FISK

June 17, 2008

Ann Allen Shockley

Growing up in the South, Ann Allen Shockley knew Fisk well. Many of her high school teachers were "Fiskites" and spoke highly of the liberal arts college. She enrolled and majored in history.

During her undergraduate years, she was a writer and fiction editor for the literary publication, the Fisk Herald. "My fondest memories of Fisk are the history classes I took with Professor Theodore S. Currier, the mentor of renowned historian and Fiskite, John Hope Franklin." She completed her studies in 1948, graduating with honors. Prof. Currier recommended she attend the Western Reserve library school after learning of her interest in library science. Her most remarkable recollection in library school was being in classes that reminded her of the United Nations—diverse in many respects.

She began a career that took her to Delaware State College in Dover, the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, and back to Fisk, where she retired in 1998 after 29 years as the associate librarian for special collections and university archivist. She also was an associate professor of library science at Fisk.

Mrs. Shockley is an avid reader and prolific writer. She originated the Black Oral History Program at Fisk and co-edited, with R. J. Posey, the first Handbook of Black Librarianship (1977). Mrs. Shockley has had several books published: Loving her (1974), Say Jesus and Come to Me (1982), The Black & White of It (1985), and Celebrating Hotchclaw, A Book of Short Stories (2005), among others.

She has won several awards, some of which include the Susan Koppelman Award (1989), the Martin Luther King Jr. Black Author Award (1982), the Hatshepsut Award for Literature (1981), the Outlook Award for Outstanding Pioneering Contribution to Lesbian and Gay Writing (1990), and the Crossroad to Freedom Award in 2005 in recognition of outstanding service and professional librarianship from the Louisville (KY) Public Library.

Mrs. Shockley will appear in the 26th edition of Who's Who Among American Women (2007).

Posted by: Heidi Cool June 17, 2008 03:31 PM
Category: Alumni , Legacy , School of Information and Library Science