Inez Prosser Life And Accomplishments

Inez Prosser

Emozhane Richardson

American River College Inez Prosser

Inez Beverly Prosser was born in San Marcos, Texas on December 30, 1895 to Samuel Andrew and Veola Hamilton Beverly. She was the eldest daughter and the second of eleven children. During her younger days, there were few educational opportunities for African-Americans so her parents moved many times to seek the best education they could find for their children. To contribute to the household, she started a college fund to support her younger siblings’ education. Despite facing the significant obstacles of racism and sexism, her academic achievements were impressive. Inez graduated as valedictorian from Yoakum Colored High School in 1912 and then received a degree in

She then became an assistant principal at Clayton Industrial School in Manor, Texas, before accepting a more long-term position at Anderson High School. Throughout her time at Anderson, she taught English and coached for the Interscholastic League, an organization that sponsored events for Black high school students throughout the state. She began working on her master’s while she was still teaching. The state of Texas however did not award graduate degrees to African-Americans at the time, so Prosser enrolled in the University of Colorado to obtain her master’s degree in education, where she also took psychology courses. (although Colorado had only awarded its first degree to an african american women in 1924). Without a bachelor's degree she was required to take undergraduate courses during the summers. August of 1927 Inez received her master of arts degree in

Prosser arrived at the University of Cincinnati as a candidate for a PhD in educational psychology in 1931. She arrived at a time when there was a research program that "focused on African Americans in different school environments". The general consensus in the department at this time was that "all-black schools with black teachers could best provide the skills black students needed to survive in a society where most faced limited opportunities…segregated schools, by insulating black students from white abuse, were crucial to the formation of black identity and could become unifying community centers. Prosser’s dissertation, The Non-Academic Development of Negro Children in Mixed and Segregated Schools, became an important text for issues relating to education, reform, social development, racial identity, and other prominent topics related to segregation. It was a "companion study" to Mary Crowley’s 1931 dissertation, "A Comparison of the Academic Achievement of Cincinnati Negroes in Segregated and Mixed Schools" Prosser’s interest in the topic "Grew out of a desire to determine objectively, so far as possible, the degree of truth in the often repeated statement that the Negro child develops superior character traits, more racial self-respect, and a greater concomitants of a well-rounded education when he is placed