Jane Ellen McAllister

Jane Ellen McAllister (24 October 1899 – 10 January 1996) was an American educator. She was the first African American woman to earn a PhD in Education in the United States, and the first African American female in the world to be a doctoral candidate in Education.

Life and education McAllister was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi to Flora McClelland McAllister and Richard McAllister. Her father was a postman who worked in Vicksburg, and her mother was a Vicksburg public school teacher. Her mother and father both graduated from Jackson State College. She died in 1996.

Awards McAllister was a Dean's Scholar at Columbia University in 1949. She was also an observer at the White House Conference on Education in 1955. In 1989, Jackson State University dedicated a women's hall of residence to McAllister and her colleague, Mary Whiteside. McAllister also has a university lecture series named in her honor at Jackson State University. In 2011, plans were entered for her home to become a museum in her honor.