In Memoriam: Adelaide Cromwell, 1919-2019

Adelaide Cromwell, professor of sociology emeritus and founder of the African American studies program at Boston University, passed away on June 8, 2019. She was 99 years old.

Dr. Cromwell first joined the Boston University faculty in 1951. Two years later, she co-founded the university’s African Studies Center. In 1969, she founded the university’s African American studies program, the country’s second such program and the first to offer a graduate degree in the subject. Earlier in her career, Dr. Cromwell served as the first African American faculty member at both Hunter College in New York City and Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.

In addition to her academic career, Dr. Cromwell was the author of Unveiled Voices, Unvarnished Memories: The Cromwell Family in Slavery and Segregation 1692-1972 (University of Missouri Press, 2006) and The Other Brahmins: Boston’s Black Upper Class 1750-1950 (University of Arkansas Press, 1995).

Dr. Cromwell was a graduate of Smith College. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate from Radcliffe College at Harvard University.