Phyllis Ann Wallace

Phyllis A. Wallace (1921–1993) was a distinguished African American economist and activist, as well as the first woman to receive doctorate of economics at Yale University.[1] Her work tended to focus on racial, as well as gender discrimination in the workplace.[1]

Phyllis Ann Wallace
Born(1921-06-09)June 9, 1921
Calvert County, Maryland[2]
DiedJanuary 10, 1993(1993-01-10) (aged 71)
Boston, Massachusetts[2]
Institutions
  • City College of New York
  • National Bureau of Economic Research
  • Atlanta University (1953-57)
  • Central Intelligence Agency
  • Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (1965-69)
  • Metropolitan Applied Research Center (1969-72)
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1972-86)
Alma mater
AwardsNational Economic Association's Westerfield Award (1981)

Early life

Phyllis was born Annie Rebecca Wallace in Calvert County, Maryland, on June 9, 1921 to John Wallace, a craftsman, and Stevella Wallace.[2][3][4] She attended a well ranked yet segregated high school, Frederick Douglass High School, graduating in 1939.[4]

Despite ranking first in her high school class, state law at that time would not allow her to attend the all-white University of Maryland.[4] She attended New York University, receiving a bachelor's degree in economics in 1943, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.[2][4]

She later attended Yale University, earning a master's degree in 1944 and a PhD in 1948.[2] A mix of encouragement from her Yale economist professor and work at a federal-defense agency made her decide to pursue a career in international economics.[3]

Career

Her work began studying economic growth in the Soviet Union, but later transferred to a focus in workplace economics, joining the senior staff of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 1965.[3][5] She became a voice for anti-discrimination in the workplace, and was an important part of the anti-workplace-discrimination contingencies of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.[1] Her work shifted again towards economic issues with urban minority youth when she began working for Metropolitan Applied Research Center (MARC).[1]

Wallace joined the faculty of MIT in 1972 as a visiting professor, and was tenured as full professor in 1974, in the Sloan School.[6] Her appointment made her the first woman to gain tenure at Sloan.[7] Dr. Wallace retired from active teaching in 1986.[7]

Achievements

Phyllis A. Wallace was the first African American and the first female president of the Industrial Relations Research Association.[6] She also garnered several awards for her accomplishments, including National Economic Association's Westerfield Award in 1981,[5] and awards from several universities, including Yale (1980) and Brown (1986).[3]

Bibliography

Books by Wallace include:

  • Pathways to work: Unemployment among black teenage females (1974). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books
  • Equal Employment Opportunity and the AT & T Case (1976). Cambridge, Mass: M.I.T. Press
  • Women, minorities and employment discrimination (1977) Lexington, MA: Lexington Books
  • Phyllis Ann Wallace; Linda Datcher; Julianne Malveaux (1982) [1980]. Black Women in the Labor Force. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-73063-1.
  • editor, Women in the workplace (1982) Boston, MA: Auburn House
  • MBAs on the fast track (1989) New York: Harper and Row

References
  1. Wayne, Tiffany (2011). American Woman of Science Since 1900. ABC CLIO, LLC. p. 111. ISBN 978-1-59884-158-9.
  2. Malveaux, Julianne (2004). "Wallace, Phyllis Ann. June 9, 1921-January 10, 1993". In Ware, Susan; Braukman, Stacy Lorraine (eds.). Notable American Women: Completing the Twentieth Century. Harvard University Press.
  3. Cicarelli, James; Cicarelli, Julianne (2003). Distinguished Women Economists. United States: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 206–208. ISBN 978-0-313-30331-9.
  4. Notable Black American women. Smith, Jessie Carney, 1930-, Phelps, Shirelle. Detroit: Gale Research. ©1992-©2003. ISBN 0-8103-4749-0. OCLC 24468213. Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. Malveaux, Julianne (January 4, 2002). A Different Vision: Volume 1. 29 West 35th Street New York NY 10001: Thomas D Boston. pp. 129–135. ISBN 9781134798605.CS1 maint: location (link)
  6. Malveaux, Julianne (1994). "Tilting against the wind: Reflections on the life and work of Phyllis Ann Wallace". The American Economic Review. 84 (2): 93–97. JSTOR 2117809.
  7. Daniels, Lee A. (January 13, 1993). "Phyllis Wallace, 69, A labor economist in A.T.&T. lawsuit (obituary)". The New York Times.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.