Lucy Diggs Slowe (4 Jul. 1883-21 Oct. 1937)

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Lucy Slowe, educator, was born in Berryville. In 1908, while attending Howard University, she became a founding member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the first Greek letter organization for African American women, and was elected its first president. In 1917 Slowe won the national championship in women's singles at the segregated American Tennis Association’s inaugural tournament. During her career as a public school teacher and principal, president of the National Association of College Women, English professor at Howard University, and Howard’s first Dean of Women (1922-1937), Slowe worked to combat gender inequities and to prepare African American women for leadership.

Department of Historic Resources, 2016

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Caroll L. L. Miller and Anne S. Pruitt-Logan, Faithful to the Task at Hand: The Life of Lucy Diggs Slowe (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2012). Lisa R. Rasheed, “Lucy Diggs Slowe, Hoard University Dean of Women, 1922-1937: Educator, Administrator, Activist,” (Ph.D. diss., Georgia State University, 2010). Linda M. Perkins, “Lucy Diggs Slowe: Champion of the Self-Determination of African-American Women in Higher Education,” Journal of Negro History, vol. 81 (Winter-Autumn 1996): 89-104. Norfolk Journal and Guide, 19 July 1924 Baltimore Afro-American, 9, 23 Oct. 1915, 25, 26 Aug. 1916, 16 Sept. 1916, 3 Feb. 1917, 1, 8 Sept. 1917, 29 Aug. 1924, 9 Jan. 1932, 10 Feb. 1934, 1 May 1937, 9 Apr. 1938, 27 Aug. 1938 www.americantennisassociation.org www.aka1908.com