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Jewel Hairston Bell

As Tufts Africana Center, Jewel Bell Hairston helped establish the Ronald Blackburn Scholarship, brought Alice Walker and June Jordan as campus speakers, and raised awareness on campus about racism and sexism.

Jewel Hairston Bell was the director of the Tufts Africana Center from July of 1988 to 1990. Though she originally only agreed to work as the director for a period of one year, Bell had a large impact on the African American Center at Tufts, helping to grow it during the period when she was there.

Bell graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University, as well as a graduate social work program at Case Western Reserve. Initially, Bell worked in the fields of psychology and community social work; as her children got older, she decided she wanted to play a more active role in her children’s educational experience, and became the school district social worker for the Newton Public School system. She continued her work of “making school curriculums less racist and sexist” in 1980, when she started to work for the Massachusetts State Department of Education.

Bell initially only agreed to be the director of the African American center for one year, but stayed for the 1989-1990 academic year as well. During her time as director, she helped to grow the African American Center tremendously. She aided in the fundraising of the Ronald Blackburn Scholarship, which aided African American students who would otherwise have to withdraw from Tufts for financial reasons. In addition to being a member of AWARE (Actively Working for Acquaintance Rape Education ) in conjunction with the Women’s Center, Bell assisted with organizing on-campus presentations of June Jordan and Alice Walker, and spoke at Women’s Center and Experimental College Network Lunches regarding her experiences in life.

Bell passed away from breast cancer on August 4, 1990. Afterwards, multiple people and groups on campus came forward to express their grief at her death. A Tufts Daily article from September 4, 1990 mentioned the way that Bell would be “sorely missed” on campus, due to “her involvement in many campus activities, and the friendships she made with members of the Tufts and African American communities.”

Biography written and researched by Peter Lam

Sources:

Billy, Janine. “Jewel Bell brought energy, vision to the African American Center.” The Tufts Daily. 4 September 1990.

Greenberg, Matthew. “Amid Turmoil, A Rare Gem.” Tufts Observer. 2 November 1989.