Finding aid for the Myrtle Johnson Bell Papers

Biography of Myrtle Johnson Bell

Myrtle Johnson Bell (1895-1978) was the first African American woman to serve as an assistant high school principal in the Cleveland Public Schools. She also served on the Advisory Board on Playgrounds and Recreation and on the Community Relations Board of Cleveland, Ohio. Bell was born in Warren, Ohio, and moved to Cleveland with her family when she was seven years old. She graduated from Central High School at the age of 16 and received her bachelors' degree from Western Reserve University's College for Women in 1916. She taught mathematics at the Tuskegee Institute and in West Virginia before returning to Cleveland in the 1920s where she taught mathematics, African American history, and human relations at several Cleveland Public Schools.

She married L. Frank Bell in 1934, and lost her teaching position in Cleveland Public Schools due to regulations that prohibited married women from teaching if their husbands could support them. However, she obtained a full time position with the school system the following year. In 1937 Bell received her master's degree from Western Reserve University, and Cleveland Public Schools Superintendent Charles S. Lake appointed her assistant principal for girls at the Central High School. Bell held this position for the next fourteen years and continued for an additional fourteen years when Central High School merged with East Technical High School. For most of that time, Bell was the system's only African American high school assistant principal.

Bell was active in community affairs in Cleveland, serving on the city's advisory board for playgrounds, the Community Relations Board, and on the special projects committee of the Business and Professional Women's Club of Greater Cleveland. She and her husband served on the board of the Glenville YMCA.

Scope and Content

The Myrtle Johnson Bell Papers, 1907-1969, consist of correspondence, school and club programs, certificates, a school centennial pamphlet, a play script, dinner programs and guest lists, testimonials, newspaper clippings, a syllabus of "A Short Course in Human Relations for Teen-Agers," and three scrapbooks, relating to Mrs. Bell's career as a teacher (1916-1938) and as an assistant high school principal (1938-1966).

This collection will be useful to researchers studying the history of Cleveland, Ohio, and its African American community in the twentieth century. Those studying the history of women and public education in Cleveland will also find this collection useful.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Access

None.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Preferred Citation

[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 3522 Myrtle Johnson Bell Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

Acquisition Information

Gift of Mrs. Myrtle J. Bell in 1970.

Detailed Description of The Collection