Fayette Avery McKenzie | |
---|---|
Born | Montrose, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, United States | July 31, 1872
Died | September 1, 1957 Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, United States | (aged 85)
Education | Lehigh University, University of Pennsylvania |
Occupation(s) | Educator, university president, advocate for Native Americans |
Years active | 1895–1957 |
Known for | President of Fisk University (1915–1925), founder of the Society of American Indians |
Notable work | The American Indian in Relation to the White Population of the United States |
Spouse | Nettie Evalyn Tressel McKenzie |
Fayette Avery McKenzie (July 31, 1872–September 1, 1957) was an American educator and president of Fisk University from 1915 to 1925.[1] He received his doctorate degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1908. His dissertation, The American Indian in Relation to the White Population of the United States was published. He taught and studied Native Americans and was one of the founders of the Society of American Indians.
Early life and education
Fayette Avery McKenzie was born in Montrose, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania on July 31, 1872 to Gertrude (Avery), daughter of Charles Avery, and Edwin McKenzie, son of Benajah McKenzie. Edwin McKenzie was a merchant. He lived in Montrose and attended public schools there until his senior year of high school. The family moved to South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and he graduated from high school there.[2]
McKenzie enrolled in Lehigh University in 1891. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania during the summer of 1894. He graduated from Lehigh in 1895 with a Bachelors degree; he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. From 1900 to 1903, he attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied economics, history, and sociology. He earned a PhD from University of Pennsylvania in 1908. His dissertation, The American Indian in Relation to the White Population of the United States was published.[2]
Career
Educator
For the first two years after attaining his degree, he tutored families of railroad employees of the Lehigh Valley Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1897, he taught economics, history, English, and German and French languages at Juniata College.[2]
While taking college courses from 1900 to 1903, he was hired by the Blight School for Boys in 1900 to teach mathematics and modern languages.[2] He moved to Columbus, Ohio by 1905 when he was a professor at Ohio State University. He taught sociology and economics through 1914.[2]
He went to France in 1914 and studied and traveled with Professor Compte, who spent the summers in the French countryside with his family.[2]
For ten years, from 1915 to 1925, he was the president of Fisk University. Under his leadership, the school received recognition as a standard college. It was the first African American school to do so in the United States. The college was put on the Carnegie Pension Plan. He raised a million dollar endowment fund for the school.[2]
He returned to Juniata College in 1927 to teach sociology and function as the dean of men for two years. He started the Altoona Center as an Extension of the college in 1928. He retired in 1941.[2]
Direct efforts for Native Americans
Between 1900 and 1903, he taught at the boarding school on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming.[2] During a trip to France in 1914, World War I commenced. Upon returning to the United States, Fayette made a study of the education of Native Americans in the western United States. [2] In 1926 and 1927, after a year in France, he traveled to Washington, D.C. and a number of Indian reservations. He was hired by the Institute for Government Research to study problems of Native Americans.[2]
Society of American Indians
In 1910, he was a European-American co-founder and a leader of the Society of American Indians. He encouraged the growth of the organization to one that was one that was operated by Native Americans.[3]
We owe it, do we not, not only to the native people but also to ourselves to demonstrate an efficient friendship for the Indian. The greatness of nation and of self is measured in the ability to see beyond race lines.
— Fayette Avery McKenzie
Civic organizations
He was a member of a number of civic organizations throughout his career and retirement. He was a member of several civic organizations. In 1910, he worked on the census with Roland B. Dixon. For three years beginning in 1912 he served the State Conference of Charities and Correction as chairman of Universities and Social Welfare section.[2] In 1931, he was the director for Huntingdon's Community Center Work. He served on the Pennsylvania Association for Adult Education's Executive Committee in 1935. The same year, he also helped establish a public library in Huntingdon.[2]
Personal life
McKenzie married Nettie Evalyn Tressel in April 1915. She was the daughter of Mary (Hawkins) Tressel and Rev. Emmanuel Greenwold Tressel, a Lutheran minister. He traveled to France in 1925 and stayed there for a year.[2] The McKenzies had two daughters.[1]
He died in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on September 1, 1957.[2] He was buried at the Riverview Cemetery in Huntingdon.[1]
His papers are held at the Tennessee State Library and Archives[2] and the Fisk University Library Special Collections, both of which are located in Nashville, Tennessee.[4]
References
- ^ a b c "Obituary for Fayette A. McKenzie". The Tennessean. September 5, 1957. p. 28. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Owsley, Harriet Chappel (November 1, 1960). "McKenzie, Fayette Avery Papers (1894 to 1957)" (PDF). Tennessee State Library and Archives. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ "An Urgent Mission". Carmen Collection, Ohio State University. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ "Fayette Avery McKenzie papers" (PDF). Nashville, Tennessee: Fisk University Library Special Collections. 1971. Retrieved 2021-12-01.