A New Archive Documents a Key Event in Duke University’s African American History

owensDuke University has acquired the archives relating to the production of the documentary film The Education of Ida Owens. A summa cum laude graduate of what is now North Carolina Central University, Ida Owens became the first African American women to earn a Ph.D. at Duke University. She earned a Ph.D. in biology/physiology in 1967 and went on to have a long career in research at the National Institutes of Health.

The Duke University Graduate School, led by Dean Paula D. McClain, commissioned filmmaker Ivan Weiss to work with staff to develop the documentary. The documentary and all materials related to its creation were deposited in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library to be available for public research. The collection includes material that did not make the final cut as well as transcripts, photographs, background materials, and audio recordings.

Here is a video of the documentary:

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