LeMoyne-Owen College (LOC) grieves the loss of Dr. Gloria Wade-Gayles, civil rights activist and nationally renowned literary critic, poet, and educator. Dr. Wade-Gayles was 88 years old.
“Dr. Gloria Wade-Gayles was a powerful trailblazer and leader, whose dedication to social justice and academia is deeply instilled in our history,” said Dr. Christopher B. Davis, President of LeMoyne-Owen College. “The LeMoyne-Owen College community extends our prayers to the family and loved ones of Dr. Wade-Gayles.”
Dr. Gloria-Wade Gayles
Dr. Wade-Gayles, born in Memphis, left a longstanding impact across historically Black colleges and universities and our country. Dr. Wade-Gayles studied at LeMoyne-Owen College with a full scholarship, was crowned as Miss. LeMoyne in 1958, and later earned her bachelor’s degree in English with cum laude in 1959. She earned a master’s degree in American Literature from Boston University in 1962 and a doctorate in American Studies from Emory University in 1981.
During the Civil Rights Movement, she planned demonstrations, wrote pamphlets, registered voters, and participated in Freedom Summer as a teacher. Her teaching also impacted numerous students at Bennett College, Talladega College, Dillard University, and Howard University. Most notably, Dr. Wade-Gayles served as a professor in African American Literature at Spelman College for more than four decades. She was also named Eminent Scholar’s Chair in Independent Scholarship and Service Learning at Spelman in 2000.
“I have chosen to remain at historically Black colleges, and that has meant that I’m outside the mainstream,” said Dr. Wade-Gayles. “As a critic, as a writer, as anything, you don’t get the kind of recognition working in a Black school that you would get working in a white school, even if that white school does not begin to compare in quality with the Black school.”
Among many publications and six books, her prominent work includes “No Crystal Stair: Visions of Race and Sex in Black Women’s Fiction” (1984), “Anointed to Fly” (1991), and “Pushed Back to Strength: A Black Woman’s Journey Home” (1993).
The LeMoyne-Owen College community remembers Dr. Wade-Gayles and her profound influence that will continue to touch generations for years to come.