User:Eventhisacronym/sandbox/Marie Davis Gadsden

Marie Davis Gadsden (1919-2012) was an educator and philanthropic administrator, and was the first black woman to chair the board of Oxfam America.

Early life and education
Gadsden grew up in Georgia during segregation. Her parents were a physician and a teacher. She earned a degree in biological sciences from Savannah State University in 1938, her master's in English language and communication from Clark Atlanta University in 1945, and her doctorate in English from the University of Wisconsin in 1954. She financed her education through scholarships. After earning her doctorate, Gadsden received a Fulbright scholarship to study at St. Anne's College at the University of Oxford.

In the 1960s, Gadsden was credited with helping start the Afro-American studies program at the University of Wisconsin.

Career
Gadsden was an associate professor of xxx at American University. She also taught at Howard University.

In 1959, Gadsden traveled to Guinea to train teachers as part of a program sponsored by the U.S. Information Agency. She later taught English with the Peace Corps, directing training centers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and serving as a training coordinator for the African region. She was appointed country director in Togo in 1970.

Gadsden served as vice president and director of the Washington Bureau of the Phelps Stokes Fund from 1972 to 1984. Working in Washington, DC, Gadsden coordinated programs to educate black refugees in Rhodesia and other African nations. For the latter half of the 1980s, Gadsden did similar work as deputy director of the National Association of Equal Opportunity in Higher Education.

Gadsden was recruited to the board of Oxfam America in the 1980s by Executive Director Joe Short for her expertise in education issues in Africa and Central America and familiarity with DC policy circles. She served as chair of the board in the late 1980s.

Personal life
Gadsden was married to Robert W. Gadsden, Jr, a Defense Department cartographer, for 39 years until his death in 1993. Gadsden died of complications of Alzheimer's disease.