top of page

Meet Cornelia Bowen (1852-1934)


Cornelia Bowen was born on September 24, 1865 to Sophia (nee Carroll) and Henry Clay Bowen on a plantation owned by Col. William Bowen. Col. Bowen owned the property on which Tuskegee Institute would be later be developed, and Sarah attended what was then Tuskegee Normal School for Colored Teachers, where she was a member of the first graduating class, in 1885.

After graduation, Bowen became the principal of the Children’s House, a training facility at the Normal School. She served in this capacity for several terms before Booker T. Washington, then principal and President of the Normal School, advised Bowen of an employment opportunity in nearby Mt. Meigs, Alabama.  Using the principles of uplift she learned as a student and educator at Tuskegee, Bowen created Mt. Meigs Colored Institute to teach students to thrive in their respective industrial pursuits. Also at the urging of Washington, Bowen opened the Mt. Meigs Negro Boys' Reformatory as an alternative to prison for Black children who got into trouble. Subsequently, Bowen created a community center, where she taught women and girls cooking, sewing, and housekeeping, along with child rearing, grooming, exercise, and nutrition. She also taught and served as principal of then Alabama State Teachers College, now Alabama State University.

Having also attended Columbia Teachers College in New York and Queen Margaret College in Glasgow, Bowen earned a bachelor’s degree from Straight College in New Orleans and a master’s degree from Battle Creek College in Michigan. She became the first woman president of the Alabama Teacher’s Association and was a founding member of the Afro-American Women’s League. She published one book, an autobiography entitled A Woman's Work (1905).

Salute!          


Credits:

Washington, Booker T. (ed.). Tuskegee & Its People: Their Ideals and Achievements. New York, New York: D. Appleton and Company. pp. 211–223.


8 views0 comments

During Women’s History Month 2024, O’Writes celebrates Women of Uplift -- women with a shared connection to Tuskegee University, a prominent HBCU in Alabama, whose founder, Booker T. Washington, established the college as an institution whose mission was to uplift the African American race.


Meet Martha Norman Adams (1878-1956)



Photo Credit: Findagrave.com


O'Writes celebrates the legacy Martha Norman Adams (1878-1956), co-founder of Grambling State University. Born in Tuskegee, Alabama, Martha was the daughter and one of 16 children born to Lewis Adams -- the tinsmith, shoemaker, and activist responsible for bringing Booker T. Washington to then Tuskegee Normal School for Colored Teachers, as its first principal/president. An alumna of the Normal School, Martha married Charles Phillip Adams, a native of Brusly, Louisiana, and fellow Tuskegee alumnus, in 1904. Charles Adams was a committed educator and administrator at Tuskegee Normal School before Booker T. Washington recommended him to start an agricultural and industrial school in North Louisiana. This college would become Grambling State University. Martha Norman Adams served as Grambling State University’s co-founder and domestic science teacher.


Salute!


Credits:

“Martha Norman Adams.” Macon Progress. https://www.maconprogress.net.

3 views0 comments

Here's what I hope will become an annual publication: sHEROES: Black Women Thriving Beyond Breast Cancer.


Enjoy!

-Dr. O


4 views0 comments
bottom of page