Mamie B. Reese
The face of an African-American woman, smiling.
Mamie B. Reese, from a 1968 publication.
Born
Mamie Bynes

September 3, 1911
Gibson, Georgia
DiedDecember 15, 1997
Albany, Georgia
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)College professor, state official, clubwoman

Mamie Bynes Reese (September 3, 1911 – December 15, 1997) was an American clubwoman, college professor, and Georgia state official.

Early life

Mamie Bynes was born in Gibson, Georgia, and raised in Macon. She earned a bachelor's degree in home economics at Spelman College in 1933, and a master's degree in education and guidance at Drake University in 1948.[1][2][3]

Career

In Georgia

Bynes taught school as a young woman. From 1948 to 1973, Reese was an associate professor of education and Dean of Women at Albany State University in Georgia.[1][2] She was a charter member of the Albany, Georgia alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, when the chapter was founded in 1949, and served as the chapter president.[4] She was president of the Southeastern Association of Colored Women's Clubs.[5]

Reese was appointed to the Governor's Commission on the Status of Women in 1963. She served on the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles from 1973 to 1987, appointed by Governor Jimmy Carter.[6] She chaired the board from July 1976 to October 1977,[7] which made her the highest ranking black official in Georgia in 1976. "My philosophy is you can't build enough prisons to relieve or eliminate the problem," she said in 1987. "They're obsolete before they're built, and incarceration does not eliminate crime."[3] Upon her retirement in 1987, Governor Joe Frank Harris proclaimed August 27th as "Mamie Bynes Reese Day" in Georgia.[8]

Reese was a Georgia delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1968, and was the first black woman to represent Georgia at a Democratic National Convention.[9]

National Association of Colored Women's Clubs

From 1964 to 1968, Reese was the national president of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC).[10][11] Under her leadership, the NACWC's headquarters in Washington, D.C. were renovated, and the Mary Church Terrell Memorial Library was established to preserve the organization's records. She also prioritized funding scholarships and travel for young people. In 1968, when her immediate successor Myrtle B. Ollison said "I think the police are doing a grand job" and "I've never had any trouble with discrimination," Reese gave a statement clarifying that Ollison's personal opinions did not reflect the NACWC's policies or history of activism.[12]

Personal life

Mamie Bynes married doctor William J. Reese, Sr. in 1941, in Georgia.[2] Reese died from complications of diabetes in 1997, aged 86 years, in Albany, Georgia.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 "Faculty Emeriti". Albany State University. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  2. 1 2 3 "Mamie Bynes Reese". State Board of Pardons and Paroles. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  3. 1 2 3 Powell, Kay (1997-12-06). "Mamie Reese, former pardons and paroles chief". The Atlanta Constitution. p. 50. Retrieved 2020-06-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Albany (Ga) Alumnae Chapter | Our History". Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  5. ↑ "S'Eastern Clubwomen in Successful Meet at Albany College". Alabama Tribune. 1961-08-11. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-06-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Mamie Reese". Boyd Lewis Photographs, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center; via Digital Library of Georgia. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  7. ↑ "Past Chairs of the State Board of Pardons and Paroles". State Board of Pardons and Paroles. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  8. ↑ "This is Your Day". Jet: 25. October 12, 1987.
  9. ↑ "Mamie B. Reese Presider over Nat. Women's Meet". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1968-08-10. p. 11. Retrieved 2020-06-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Records of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, 1895-1992". Bowdoin College. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  11. ↑ "Mamie B. Reese Reelected President of NACWC, Inc". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1966-08-20. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-06-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Cops 'Doing Grand Job': Women's Group President". Jet: 10. December 5, 1968.
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