Alice Freeman Palmer

Alice Freeman Palmer (actually Alice Elvira Freeman, born February 21, 1855 in Colesville, New York, † December 6, 1902 in Paris) was an American educator and founder of the American Association of University Women ( AAUW ).

Life

Alice Freeman was the daughter of a country Arzt's and grew up in Windsor, New York, on. 1872 she studied at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and later taught at the girls' boarding school in Wisconsin. In 1879, Freeman came to the prestigious Wellesley College, where she paused a professor of history. After the death of the founder, Henry Fowle Durant, Alice Freeman became the first female president of the university (1882). During this time she met her future husband and a professor at Harvard University, George Herbert Palmer (1842-1933), and married him 1887. Alice Freeman Palmer fought for better education for girls and young women in the United States and founded the American Association of University Women. In 1892 she was appointed as the first female dean at the University of Chicago, Chicago. Alice Freeman Palmer died unexpectedly on a study trip to Paris at the age of 47 years.

Honors

• On the grounds of Wellesley College is a monument to Alice Freeman Palmer, the sculptor Daniel Chester French was.
• During the Second World War, a Liberty cargo ship was named in honor of Alice Freeman Palmer to the name SS Alice F. Palmer.
• She was also honored by induction into the Hall of Fame for Great Americans.