Jean Blackwell Hutson

Jean Blackwell Hutson (born Jean Blackwell; September 7, 1914 – February 4, 1998) was an American librarian, archivist, writer, curator, educator, and later chief of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The Schomburg Center dedicated their Research and Reference Division in honor of Hutson.

Life and education

Jean Blackwell was born in Summerfield, Florida, and moved to Baltimore, Maryland, with her mother in 1918. She graduated valedictorian from Frederick Douglass High School in 1929. Blackwell continued her education at the University of Michigan, studying psychiatry, and transferred to Barnard College, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1935.

Hutson was married twice, to Andy Razaf from 1939 to 1947 and to John Hutson from 1952 to 1957. Her most notable professional position was as curator and chief of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Hutson was instrumental in marketing efforts that secured state, federal, and foundation grants for the following decades. These funds went towards preservation, assessment of the collection, and building a new facility. She moved to Ghana, where she spent 1964 and 1965 Hutson was also successful in making the Africana collection inclusive of Africans in Africa as well as the African diaspora.