Elise Johnson McDougald

Elise Johnson McDougald (October 13, 1885 – June 10, 1971), aka Gertrude Elise McDougald Ayer, was an American educator, writer, activist and first African-American woman principal in New York City public schools following the consolidation of the city in 1898. She was preceded by Sarah J. Garnet, who became the first African-American woman principal in Brooklyn, New York while it was still considered a separate city. McDougald's essay "The Double Task: The Struggle for Negro Women for Sex and Race Emancipation" was published in the March 1925 issue of ''Survey Graphic'' magazine, ''Harlem: The Mecca of the New Negro''. This particular issue, edited by Alain Locke, helped usher in and define what is now known as the Harlem Renaissance. McDougald's contribution to this magazine, which Locke adapted for inclusion as "The Task of Negro Womanhood" in his 1925 anthology ''The New Negro: An Interpretation'', is an early example of African-American feminist writing.

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