Year Honored: 1982
Birth: 1900 - 1991
Born in: Massachusetts
Biography
Pauline A. Young was born in West Medford, Massachusetts in 1900. Her mother became a widower when Young was two years old, and she subsequently moved Young and her three siblings to Wilmington to live with her aunt and grandmother. Young’s aunt was Alice-Dunbar Nelson, a prominent civil rights activist and writer. Both Nelson and Young’s mother worked as teachers at the Howard School in Wilmington.
Young attended Howard School from kindergarten through high school, as it was the only school available to Black students at the time. After graduating, Young attended the University of Pennsylvania and earned a bachelor’s degree in education.
After attempting a brief stage career – quickly running out of money – and a short stint as press staff at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, Young returned to Howard School to teach history and Latin in 1919. When Dr. Henry Clay Stevenson, a member of the Board of Education, donated his private library to the school, Young was given charge of the library. She obtained a master’s degree in Library Science from Columbia University, and her work in expanding and cataloguing the library was recognized in 1979 when it was renamed in her honor.
In addition to her work in the library, Young was also a collector of history. Her collections were donated to numerous organizations, though one of the largest remains at the Howard School. Young published the first comprehensive state history of Black Delawareans in 1947, titled, “The Negro in Delaware: Past and Present.” She also contributed to H.C Reed’s “History of the First State,” with a chapter titled ‘The History of the Negro in Delaware.’
Young retired from the Howard School in 1961. She served two years (1962-1964) in the newly established Peace Corp, working in Jamaica, teaching and cataloging a library collection.
Young’s family was very active in the local and national NAACP, and Young herself became involved at age 12. Civil rights activists, such as Langston Hughes, used the family’s home in Wilmington as a frequent stopover, with Young remarking, “I grew up in the civil rights era, our home in Wilmington was a great stopover… We used to listen to them talk as children. We never realized they were history makers.” Later in her life, Young met Martin Luther King Jr.; participated in the 1963 ‘March on Washington,’ as well as the 1965 ‘March for Equality;’ and served as President of the NAACP and Chair of the NAACP Education Committee.
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Sources and Additional Readings
Biographical Note - Pauline A. Young Residency. UD Library. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2021, from https://library.udel.edu/residency/youngbio/.
Black Women in Delaware's History. Black women in Delaware's history. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2021, from https://www1.udel.edu/BlackHistory/blackwomen.html.
Chris Oakley Collection of Alternative Press. Manuscript and Archival Collection Finding Aids. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2021, from https://library.udel.edu/special/findaids/view?docId=ead%2Fmss0471.xml%3Btab.
Dodd, Mead & Company Archive. Manuscript and Archival Collection Finding Aids. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2021, from https://library.udel.edu/special/findaids/view?docId=pdf%2Fmss0250.pdf%3Btab.
Howard High School Alumni Association. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2021, from https://howardhsalumniassoc.com/.
Littleton and Jane Mitchell Papers. Manuscript and Collection Finding Aids. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2021, from https://library.udel.edu/special/findaids/view?docId=ead%2Fmss0629.xml%3Bquery.
Pauline A. Young Collection. Manuscript and Archival Collection Finding Aids. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2021, from https://library.udel.edu/special/findaids/view?docId=pdf%2Fmss0256.pdf%3Btab.
Pauline A. Young Explained. Everything Explained. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2021, from https://everything.explained.today/Pauline_A._Young/.
Rayford W. Logan Letter to Pauline Young. Manuscript and Archival Collection Finding Aids. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2021, from https://library.udel.edu/special/findaids/view?docId=ead%2Fmss0099_0899.xml%3Bquery.
Richards, R. H. (1977, March 10). Young, Pauline A. UDSpace Home. Retrieved November 1, 2021, from https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/20323.
Young, P. A. (1947). The Negro in Delaware, past and present. Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
Young, P. A. (n.d.). Pauline A. Young papers, 1903-1991. ArchiveGrid : Pauline A. Young Papers, 1903-1991. Retrieved October 28, 2021, from https://researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/collection/data/51282370.
Young, P. A. (n.d.). The History of the Negro in Delaware. In H. C. Reed (Ed.), History of the First State. essay.
- Collections: 1982, Black History Month