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Biography · Scholarship

Otelia Cromwell

1874–1972

United States

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Biography

Otelia Cromwell (April 8, 1874 – April 25, 1972) was a distinguished scholar and Professor of English Language and Literature at Miner Teachers College now known as University of the District of Columbia. She was the first African American to graduate from Smith College, receiving a B.A. in Classics in 1900. She later earned her M.A. at Columbia University in 1910 and a Ph.D. in English at Yale University in 1926, becoming the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate degree there.

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Biography text · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source checked 2026-10-13

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