Eva Marie Dyke

Eva Beatrice Dykes (likely intended instead of 'Eva Marie Dyke') was a pioneering educator born in Washington, D.C., who became one of the first three Black American women to earn a PhD in 1921 from Radcliffe College, completing its requirements first despite graduating third due to ceremony timing. She taught at institutions like Dunbar High School, Howard University, and Oakwood University, where she chaired the English Department and contributed to its accreditation, authored books on Negro literature and Alexander Pope, and wrote for Message Magazine for 50 years. A member of Delta Sigma Theta and the Seventh-day Adventist Church, she died in Huntsville, Alabama at age 93.[1][3][4]