Background
Elise was born in 1885. Her father, Doctor Peter Augustus Johnson, was one of the first African-American doctors in New York City.
Elise was born in 1885. Her father, Doctor Peter Augustus Johnson, was one of the first African-American doctors in New York City.
Elise became the first African-American graduate of the Girls" Technical School in 1903, and was elected president of her senior class. After graduating from high school, Elise earned a teaching certificate from the New York Training School for Teachers. She never received her bachelor"s degree, although she completed coursework at Hunter College, Columbia University and New York City College.
McDougald"s essay "The Double Task: The Struggle for Negro Women for Sex and Race Emancipation" was published in the March 1925 issue of Survey Graphic magazine, Harlem: The Mecca of the New Negro. This particular issue, edited by Alain Locke, helped usher in and define what is now known as the Harlem Renaissance. McDougald"s contribution to this magazine is an early example of African-American feminist writing.
Her mother was named Mary Elizabeth Johnson, an immigrant from the Isle of Wight.
Elise spent her early days growing up in Manhattan, but also spent summers in New Jersey, as her father"s family owned a truck farm there. Elise would later inherit and manage the farm.
Education Her teaching career began in 1905 at P.S. 11 in lower Manhattan. She resigned from P.S. 11 in 1911 to focus on her family.
In 1916 she went back to work as a vocational counselor at the Manhattan Trade School.
She then worked as an industrial secretary at the local branch of the National Urban League, where she started a survey documenting the working conditions of New York City’s African-American women. The survey was sponsored not only by the Urban League, but also the Women"s Trade Union League and the Young Women’s Christian Association. In 1935 she was appointed principal of P.S. 24, where her students included James Baldwin. She transferred after ten years to P.S. 119.
After her retirement in 1954, she remained active, writing a column in the Amsterdam News on Harlem schools, among other things.
Personal life Elise Johnson married twice. Her second husband was doctor Vernon A. Ayer.
They wed in 1928. She died at her home on June 10, 1971, at the age of 86.