Hilda Veronica Grayson Finney (November 29, 1913 – June 1, 1976) was an American educator. She was a field representative for the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in the 1940s. She was founder and director of the Center for Extended American History, a Los Angeles archive for materials concerning Black History Week.
Early life and education
Grayson was born in Estill, South Carolina, the daughter of Edgar Grayson.[1] She graduated from Morris Brown College in Atlanta.[2]
Career
Grayson was a teacher in Allendale, South Carolina.[3] In 1939, she was forbidden to teach Black history lessons to her students. Later, she succeeded in getting thirteen books on Black history added to the state's approved list for school use.[4] Based on this success,[4] Carter G. Woodson hired her as field representative at the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1942.[5][6][7] Her work included traveling through the eastern United States, holding workshops on teaching Black history,[8] advising on historical preservation, and recommending reading and curriculum materials.[9][10] She was also secretary of the Bethune-Cookman College Fund,[2] and a leader in the Palmetto State Teachers Association.[11][12] She was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha.[13]
After she moved to Los Angeles around 1960, she opened her extensive collections as the Center for Extended American History,[14] in her home on Crenshaw Boulevard, to support educators and researchers interested in Black history.[4] She was involved in activities of the Congress of Afrikan People in southern California.[15] In her last years, she taught weekly Black history courses at the men's prison in Chino.[4]
Personal life
Grayson married fellow educator Ernest Adolphus Finney in 1943. At her wedding, she wore a strand of pearls given to her by Mary McLeod Bethune.[2] They had sons Earl[16] and Ronald. Ronald Finney was later known as journalist Yemi Touré.[17] Her stepson Ernest A. Finney Jr. became a judge and state legislator. She died from cancer in 1976, at the age of 62, in Los Angeles.[18]
References
- ^ "Obituary for Edgar Grayson". The State. 1971-08-17. p. 13. Retrieved 2025-02-21 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c "Miss Hilda Grayson Becomes Bride of Ernest A. Finney". Washington Afro American. 1944-02-05. p. 9. Retrieved 2025-02-21 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Courageous Dixie School Teacher Tells Her Students of 'Aframerican Valiants'". New Pittsburgh Courier. 1938-05-07. p. 12. Retrieved 2025-02-21 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d Williford, Stanley (1971-02-28). "Center Keeps Black History Before Public". The Los Angeles Times. pp. 66, 67, 68. Retrieved 2025-02-21 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Hilda Grayson Drums Up Interest in National Negro History Observance". The New York Age. 1942-01-24. p. 4. Retrieved 2025-02-21 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Givens, Jarvis R. (2021-04-13). Fugitive Pedagogy: Carter G. Woodson and the Art of Black Teaching. Harvard University Press. p. 192. ISBN 978-0-674-25909-6.
- ^ Dagbovie, Pero Gaglo (January 2003). "Black Women, Carter G. Woodson, and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1915-1950". The Journal of African American History. 88 (1): 21–41. doi:10.2307/3559046. ISSN 1548-1867.
- ^ "Youth Speak to Youth". The Weekly Review. 1942-04-24. p. 5. Retrieved 2025-02-21 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Hilda V. Grayson in the Field". Negro History Bulletin. 5 (7): 154–167. 1942. ISSN 0028-2529.
- ^ "Negro History". New Pittsburgh Courier. 1941-12-27. p. 18. Retrieved 2025-02-21 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Mrs. Finney Will be the Speaker at NAACP Meet". The Item. 1951-02-24. p. 7. Retrieved 2025-02-21 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Alridge, Derrick P.; Hale, Jon N.; Loder-Jackson, Tondra L. (2023-04-20). Schooling the Movement: The Activism of Southern Black Educators from Reconstruction through the Civil Rights Era. Univ of South Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1-64336-376-9 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "New Sorors". New Pittsburgh Courier. 1947-07-12. p. 8. Retrieved 2025-02-21 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Harris, Janette H. (1974). A Directory of Black Historians. Department of History, Howard University.
- ^ "Black Conference". Third World Forum. June 1, 1971. p. 4 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ "Obituary for Earl Finney". The State. 1989-05-10. p. 30. Retrieved 2025-02-21 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "In Memoriam: Yemi Touré" The Journal of Pan African Studies 6(7)(February 2014).
- ^ "Obituary for Hilda Grayson Finney". The Columbia Record. 1976-06-02. p. 49. Retrieved 2025-02-21 – via Newspapers.com.