Samuel Eugene Kelly (1926-2009)

January 23, 2015 
/ Contributed By: Quin'Nita F. Cobbins-Modica

| |Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center

Samuel Kelly

Image Ownership: Public Domain

Samuel Eugene Kelly, soldierย and educator, was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, on January 26, 1926, to James Handy Kelly, a minister, and Essie Matilda Allen-Kelly, a homemaker.ย  Educated at Greenwich public schools, Kelly dropped out of high school in 1943 and joined the United States Army the following year. Although he entered the Army as an eighteen-year-old private, fifteen months later, he completed Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia. In August 1945, he was commissioned asย a Second Lieutenant. With World War II over in the same month, Kelly became part of the U.S. occupying forces in Japan, serving there until 1950.

After the Korean conflict began, Kelly was assigned to South Korea in 1951, where he became one of the first African American officers to command an integrated combat unit. He fought in Korea for the next sixteen months, facing both North Korean and Chinese Army troops. In 1950, Kelly married Joyce Estella Lyle. The couple had three children: William Lyle Kelly (1952) and twins Brenda Joyce and Sharon Yvonne (1956).

Kelly returned to the United States in 1952 and two years later joined the 188th Airborne Regimental Combat Team at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He also took other assignments that led to his promotion through the ranks to Colonel in 1966. His last post before retirement was at Fort Lewis, Washington.

Kelly continued to pursue educational credentials while in the Army.ย  In 1948, he completed high school, and in 1959, he received a B.A. in history from West Virginia State. One year later, he received an M.A. in history from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.

Upon retiring from the U.S. Army in 1966, Kelly became an educator. At the age of 40, he became the first African American hired in the Washington State Community College System when he began teaching at Everett Junior College in Everett, Snohomish County, Washington. By 1967, Kelly had begun teaching history at Shoreline Community College in Shoreline, Washington, where he developed one of the first Black Studies programs in the United States. Kelly was also a member of Omega Psi Phi and Sigma Pi Phi fraternities.

Because of his profile at Shoreline Community College, in 1970, Kelly was hired as the first Vice President for Minority Affairs at the University of Washington. Although the post did not require another degree, Kelly, despite the demands of a full-time administrative post, enrolled in the Ph.D. program at the University of Washington, completing the degree in 1971.ย  He was also appointed to the faculty of the College of Education that same year.

Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center, University of Washington (Quintard Taylor Collection)

Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center, University of Washington (Quintard Taylor Collection)

Kelly remained at the University of Washington until 1982. Heading the Office of Minority Affairs during the 1970s, he fashioned policies to bring thousands of students of color and economically disadvantaged white students to the University of Washington. At the same time, he helped the institution establish a commitment to diversify its student body, faculty, administrators, and staff long before the concept was prevalent at most American colleges and universities.

After the death of his first wife, Kelly married Donna Schaplow, an administrator in the University of Washington personnel department. The couple had one son, Samuel Eugene Kelly, Jr., born in 1985.

In 1991, Kelly began a third career as a teacher-administrator at Portland OIC/Rosemary Anderson Middle and High School in Portland, Oregon. For the next thirteen years, he helped troubled inner-city students complete high school while he led successful fundraising campaigns to expand the schoolโ€™s programs.ย  In 2004, at the age of 78, Kelly retired as President/CEO of the Anderson School.

Dr. Samuel Kelly passed away on Monday, July 6, 2009, at his home in Redmond, Washington.ย  He was 83.

About the Author

Author Profile

Quinโ€™Nita Cobbins-Modica is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she teaches courses in African American and civil rights history.ย  Her teaching and research focus on the history of black womenโ€™s social activism and politics, particularly in the American West.ย  Her most recent article, โ€œLet Usโ€ฆTake Our Places in Public Affairs: Black Womenโ€™s Political Activism in the Pacific Northwest, 1870-1920,โ€ explores the early political activities of western black women and the ways they wielded their electoral and political influence to help shape concepts of freedom and progressive politics in the region.ย  Currently, she is working on a forthcoming manuscript that examines the long history of black womenโ€™s organizing tradition, political engagement, and activism in Seattle that extended well beyond formal politics and the fight for womenโ€™s suffrage. While illuminating African American history in the Pacific Northwest, her work offers an expansive new interpretation of the symbiotic relationship between womenโ€™s activism, civil rights, and public service.

As a strong supporter of public history and the digital humanities, Cobbins-Modica works with local historical institutions and organizations and also contributes to online public-facing history projects. She is presently a participant in the Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau Program, delivering engaging lectures across urban and rural areas in Washington state and highlighting the central role black women played in the stateโ€™s civil rights movement.ย  She has served as a researcher and guest teaching lecturer for the Northwest African American History Museum and as a gallery exhibit reviewer, exhibition co-curator, and historical consultant for the Museum of History & Industry in Seattle. In 2017, she co-authored a book,ย Seattle on the Spot,ย that explored photographs of Black Seattle through the lens of photographer, Al Smith. She also has published articles profiling western black women activists for the Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000ย digital project.

Since 2013, Cobbins-Modica has been a dedicated member of the BlackPast.org team, having worked in several capacities, including webmaster, content contributor, associate editor, and executive director.

She completed her Ph.D in History at the University of Washington with a Bachelor's degree in History from Fisk University and a Masterโ€™s degree in History from the University of Georgia.

CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Cobbins-Modica, Q. (2015, January 23). Samuel Eugene Kelly (1926-2009). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/kelly-samuel-eugene-1926-2009/

Source of the Author's Information:

Samuel E. Kelly (with Quintard Taylor), Dr. Sam: Soldier, Educator,
Advocate, Friend, An Autobiography
(Seattle: University of Washington
Press, 2010).

Further Reading