Dr. Georgiana Simpson
Georgiana Rose Simpson is the first American woman of African descent to receive the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in German at the University of Chicago on June 14, 1921. She was one of three Black women to earn doctorates in June 1921 and by one day is technically the first to receive a PHD in the United States. Simpson was born in Washington, D.C., on March 31, 1865, eldest daughter of David and Catherine Simpson. Georgiana attended D. C. public schools.
She began teaching at about age 20, at Minor Normal Elementary School in Washington, D.C and became interested in German language and culture teaching German immigrant children. In 1907, Georgiana Rose Simpson left Washington, D.C., to pursue a bachelor’s degree at the University of Chicago. A 41-year-old high school teacher, she enrolled with the goal of furthering her interests in German language and literature, as well as French. She also took courses in Latin, Greek and mathematics. She elected to live in Green Hall, then a women’s dormitory, which sparked protest from several Southern white women who lived there. They asked Sophonisba Breckinridge, the renowned social reformer and then-secretary to Marion Talbot, who held the position of “dean of women,” to force Simpson out. Breckinridge, decided Simpson should be allowed to stay, prompting five white women to leave the residence hall. However, then-president Harry Pratt Judson overruled Breckinridge, and forced Simpson to find housing off-campus.
Despite such challenges, Simpson remained a student, earning her bachelor’s degree primarily through summer and correspondence courses. She completed her master's degree with her thesis, The Phonology of Merigarto which examined an early Middle High German poem. Simpson was also teaching at Dunbar High School (Washington, D.C.) during her post-graduate years. At age 55, she completed her dissertation written under noted German scholar Martin Schütze, Herder's Conception of "Das Volk, and received her PhD in German on June 14, 1921.
Despite her achievements, Simpson was barred from employment at many institutions. Following her graduate studies, she returned to Washington, where she taught at Dunbar High School before becoming a professor at Howard University. Though she remained interested in German studies, she also contributed scholarship on Black subjects: In 1924, she published a critical edition and translation from French of a biography of Toussaint Louverture, the leader of the Haitian slave rebellion.
Simpson retired in 1939 and died on Jan. 27, 1944. Over the course of her life, she befriended abolitionist Frederick Douglass and his second wife, whom she lived with after Douglass’ death in 1895; worked alongside early Black feminist Anna J. Cooper; and corresponded with civil rights activist and editor W. E. B. Du Bois, among other leading Black intellectuals of the day.
Here story inspired two then University of Chicago students Asya Akça and Shae Omonijo, to organize the Monumental Women Project with the goal of installing a bust of Simpson on the university’s campus to commemorate her accomplishments and to honor of her memory. African American sculptor Preston Jackson professor emeritus of the Art Institute of Chicago was commissioned to create the bronze bust. The bust was made possible by the financial support of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. ®, Theta Omega Chapter; UChicago Arts Student Creativity Grant; Office of the Provost; Reynolds Club Endowment Fund; and Student Government. Simpson’s bust was placed in the Reynolds Club, once open to only white men, at the university and ironically placed directly across from a relief that honors President Judson, who barred her from living on campus. Simpson’s legacy has not been forgotten. The Georgianna Rose organization was founded in 2020 by then students Marla Anderson and Dayo Adeoye to honor Simpson and help foster the advancement of Black women at the Chicago.
Simpson’s legacy has not been forgotten. The Georgianna Rose organization was founded in 2020 by then students Marla Anderson and Dayo Adeoye to honor Simpson and help foster the advancement of Black women attending the University of Chicago and throughout the Chicagoland area. Dr. Simpson’s Legacy’s is permanently engraved into the African-American Ladies’ Legacy website where she is dubbed as a Pioneering African American Foremother of First Distinction. She is featured on the Juneteenth Greek Foremothers’ Tee Shirt, and she is also featured with Pioneering African American with an Illinois Connection Tee Shirt as well. The portrait of Dr.
Georgiana Simpson will be permanently showcased in the Illinois Black Hall of Fame as a Black Women of First Distinction. Dr. Georgiana Simpson, First Black Women to receive a PhD in German from the University of Chicago in 1921. The Terminal Degree Sorors of Lambda Tau Omega Chapter, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. salutes this giant and the legacy she left for a myriad of Sorors to emulate and follow.
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