Helen Magill White
Encyclopedia
Helen Magill White was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in the United States.

Raised in a Quaker family, White always believed that she was deserving of the same education as a man. In 1859, the family moved to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, where Helen signed up as the only female student in the Boston Public Latin School
Boston Latin School
The Boston Latin School is a public exam school founded on April 23, 1635, in Boston, Massachusetts. It is both the first public school and oldest existing school in the United States....

, where her father taught French and Latin for three years, then became submaster.
She attended Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....

–her father, Edward Hicks Magill, having joined its faculty in 1869 and having begun in 1871 his 17-year tenure as its second president. She graduated as a member of the Class of 1873, Swarthmore's first graduating class (five women and one man).

She thereafter studied at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...

, where she earned her Ph.D in Greek in 1877–thereby becoming the first woman to earn the Ph.D. in the United States.
After that, up until 1881, she studied in England at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

, placing third in her tripos (honors examinations) at Newnham College.

After being the principal for a year at a private school in Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States, west-southwest of Altoona, Pennsylvania and east of Pittsburgh. The population was 20,978 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Cambria County...

, she was selected in 1883 to organize Howard Collegiate Institute, in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts
West Bridgewater, Massachusetts
West Bridgewater is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,634 at the 2000 census.- History :West Bridgewater was first settled in 1651 as a part of Olde Bridgewater...

. She was the director of Howard until 1887, when she resigned. She taught for a short amount of time at Evelyn College, a women's annex to Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

. She then suffered an illness for the next few years, while she taught at a high school.

Helen met Andrew D. White
Andrew Dickson White
Andrew Dickson White was a U.S. diplomat, historian, and educator, who was the co-founder of Cornell University.-Family and personal life:...

, the retired president of Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

, while presenting a paper at the American Social Science Association
American Social Science Association
In 1865, at Boston, Massachusetts, a society for the study of social questions was organized and given the name American Social Science Association. The group grew to where its membership totaled about 1,000 persons. About 30 corresponding members were located in Europe...

 in 1887, and married him in September 1890. White was also a college classmate of Magill's father, Edward Hicks Magill. Helen accompanied her husband to his diplomatic posts in St. Petersburg (1892-94) and Berlin (1897-1903). She didn’t participate in public or educational affairs after that, except to oppose women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...

publicly in 1913. After White died in 1918, she lived abroad and in Ithaca, New York; she retired to Kittery Point, Maine, where she died in 1944.
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