Mary Antoinette Brown-Sherman

Mary Antoinette Brown-Sherman (born October 27, 1926 in Liberia , † June 3, 2004 in Houston , Texas ) was a Liberian educator and Africa's first university president.

Life

Mary Antoinette Brown-Sherman was born in Liberia in 1926. After attending school, she studied pedagogy at the University of Liberia from 1943. She worked in various capacities at the University of Liberia , was Chair of the Teachers College and Vice-President for Academic Affairs. One focus was the development of the boarding school in Fendall, it served as the "University Primary School". She also founded the Monrovia School of Agriculture and Forestry . In the early 1980s, the University of Liberia hosted the first West African Rectors' Conference.

From 1978 to 1984 Brown-Sherman was the first female university president in Africa and, after the military coup of Samuel K. Doe, fought courageously against the attacks by the putschists on the university. Her impeachment took place on August 22, 1984; This was preceded by an ultimatum by the military junta to hand over students and lecturers - including the dean of social sciences Amos Sawyer - which Brown-Sherman bravely refused to do. After her release she left Liberia immediately and emigrated to the USA. In the United States she supported the Liberian exiles.

Web links

• Obituary / Biography (English)

literature

• Daniel Elwood Dunn: Mary Antoinette Brown-Sherman (1926-2004) . In: Liberian studies Association (Ed.): Liberian studies journal . tape 30/1 . Kalamazoo, Mich., 2005, ISSN  0024-1989 , pp. 115 .
• Mary Antoinette Brown-Sherman: Barclay women in Liberia: two generations: a biographical dictionary . In: Liberian studies Association (Ed.): Liberian studies journal . tape 30/1 , 2005, ISSN  0024-1989 .
• Mary Antoinette Brown-Sherman: The University in Modern Africa. Toward the Twenty-First Century . In: The Ohio State University (Ed.): Journal of Higher Education . tape 61 , 1990, ISSN  0022-1546 , pp. 363-385 .
• Mary Antoinette Brown-Sherman: Building consensus for higher education reform in Africa: some reflections . Ed .: World Bank. Africa Technical Department of the World Bank, New York 1993, p. 34 .