Gladys Wood

Gladys Sara Wood (May 16, 1916 – August 3, 2017) was an American educator and academic administrator. She was the first African-American principal in the Boston Public Schools.

Early life and education Gladys Wood was born on May 16, 1916, in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, to Samuel Clarence Wood Sr. and Gertrude Ella Boyd. Her father worked as a porter, carpenter, and lumber surveyor. Her mother was a schoolteacher in Alabama before she married and moved to Massachusetts. Gladys Wood was the third of 13 children. Her middle name was recorded as "Samuel" in early family Bibles, and her baptism recorded it as "Sammie", but Wood eventually used the middle name "Sara". In 1937, she earned a bachelor's degree from the Teachers College of the City of Boston (later the Boston State College). She earned a master's degree in education from the same college in 1951, writing a 141-page master's thesis entitled "Nutrition And Its Relationship To The Noonday Lunch Of The Growing Child". Particularly during the decades in which Wood taught and served as principals in these communities, the school systems were poorly funded and were allocated few resources. Wood was known for her advocacy for increased funding and better teachers.

In 1966, Wood was awarded for her "outstanding service to the ideals of brotherhood" by the National Conference of Christians and Jews. In 1968, she received a Frederick A. Douglass Achievement Award.

Personal life Wood lived in Dorchester, Milton, and Quincy, and for many years lived with two of her sisters. She never married.