Historian, Educator. After earning a Master's degree in history she began teaching in Washington DC, but quickly became disillusioned with the political aspects of the education system. Following a short period working as a clerk in the War Manpower Commission, she applied for and received the opportunity to become an officer in the recently formed Women's Army Corps (WACs) in 1943, one of only 40 black women initially accepted into the program. Finding an entrenched institutional racism in the WACs, she advocated quitely but effectively for changes in the system. She applied for and was eventually accepted into the Army's adjutant general school, a training ground for potential executive officers and commanders, following which she was assigned as the commanding officer in charge of a unit of medical technicians in the WAC hospital in Chicago. After the war, she enrolled in the doctorate program at the University of Pennsylvania, and joined the staff at Bowie State College, a black school in Maryland, where she motivated her many students by setting high expectations and teaching personal responsibility for their actions. After sixteen years at Bowie college, she was hired at Howard University, where she taught for another nine years. Following her retirement, she remained active as a volunteer at the Smithsonian. She authored "When the Nation was in Need: Blacks in the Women's Army Corps During WWII", "Black Sailors: Afro-American Seamen and Whalemen prior to the Civil War", and a history of blacks in the military from the Revoloutionary war to Operation Desert Storm. She edited "Blacks in the United State's Army: Portraits Through History", as well as publishing numerous articles and manuscripts. Dr Putney died at Community Hospice in Washington DC of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Historian, Educator. After earning a Master's degree in history she began teaching in Washington DC, but quickly became disillusioned with the political aspects of the education system. Following a short period working as a clerk in the War Manpower Commission, she applied for and received the opportunity to become an officer in the recently formed Women's Army Corps (WACs) in 1943, one of only 40 black women initially accepted into the program. Finding an entrenched institutional racism in the WACs, she advocated quitely but effectively for changes in the system. She applied for and was eventually accepted into the Army's adjutant general school, a training ground for potential executive officers and commanders, following which she was assigned as the commanding officer in charge of a unit of medical technicians in the WAC hospital in Chicago. After the war, she enrolled in the doctorate program at the University of Pennsylvania, and joined the staff at Bowie State College, a black school in Maryland, where she motivated her many students by setting high expectations and teaching personal responsibility for their actions. After sixteen years at Bowie college, she was hired at Howard University, where she taught for another nine years. Following her retirement, she remained active as a volunteer at the Smithsonian. She authored "When the Nation was in Need: Blacks in the Women's Army Corps During WWII", "Black Sailors: Afro-American Seamen and Whalemen prior to the Civil War", and a history of blacks in the military from the Revoloutionary war to Operation Desert Storm. She edited "Blacks in the United State's Army: Portraits Through History", as well as publishing numerous articles and manuscripts. Dr Putney died at Community Hospice in Washington DC of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Bio by: Steve Niederloh
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