Evelyn Harper (1913-1992)

A recipient of an honorary doctorate from Benedictine College of Atchison, Kansas and a native of Kansas City, Kansas, Mrs. Harper devoted her life to enhancing the educational and social services of the communities in which she resided. In New York City during the 1930s, where she earned a B.S. degree in history from New York University and a M.A. in sociology from Columbia University, she began her career as a recreation and social worker for Abyssinia Baptist Church, Children’s Aid Society, and Harlem Hospital. She then pursued a career in education as counselor for Eastside Metropolitan High School in New York City and later became director of the Elementary Training School at Langston University in Oklahoma. During World War II, she served as director of recreation and librarian for the Red Cross at Camp Hood Texas. At the end of the war, she returned to Kansas and to the field of education. Between 1947 and 1955 she served as principal of Lincoln Elementary and Junior High School in Atchison, Kansas and was later appointed to the position of associate principal of Atchison High School and principal of Atchison Junior High School. She also acquired a specialist degree in reading from the School of Education at the University of Kansas. In 1966, she was elected Kansas Teacher of the Year and during the same year received the Master Teacher Award. In 1967, she received the Humanitarian Award from the Urban League. In 1970, she was elected as president of the Kansas National Education Association. For the African American newspaper, the Call, she was a reporter for Atchison, Kansas. Throughout her career, she was an active volunteer in numerous local and national civic and social organizations, which included the NAACP, The Links, Inc., the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, and the Urban League.

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