Walter Green Daniel: Advancing Knowledge Through Benevolence

Journal of Negro Education, The, Summer 2007 by Newby, James Edward

University faculty and students have not had sufficient opportunities to participate in the knowledge producing enterprise known as research. This article describes how two educators, Walter Green Daniel and his wife Theodora Christine Williams, advance knowledge through their benevolence. It describes their families, their educational backgrounds, the endowed research fund they created, operation of the fund, as well as the awardees and their research projects. It discusses the benefactors' primary focus, which is aimed at providing financial support to faculty, staff, and students at Howard University for significant research studies of Afro-American education.

Walter G. Daniel was born June 21, 1905, into an accomplished Virginia family, a fifth generation descendant of Lucy Langston and Ralph Quarrels. Walter Daniel was the last of eight children (five boys and three girls) born to the union of Charles James Daniel (1845-1916) and Carrie Green (1866-1943) in Ettrick, Virginia. His father Charles and the renowned poet Langston Hughes were second cousins. Walter Daniel, like his siblings, was born on the campus of Virginia State College where his father served as secretary-Treasurer of the College. ITie educational achievements of his parents and their regular admonishment of the children that they "be scholars" provided the framework and inspiration to achieve exhibited by Walter and his siblings. Six of the eight children completed bachelor's and graduate degrees and five of the six, including Walter Daniel, became doctors of philosophy.

Walter Daniel began his early schooling and his scholarly pursuits in Petersburg, Virginia, and completed his public schooling in Richmond, Virginia. In 1926 he received his Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) degree (magna cum laude) from Virginia Union University. He would later serve as its Director of the Division of Education and Psychology. He enrolled in the University of Cincinnati and, as was the custom at the time, had to complete the requirements for a professional bachelor of education degree (Ed.B.), which he did in 1927. The following year he completed his thesis, "Study of Requirements and Achievements in College English," and obtained his Master of Arts (A.M.) degree in 1928. Daniel also did work in School of Library Service.

From 1927-1929, Daniel was Director of Practice Teaching at Winston-Salem State Teachers College in North Carolina, which was his first full-time teaching job. His work at Howard University began in 1929 when he joined the Department of Education as an assistant professor. He quickly rose through the academic ranks to become an associate professor in 1935, and professor in 1946. Daniel was appointed University Librarian at Howard University in 1935 and served in that capacity for 11 years. During that time, Howard University's $1 million dollar Founders Library was completed. It was the only large library staff with an "Afro-American" librarian in charge. (The term "Afro-American" was favored by Daniel). In 1941, he received his Ph.D. degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, where he was the recipient of postdoctoral grants for the academic years 1949-1950 and 1957-1958.

In 1951, after 22 years at Howard University, Daniel resigned to accept a position with the United States Office of Education as a specialist in higher education. He subsequently held various other positions, including a year as professor of education and psychology at Bowie State College in Maryland, four years at the William Sloane House International Center for the Greater New York City YMCA, and director of the Division of Education and Psychology at Virginia Union University. In 1961, he was invited back to Howard University to develop a program for the preparation of elementary school teachers. He also developed a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program.

In 1963, after being on the editorial board of The Journal of Negro Education at Howard University since the first issue of April, 1932, he accepted an appointment as editor-in-chief. With mat appointment, Daniel became the second editor of The Journal and succeeded his friend and colleague Charles H. Thompson, the founder and Editor-in-Chief Emeritus. Daniel was a prolific writer. His professional writings include a book and approximately 100 other publications-chapters, articles, pamphlets, editorials, and book reviews. In addition to The Journal of Negro Education, of which he was editor-in-chief during the period from 1963 to 1970, Daniel's articles appeared in other journals, including College and Research Libraries and the Journal of Educational Sociology.

This writer analyzes Daniel's 25 articles published during the 1960-1970 decade for his doctoral dissertation and finds Daniel had a greater interest in curriculum than in teachers or facilities. Indeed, Daniel had a profound interest in curriculum and teaching, particularly of the Afro-American and "disadvantaged child." His first publication in The Journal of Negro Education appears in the spring issue of the first volume published in 1932. The curriculum is the focus of that article. In it Daniel argued that the great variability in abilities, needs, and interests of pupils require appropriate and requisite experiences. Further evidence of his interest in the curriculum is found in his doctoral dissertation, The Reading Interests and Needs of Negro College Freshmen Regarding Social Science Materials^ published in 1942 and reissued in 1972. It generated a flurry of scholarly interest among librarians and academicians regarding appropriate reading materials for African Americans. Ten years later the topic was still being discussed (Powell, 1952).