Edith Delaney Mitchell, Education In 1933, Edith Delaney Mitchell was the first black to receive a
teaching degree from The University of Akron. However, she was only hired to do student
teaching with the Akron Public Schools. From 1934 to 1942 she was a social worker for the
New Deal program of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. During World War II she worked at the
B.F. Goodrich Company building tank parts. Men replaced Mitchell and other women in the
industry after the war.
It wasn't until 1956, 23 years after receiving a teaching
degree, that Mitchell received her first teaching assignment with the Akron Public
Schools. She later taught at Howe, Schumacher, Bettes and Crouse Elementary schools. Edith
Delaney Mitchell retired in 1978
PHOTO: Courtesy of the University of Akron Archival
Services |
