"Eva Beatrice Dykes"(1893-1986)

In 1921 she became the first black woman to in the United States to complete the required coursework for a P.h.D.and the third African American woman to receive a doctoral degree.Two other black women,Sadie Tannier Mossell Alexander and Georgiana Simpson,received their P.h.D.s,in the same year as Eva but because their respective commencement ceremonies took place earlier,she is considered the third woman to receive the advance degree.Eva Dyke's was born in Washington,D.C. and attended M Street High School was was later renamed Paul Dunbar High School.In 1914,twenty-one year old Eva graduated Summa Cun L Laude from Howard University with a B.A. in English.After spending one year teaching at Walden University in Nashville,Tennessee,she decided to seek a Master's degree at Radcliffe College,an all women's college which is now a part of Harvard University.Radcliffe,however would not accept her degree from Howard,forcing her to earn a second B.A. in English from the Massachusetts institution in 1917.She graduated Magna Cum Laude,and the following year earned an  M.A. from Radcliffe.While at Radcliffe Eva was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.She returned to Howard University in 1917.She graduated Magna Cun Laude,and the following year earned an M.A. from Radcliffe's.While at Radcliffe Eva was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.She returned to Howard University in 1917 to complete her doctoral studies,earning the PH.D. in 1921.Her dissertation focused on Alexander Pope's views on slavery and his influence on American writers.In 1920,while studying at Howard,she began teaching at her high school school almamater,Dunbar  High School,and remained there until 1929,when she accepted a position teaching English at Howard University.Eva remained on the Howard faculty until 1944.While there she published a number of scholarly works including The Negro in English Romantic Thorough which reflected her growing interest in examining black history and literature in England.A member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church since 1920,Eva left Howard University in 1944 to begin teaching at the Seventh-day Adventist institution for African-Americans,Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama.While a faculty member there,she helped the school to gain accreditation.She retired from full-time teaching in 1968.For 50 years,from 1934 to 1984,she wrote a regular column for the Adventist publication Message Magazine.The library at Oakwood College is name in her honor.Eva died in Huntsville at the age of ninety-three.