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WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH: Dr. Marcella Maxwell – A Drum Major for Education
By Hazel Rosetta Smith
Marcella Maxwell has already spent a lifetime teaching and motivating others to strive for their personal best in a constantly changing world. Born in Cleveland, North Carolina, Marcella was raised in a family of educators. She is deeply vested in the belief that education is the priority and the vehicle for success. This example began with her grandfather who donated the land to build Cleveland’s first elementary school for African Americans.
When her family migrated north to Brooklyn, New York, Marcella’s first job was a secretarial position for the New York City Housing Authority. Higher education was always the plan as she earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Elementary Education from Long Island University.
While teaching at Public School #20 in Brooklyn, Marcella was selected from a group of twenty outstanding teachers by John B. King, Jr., New York City’s first African American Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Schools, to join in a partnership with Puerto Rico and the New York City Board of Education’s Operation Understanding Committee to teach English as a second language in Puerto Rico.
Upward and onward toward the ultimate degree, Marcella Maxwell earned her Doctorate in Educational Administration from Fordham University.
She was the Founding Dean of the newly opened Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn. In thirteen years, she served as both Dean of External Affairs and Dean of Adult and Continuing Education. Her commitment to the college has continued through the years.
Dr. Maxwell is a teacher’s teacher, devoted to nurturing the next generation of educators. She trained teachers to enhance their development, cultivate ways to collaborate with principals and other faculty, to spearhead team seminars and instructional methods and strategies. She trained teachers at Bank Street College of Education, NYC, and was a supervisor of teaching fellows at Brooklyn College, a part of the City College of New York system.
If being an educator is not enough, a scroll down a lengthy list of acumens attributed to the name of Dr. Marcella Maxwell is proof of the pudding. Kudos and accolades are more than deserved through her advocacy for women’s issues, community development, fund development, and government relations.
Dr. Maxwell has held varied positions some of which have included: Commissioner of Human Rights and Chair of the Commission on Women under former New York Mayor Edward Koch; Director of Development and Public Affairs for the Miracle Makers, an agency offering social services to help communities meet existing and survival needs in New York City; NGO Representative of ECOSOC, the Economic and Social Council, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations responsible for the direction and coordination of the economic, social, humanitarian, and cultural activities of the U.N.; Vice Chair of the NAACP’s Spingarn Committee awarding outstanding American Negros who have contributed to the uplifting of the race.
The heart of Dr. Maxwell’s ongoing effort to touch lives in the community is exhibited when she wears the power color red, a heartfelt symbol of her membership in the North Manhattan Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
Dr. Maxwell has spent the last decade pursuing a passion that delves deeply into educating seniors. She is actively connected to several outreach projects with health and human services to provide information to seniors through her longtime membership with the Greater New York Chapter of the Links, Inc.
She chaired the first project for the Links’ Eastern area women’s issues committee campaign titled, “Dress for Success.” She is adamant when she says, “By educating women, you educate a family and an entire generation.”
She comments, “As a member and co-chair of the Health & Wellness program for the Links, I can help seniors age gracefully with the information they need as we face new challenges every day.” Through her ongoing effort, senior forums are held in partnership with the Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging at Hunter/CUNY, NYC.
At the age of ninety-six, Maxwell’s primary focus remains stalwart at every given opportunity as the founder and current leader of the Golden Life Ministry of the Abyssinian Baptist Church, to offer workshops on health, housing, and financial guidance for seniors. The legacy continues for Dr. Marcella Maxwell, a Black woman of substance and significance.
