Dr. Mary Antoinette Brown-Sherman - Preeminent Educator, Former President, University of Liberia

This article about Dr. Mary Antoinette Brown Sherman is reportedly sourced from the Liberian Literary Society. It was shared with her son Kedrick Brown Jr. unsolicited. The original author is Sedia Massaquoi-Bangoura .

Dr. Mary Antoinette Brown-Sherman

1926 - 2004

Preeminent Educator

Former President, University of Liberia

« À Liberian Woman of high standards and sharp intellect » - Jane Martin

Dr. Mary Antoinette Brown Sherman, was born in Monrovia on October 27, 1926, to Louis Arthur Grimes and Victoria Elizabeth Jellemoh Cheeseman Grimes. Her father was former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia. Her mother was of the Vai ethnic group and hailed from the Kiazolu clan in Jondu District, Grand Cape Mount County. Her brother, J. Rudolph Grimes was Liberia’s Secretary of State from 1960 to 1972, and her other brother Henry Grimes was one of Liberia’s pioneer Telecommunications engineers.

She received her elementary and secondary school education at the College of West Africa and graduated dux of her class in 1943. She then matriculated to Liberia College (now University of Liberia) - a rare move for young girls at that time - graduating again dux of her class in 1947 with a B.A. degree. These were the early signs of her leadership ability. She continued her education in the United States, earning an M.A. in Education from Radcliffe in 1949, and a PhD from Cornell University, Itacha, in 1967. Her dissertation was entitled "Education and national development in Liberia, 1800-1900."

A professional educator, her career began as an instructor at the University of Liberia Teachers College in 1950. She dedicated her life and professional training and capability to building a great university, becoming director in 1958 and later dean of the William V.S. Tubman Teachers College from 1960 to 1975. In that year, she was appointed Vice President for Academic Affairs, of the University, and served in that post until 1978, when she was made president of the University of Liberia by the LU Board of Trustees, the first woman to ever hold that position in Liberia. [MB: Also the first woman to be president of a major University on the African continent]

Dr. Sherman was a transformational leader who was committed to quality higher education in Liberia. She assumed her position at a critical time in the history of the University, and of the nation. She provided the leadership for the process of renewal of the University, and played a decisive role in the aftermath of the 1980 coup d’etat when students and professors were clamoring for social and political change and the rule of law, subsequent to the military takeover.

Transformation and Resistance were the hallmarks that would best define Dr. Sherman’s leadership at the university. She devoted all of her energies, her skills and her talent to Uplifting the university and protecting it from the Military regime.

During her tenure as president, she upgraded the quality of instruction at the university by hiring research professors from West African countries to lecture at the university. The University of Liberia became a true “light in darkness”. Under her leadership the University found an admirable and respectable place among other higher African institutions of learning. As an example, the University hosted the Conference of Rectors, Vice Chancellors, and Presidents (COREVIP) of Universities in the West African Sub-region in the early 1980s.

Dr. Sherman took office when most of the University’s buildings and facilities could no longer accommodate the ever increasing numbers at the Capitol Hill Campus. She committed her efforts to developing the facilities at Fendall. During her administration, the W.R. Tolbert College of Agriculture and Forestry, as well as the J.R. Faulkner College of Science and Technology were moved to the new Fendall campus. For the first time, Residential facilities were provided for the faculty and a Primary School for young children was established for residents in Fendall.

She cultivated and assured a relationship with organizations that could provide scholarships for faculty and staff development, and further education for students. The U. S. Educational and Cultural Foundation, IIE, and USAID scholarships were among the many that benefited Liberians. She ensured that scholarships went to Liberians from every walk of life without distinction.

Dr. Sherman adopted a nationalistic approach to education and encouraged the teaching of Liberian languages in the College of Arts and Humanities with Kpelleh, Bassa, and Vai being offered as university courses. In addition she incorporated indigenous medical practices such as traditional bone setting into the program of Doglietti College of Medicine.

In 1984 the University was threatened with a major crisis when a professor was jailed on charges of attempting to overthrow the military junta. Subsequently, the University Council and faculty, issued a position paper, which the military government of Chairman Doe strongly reacted to. On August 22, 1984, the Military invaded the University of Liberia campus. This date shall forever reverberate in the minds of surviving Liberians and in the history of Liberia. Dr. Sherman did not shrink from her responsibilities. She was the leader, and she was very brave. In a soft-spoken voice she would say, “I will see what I can do.” Her administration denounced the arrest of its faculty member and the brutal invasion of the university ensued.

Long before this encounter with the military regime, Dr. Sherman had stood as an unshakable fortress in the fight against the manipulation of the University. She had relentlessly resisted the Military Junta's many attempts at intimidation in various forms. There were not many persons in Liberia in the 1980s who could summon the courage to stand up to the excesses of the Military regime. When others found it fashionable to remain silent in the face of injustice, Dr. Sherman saw it her patriotic duty to demand justice.

Dr. Sherman’s principled stance in support of justice and the rule of law cost her the presidency of the University. She had served as president of the University of Liberia until 1984 when she was imprisoned by the military junta. The continuous deterioration of the political situation thereafter compelled her into exile in the United States in 1986.

Notwithstanding, she remained active in scholarly pursuits. Notably as a visiting professor at Cornell University and Ohio State University. Dr. Sherman is the author of numerous scholarly articles, including :” The University of Liberia Towards the 21st Century”, The Challenges of Higher Education in Liberia,” Striving for Excellence”, among many others academic works.

The Liberia Studies Journal has dedicated an entire edition to the life and work of Dr. Mary Antoinette Brown Sherman providing details of her Transformative leadership at the University of Liberia, her relationship with national and international scholars and institutions, among other details.

Mary Antoinette Grimes married twice, in 1950 and in 1973. Her first husband,

Kedrick Wellington Brown, was a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, who died in 1962. They had three children. Their daughter Lducia Brown died in a car accident as a child in 1967. Her second husband George Flamma Sherman was Liberia's Secretary of Education, and prior to that, ambassador of Liberia to Ghana. She was widowed a second time when G. Flamma Sherman died in 1999.

Dr. Mary Antoinette Brown Sherman was proud of her dual Liberian cultural heritage and she would often tell of her vai maternal origins and her West Indian paternal origins. She quietly passed away on June 3, 2004, in New Jersey, after a period of illness. She was an exceptional, phenomenal Woman, for young girls and women to emulate. She was a Liberian female educator and leader.