User:Iwishmycatcouldtalk/Lilian Lewis

Lilian Burwell Lewis, (1904 - 1987) was an American zoologist known for being the first African-American woman to receive a doctorate degree from the University of Chicago and for her research in gonadogenesis.

Early life and education
Dr. Lewis was born Lilian Leonora Burwell in Meridian, Mississippi on August 13, 1904 as the ninth of thirteen children. She earned a High school diploma from Tougaloo College in 1919 before attending Howard University, where she studied under Ernest Everett Just and graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology in 1925. Lewis would then follow in the footsteps of another one of Just's students, Roger Arliner Young, to study with Frank Rattray Lillie at the University of Chicago.

The recipient of a General Education Board fellowship, Lewis earned her Master's degree from the University of Chicago in 1931, studying in Chicago during the summers and teaching biology at Tillotson College during the school year.

Though her Ph.D. studies were delayed for several reasons - including the financial burden of attending university and the obligation to continue providing for her aging parents, - she completed a doctoral degree in endocrinology in 1946.

Teaching
Lewis held several teaching appointments throughout her career. She began with short stints as an assistant/associate professor at the State Agriculture and Mechanics College of South Carolina (1926-1929) and Morgan College (1929-1931); both before she began graduate studies. From 1931-1947, Lewis taught at Tillotson College to finance her doctoral studies, despite earning two Rosenwald Fellowships from the University of Chicago. After earning her doctorate, Lewis spent the remainder of her career as a full professor at Winston-Salem Teacher's College. She retired in 1970. Her research explored gonadogenesis in ducks, cellular differentiation, embryology, and sex hormones.

Public Office
In 1960 Lewis ran for public office in Winston-Salem and was elected to the Forsyth County school board on November 8th, 1960. As the fist Black member of the school board, Lewis was an advocate for the desegregation of schools. Despite Brown v. Board of Education finding school segregation unconstitutional six years earlier, many schools throughout the country were still de facto segregated. Lewis also campaigned for the fair treatment of low-income children of all ethnicities. Dr. Lewis was re-elected in 1962 and would continue to be re-elected until her retirement from the school board in 1970, despite a Republican board majority in 1968.

Published Works

 * Lewis, Lillian B. “A Study of Some Effects of Sex Hormones upon the Embryonic Reproductive System of the White Pekin Duck.” Physiological Zoology, vol. 19, no. 3, July 1946, pp. 282–329. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1086/physzool.19.3.30151914.
 * Lewis, Lillian B., and L. V. Domm. “A Sexual Transformation of the Osseus Bulla in Duck Embryos Following Administration of Estrogen.” Physiological Zoology, vol. 21, no. 1, Jan. 1948, pp. 65–69. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1086/physzool.21.1.30151982

Personal Life
At Howard University, Lewis was a member of the Freshman Debate Team in 1922, the Corresponding Secretary of the Alpha Kappa Mu scholarship society and a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. While studying at the University of Chicago, she was a member of the honor societies Sigma Xi and Sigma Delta Epsilon.

Lewis married Winston-Salem native John F. Lewis in 1934. The two raised at least one child together.

Her 1925 Howard University yearbook quote was: "A winner never quits and a quitter never wins."

Lewis Award:

1980: Ms. Annette Hansley

1981: Mrs. Vivian Ellis Couch

1983: Ms. Sheila Haynes

https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn85042324/1977-01-01/ed-1/seq-2/#words=Lewis+Lillian NAACP?