Pauline Sims Puryear

Pauline J. Sims Puryear (June 6, 1900 – August 2, 1971) was an American social worker and clubwoman, the fourth international president of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, and Dean of Women at Florida A&M State College. (Her surnames are written with and without the hyphen in various sources.)

Pauline Sims Puryear
A young Black woman, dark hair dressed back with a center part, wearing pearls
Pauline Sims Puryear, from a 1926 magazine
Born
Pauline J. Sims

June 6, 1900
Savannah, Georgia
DiedAugust 2, 1971 (aged 71)
Tallahassee, Florida
Other namesPauline Sims Puryear
Occupation(s)Social worker, clubwoman, ordained minister
Notable workPresident of Alpha Kappa Alpha from 1925 to 1927

Early life

Pauline J. Sims was born in Savannah, Georgia,[1] the daughter of Felix R. Sims and Emma E. Griffin Sims.[2] Her brothers David, George, and Yancey[3] were all ordained ministers; one of them, David Henry Sims, was 55th bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church;[4] his wife Mayme Holden Sims was also a church and community leader.[5] Pauline Sims graduated from Howard University in 1918.[6][7]

Career

Puryear was the fourth international president of Alpha Kappa Alpha, serving from 1925 to 1927.[8][9] As president of Alpha Kappa Alpha, she corresponded with W. E. B. Du Bois.[10] She was a charter member of the sorority's first New Jersey chapter in 1934, along with Myra Smith Kearse.[11] She and Kearse were also founding members of the College Women's Club of Union County.[12]

In the 1940s and 1950s, Puryear was a social worker in Newark, New Jersey.[13] She was ordained as a minister in the AME Church.[14] She spoke at churches[15] and at national and regional church conferences.[16][17][18] She was an alternate delegate to the 1948 Republican National Convention from New Jersey.[19] In 1962, she was Dean of Women at Florida A&M State College.[20] In 1967, she was still active with Alpha Kappa Alpha, as head of the sorority's "Negro heritage project".[21] In 1970, she helped launch a "black culture reading library" at the Pearl Street YWCA in Nashville, Tennessee.[22]

Personal life

Pauline J. Sims married Rev. Thomas Langston Puryear Sr., who was president of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA).[23] They lived in Belleville, New Jersey and had sons Thomas and Paul. Rev. Paul Lionel Puryear became a professor at Tuskegee University and Dean of African American Affairs at the University of Virginia.[24] Her husband died in 1958;[23] she died in 1971, in Tallahassee, Florida.[14]

Her granddaughter Paula Puryear is a screenwriter.[25][26]

References
  1. Who's who in Colored America. Who's Who in Colored America Corporation. 1942. p. 423.
  2. "Mrs. Emma E. Sims". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1942-11-19. p. 22. Retrieved 2021-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Rev. Yancey Sims NH Minister Dead at 63". Record-Journal. 1962-01-11. p. 24. Retrieved 2021-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Bishop D. H. Sims, Stormy Prelate in AME Church Dies". The Huntsville Mirror. 1965-10-30. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. Miller, Bill (1989-12-19). "Mayme Holden Sims, Church and Civic Leader". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 64. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  6. "Former International Presidents". Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  7. "Seniors Debating Team Elected". Howard University Journal. 15: 3. November 23, 1917 – via Digital Howard.
  8. "The Horizon". The Crisis: 243. March 1926.
  9. "Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Annual Boule to be Held at Columbus, Ohio". California Eagle. 1926-12-10. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Letter from Pauline Sims-Puryear to W. E. B. Du Bois, May 27, 1925". W. E. B. DuBois Papers, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  11. "The "Mother Pearl" of New Jersey". Beta Alpha Omega. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  12. Washington, Ethel M. (2004). Union County Black Americans. Arcadia Publishing. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-7385-3683-5.
  13. "Will Hear Address by Social Worker". The Central New Jersey Home News. 1942-12-05. p. 7. Retrieved 2021-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. "Mrs. Pauline Puryear". Tallahassee Democrat. 1971-08-05. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Lincolin-Douglas Dinner in Mt. Zion AME Church". The Courier-News. 1942-02-13. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. "Churches to Worship at Mt. Zion A. M. E." The Central New Jersey Home News. 1941-02-08. p. 7. Retrieved 2021-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. "A. M. E. Bishop Recalls World Spiritual Need". The News Journal. 1940-09-26. p. 12. Retrieved 2021-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. Leach, Baxter (1941-08-09). "A.M.E. Religious Workers Hold Christian Workers Conference at Bordentown School". The New York Age. p. 12. Retrieved 2021-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. "3 N. J. Delegates Asks Firm Stand on Civil Rights". Courier-Post. 1948-06-21. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. "Rev. Y. L. Sims, Heart Victim". The Courier-News. 1962-01-13. p. 9. Retrieved 2021-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. Shelton, Elizabeth (1967-02-26). "Negro Role in History Researched by Sorority". The Courier-Journal. p. 30. Retrieved 2021-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. "YWCA News". The Tennessean. 1970-04-12. p. 88. Retrieved 2021-02-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. "Rev. T. L. Puryear, Former CIAA Prexy". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1958-10-11. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-01-31 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. Martin, Paula Puryear; McClain, Paula D.; Simpson, Andrea (October 2010). "Paul Lionel Puryear, Sr". PS: Political Science & Politics. 43 (4): 806–807. doi:10.1017/S1049096510001502. ISSN 1049-0965.
  25. "Paula Puryear Martin". Film Independent. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
  26. "Paula Puryear". IMDb. Retrieved 2021-01-31.
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