Chapter 5: Jim Crow’s Stowe Teachers College’s President Ruth Harris: Harbinger for Future African American Academy Presidents

African American women have a history of being largely underrepresented in administrative positions in the academy. Even more invisible in historical archives is President Ruth M. Harris, the first African American Female President at St. Louis Public Schools’ (SLPS’) Stowe Teachers College (STC) from 1940 to the mid-1950s. She played a strategic role in teacher education and community development in St. Louis by advocating for teachers’ engagement in the communities where they worked. At the onset of her appointment, Harris used teachers’ community engagement as one of the vehicles for social justice and to vigorously pursue STC’s accreditation. Raised to be of service to her race, Harris mentored faculty to strengthen their skills in support of the development of the segregated college into one that could compete with all colleges and universities nationwide. This educational biographical narrative is an examination of Harris’ use of mentoring to develop STC’s faculty in support of children and their families as well as pursuit of accreditation from the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools (NCACSS) (Harris, 1967).