Dr. Tommie Brown donates papers from her career to UTC
The former educator and politician was the first African American woman to lead a department at the University
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – As we mark Women’s History Month in March, UTC is getting documents that will share more information on an historical figure in Chattanooga.
Dr. Tommie Brown was a professor of social work at the University from 1971-1998.
She became the first African American woman to lead a department at UTC when she took over the social work program in 1980.
Brown would go on the serve in the state legislature.
Now, at the age of 88, she is donating her papers to the university.
They include letters, photos, newspaper clippings and documents from both her education and political careers.
She even included her original research for her Ph.D. in social work at Columbia University.
“I was just a little girl who grew up in North Highland Park, and I think this is just another one of thousands of those stories. If I had my way, I would crack open all those stories and let them be told because the more the young people can see and hear and understand ‘Yes, I can,’ then they will try, too.”
UTC’S director of Special Collections, Carolyn Runyon, says Dr. Brown changed things in Chattanooga.
“For me, one of the things that’s unique about this is that we’re documenting something in the state of Tennessee that I’m not sure anybody else has,” Runyon said.
