Eugenia Adeline Woods Collection

Born in Yazoo City, Mississippi on February 15, 1904 to Henry and Mary Woods, Eugenia Adeline Woods grew up on her parent’s farm in Beat 3 of Yazoo County. Though most African Americans in Mississippi were tenant farmers or sharecroppers, her parents owned their own farm right outside of Yazoo City. She was the oldest of seven children, and she learned to read and write at a young age. Thus, her parents sent her to study at Tougaloo College in the state capitol, Jackson, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in the early 1920s. By 1930, she had moved to Tallulah, Louisiana and accepted a position as a Home Demonstration Agent for the Cooperative Extension Service. In a few years, she moved to Huntsville in Walker County, Texas, where she worked in the same role for several years. In 1940, she lived and worked as a Home Demonstration Agent in Cameron, Milam County, Texas. From May 1943 to November 1945, she served as a state emergency food specialist at PVAMU. She and other African American district agents and administrators presented radio broadcasts to encourage African Americans to “save and share” during World War II. However, by 1950, she had moved back to Yazoo City to take care of her elderly parents, who were now in their seventies, and she starting working as a secretary for a local service station. Ms. Woods passed away on November 6, 1964, and she was buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Yazoo City. You can also visit the PVAMU Faculty & Administrators Finding Aid PV Panther Project website https://pvpantherproject.com/project/eugenia-adeline-woods-papers/"