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Dudley Weldon Woodard
Educator and Mathematician
Born October 3, 1881 Galveston, Texas.
Died July 1, 1965
Dudley Weldon Woodard (1881-1965). B.S., Wilberforce University, 1903; B.S.
and M.S., University of Chicago, 1906 and 1907; Ph.D., University of
Pennsylvania, 1928.
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During Dudley Weldon Woodard's early childhood that period was very difficult for Blacks
who were seeking an education. However, Woodard's father had a good job that was
considered prestigious at the time; a job with the U.S. Postal Service.
Woodard, was a brilliant individual and his intellectual curiosity was probably supported by
his family. Upon completing his early education in Texas, Woodard attended Wilberforce
College in Ohio, receiving a bachelor degree (A.B.) in mathematics in 1903. He then attended
the University of Chicago where he received a B.S. degree and an M.S. degree in mathematics
in the years 1906 and 1907 respectively. After receiving his M..S., Woodard taught
mathematics at Tuskegee Institute for seven years [1907 - 1914] and on Wilberforce faculty
for six (6) years [1914-1920] after which he joined the mathematics faculty at Howard
University in 1920.
At Howard, he was not only a professor of mathematics but was selected Dean of the College
of Arts and Sciences (1920-1929). Woodard devoted his entire professional life to the
promotion of excellence in mathematics through the advancement of his students, teaching
and research.
In the early 1920s, Woodard began taking advanced mathematics courses during the summer
sessions at Columbia University. It was during that period that he became recognized as one
of the gifted mathematicians in the nation.
In 1927, Woodard took scholarly leave from Howard and spent a year at Penn, working
under the direction of John R. Kline. Woodard received the Ph.D. in mathematics from the
University of Pennsylvania on June 28, 1928, becoming the thirty-eighth person to receive a
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Ph.D. degree from from the University of Pennsylvania more significantly, Woodard became
the second African American to earn a Ph.D. degree in mathematics.(the first was Elbert Cox
in 1925) Woodard, and his wife had a son who joined the faculty at Howard .
Dr. Woodard established the M.S. degree program in mathematics in 1929, guaranteeing
Howard's mathematical program as the pinacle for studying mathematics among the
Historically Black Universities and Colleges. He was the thesis supervisor for many of
Howard's M.S. degree students. He also established a mathematics library at Howard. He
attracted Elbert Cox to join him in 1929 and he established and sponsored several other
professorships and many scholarly seminars in mathematics.
Woodard was very popular as professor and as an administrator. Additionally, he was
apparently highly respected by those who knew him in the mathematical sciences
community.
Deane Montgomery, former president of the American Mathematical Society and the
International Mathematical Union described Woodard as, "an extremely nice man, wellbalanced personally." Leo Zippin, who was an internationally known specialist in Woodard's
field, said that he was "one of the noblest men I've ever known."
Dr. Woodard was not only a brilliant mathematician, but a man of high intelligence and
dignity; he enjoyed life in spite of his racial environment. He used the phrase, "black is
beautiful" in the 1930s; he often ignored the "colored" signs and visited any men's room of
his choice. He also ate at many "nice" restaurants and enjoyed the theaters of his choice in
New York.
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He and his family once moved in what had been an all-white neighborhood because it was
aesthetically nice and it was near Howard.
Woodard devoted his entire professional life to the promotion of excellence in mathematics
through the advancement of his students, teaching, and research. Dudley Woodard retired in
1947 and died July 1, 1965 in his home in Cleveland Ohio.
The first research paper published in an acredited mathematics journal by an african
american is the first of two papers by Dudley Weldon Woodard
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Work Cited Page

http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/PEEPS/woodard_dudleyw.html

http://www.ldsgenesisgroup.org/history/dudleywoodard.html

http://www.math.upenn.edu/History/bh/text99.html