p. 38. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Death notice: Mazie O. Tyson". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1975-04-12. p. 11. Retrieved 2020-02-13 – via Newspapers.com.
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