Remarkable Evolution Piece of the Way Negro Flourished

Thelma Berlack Boozer 1906-2001

Thelma Berlack Boozer was the first black person to hold professional rank in a School of Journalism at a US university. The School of Journalism at Lincoln University in Missouri appointed her associate professor and acting director in 1942. She held these posts until 1944.

Thelma Edna Berlack was born on September 26, 1906 in Ocala, Florida, the daughter of Leonard Berlack and Sallie Smith Berlack Barnes. In 1920, she moved to New York City and attended Theodore Roosevelt High School in the Bronx, from which institution she graduated in 1924, as valedictorian of her class. Afterward she attended the New York University were she graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in commercial science in 1928 and a master’s degree in journalism in 1932. Her thesis was “The Evolution of Negro Journalism in the United States.”  While at college she was a member of Delta Mu Delta, an honorary business fraternity. She also was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Later, Boozer served as director of the North Atlantic Region of AKA from 1930 to 1934.

She married James Cunningham Boozer June 28, 1930 in New York City, son of James C. Boozer and Annie Dawkins. They had two children, Barbara Joanne and Thelma Berlack. He died in 1988.

She worked with Pittsburgh Courier as a staff writer and society reporter and as the managing editor for The Amsterdam News newspaper. She was also acting Dean of Journalism at Lincoln University from 1942 to 1944. Then she worked for the New York Age as assistant managing editor. She became the chief of the New York City office of Civil Defense, Director of Public Relations at Harlem Hospital, and director of the greater New York Alumni Division of the United Negro College Fund.

Her accomplishments were the subject of many newspaper articles and her biography was included in the 1942 book Who’s Who of the Colored Race Bibliography.

She died in 2001, aged 94 years, in New York. Ocala produces Greatness.

Arthur Saint George Richardson 1863-1955

Arthur St. George Richardson was the first Black to attend and graduate from the University of New Brunswick in 1886.

Arthur St. George Richardson was born on July 5, 1863 in St. George’s, Bermuda, the son of Samuel Painter and Mary Elizabeth (Algate) Richardson. He attended the public schools in St. George’s. At the age of 15 he was sent by his parents to St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, to complete his education. Arthur graduated with honors from Saint John High School in 1883. He enrolled at University of New Brunswick, from which he  graduated in 1886 with the degree of bachelor of arts. He was the the first black to attend and graduate from the University. Immediately after graduation he accepted a teaching job at Wilberforce Educational Institute in Chatham, Ontario. He was later named president of the school. A year later he became president of Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia. This position he accepted and filled for ten years. In 1898 he was president of Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, Florida. He served in this position from 1898 to 1902, however other other records indicate he may have been president as late as 1908.

Arthur married Sarah Agnes Johnson on July 19, 1893 in Chatham, Kent, Ontario, Canada. They were the parents of two children, Arthur and Robert. She died in 1956.

In 1902, he entered service as teller at the banking firm of Sylvanus H. Hart and Sons of Jacksonville, and remained in that position until 1905. For a time, in Jacksonville, he served as Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue before moving to the Metropolitan Savings Bank in Ocala as assistant cashier. He served the bank until 1923. He returned back to Jacksonville to accept the position of assistant secretary for the Afro-American Life Insurance Company.

His accomplishments were the subject of many newspaper articles and his biography was included in the 1915 book Who’s Who of the Colored Race Bibliography.

Richard died in June 1955 and was buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Jacksonville.

Black history is American history.

 

Photo Caption. Thelma Berlack Boozer

Credit: Photo courtesy of Lincoln University Picture Collection, Inman E. Page Library, Jefferson City, MO.

Photo Caption. Arthur St George Richardson. 

Credit: Photo courtesy of UNB Libraries, Archives & Special Collections.