Ethel Hedgeman Lyle
Encyclopedia : E : ET : ETH : Ethel Hedgeman Lyle
Ethel Hedgeman Lyle, (b. Ethel Hedgeman 1885 in St, Louis, Missouri, d. November 28, 1950).
Ethel Hedgeman Lyle was born in 1885 in St, Louis, Missouri. Her father, Albert Hedgeman, worked for the YMCA and her mother, Maria Hubbard Hedgeman, cared for Ethel and her two sisters, Iota and Thelma. Ethel Hedgeman attended public schools in St. Louis and graduated with honors from Sumner High School in 1904 with a scholarship to Howard University.
Lyle enrolled at Howard University in 1904, but had to withdraw for one term after her second year because of illness. She was a member of the university choir, YWCA, and Christian Endeavor. She was also an active member of student dramatic productions. College associates have described her as a lively, charming, bubbling young woman, full of life and laughter, although somewhat delicate in health.
In 1908, while a coed at Howard, she founded Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (AKA), America's first Greek-letter organization established by Black college women. Lyle was inspired by her then high school and college sweetheart George Lyle, who founded the Beta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity at Howard in 1907. Ethel and George were the president of their respective organizations during their senior year in 1908.
After graduating in 1909 with a B.A. in liberal arts, Ethel Hedgeman went to Enfala, Oklahoma. That summer she taught music in the Summer Normal School and continued to teach in the public school of Enfala until 1910. She was the first Black woman college graduate to teach in a normal school in Oklahoma and the first to receive a Teacher's Life Certificate from the Oklahoma State Department of Education. During the school year 1910-1911 she taught in the public schools of Centralia, Illinois.
Ethel married George Lyle on June 21, 1911 and they settled in Philadelphia where their only child, George, Jr., was born.
Mrs. Lyle resumed her career in Philadelphia in 1922 teaching English at the Thomas Purham School and then at the Arthur School, from which she retired in 1948. Her husband was also a teacher and later became the principal of the Walter George Smith School.
Mrs. Lyle was active in church and civic affairs in Philadelphia. She was founder of the Mother's Club of the City, charter member of the West Philadelphia League of Women Voters, and a member of the Republican Women's Committee of Ward 40. In 1937, she was appointed chairman of the Mayor's Committee of One Hundred Women, organized to assist in planning for the sesquicentennial anniversary of the adoption of the constitution. Mrs. Lyle was an avid reader. She loved to do crossword puzzles and enjoyed playing bridge.
AKA established the Ethel Hedgeman Lyle Endowment Fund to perpetuate the name of the charming and gracious woman who founded the sorority.
References
- [Ethel Hedgeman Lyle]
- [The Ties that Bind]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.