Inventory to the Percy Lavon Julian Family Papers

  Archives Homepage

Percy Lavon Julian Family Papers
Series III: Folder 13
Julian Memorial Lecture: Helen G. Edmonds
April 11, 1989

     " I have never traveled the high road alone. I have merely been a part of a goodly company."   H.G.E.

     Dr. Helen G. Edmonds is a distinguished historian, a nationally acclaimed college administrator and teacher, an experienced advisor and participant in both national and international affairs, and an author of resource materials on Negro history. She has pioneered the role of black women in higher education and public service. 

     Dr. Edmonds was born in Lawrenceville, Virginia. She received her A. B. degree from Morgan State University (Baltimore), her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Ohio State University, and has done post doctoral research and study at the University of Heidelberg, West Germany. Her academic specialties are United States history, European diplomacy, and international relations. She has been awarded honorary degrees from eight colleges and universities and is the recipient of many academic and civic honors. Dr. Edmonds has authored numerous books and articles, has completed a manuscript on "The American Black Woman", and has lectured widely in this country and abroad. In 1979 she presented the Third Julian Memorial Lecture at DePauw University.

     At North Carolina Central University (Durham) she served since 1941 as Professor of History, Dean of Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, as a member of the Interim Committee for the Administration of the University (1966-67), and as University Distinguished Professor of History (1971-77). She now holds the rank of Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History. Since her retirement she has continued to play a dynamic role in higher education, serving as Visiting Scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1984-85), at Harvard University (1985-86), and at Radcliffe College as the Bunting Institute Fellow (1986-87) and Visiting Scholar (1987-88). In 1988 she received the American Historical Association Award for Scholarly Distinction, and on April 4 of this year was awarded the Radcliffe Graduate Medallion.

     Although higher education has claimed Dr. Edmonds' time and talents for over fifty years, her outreach has extended to the ends of the world. She was the representative of President Eisenhower at the dedication ceremonies of the Liberian to the General Assembly of the United Nations by President Nixon, and she has served both the United States Department of State and the Department of Defense on special assignments. In seconding the nomination of General Dwight D. Eisenhower for the presidency of the United States at the Republican National Convention, Dr. Edmonds became the first black woman to have been so honored.

     Dr. Helen Edmonds, a black woman of high achievement, is, like Percy Lavon Julian , a most "uncommon" person. Just as Percy Julian was much more than a chemist and a scientist, so also is Helen Edmonds much more than a teacher and an historian. In both of them their intellect, their spirit, their compassion, and their outreach have merged and extended far beyond their chosen disciplines to enrich the world.