Abstract
Mabel Carney (1886-1969), was a well-known innovator in
Rural, African- American, and Colonial Education at Teachers
College, Columbia University (1919-42). Little attention has
been given to her work at the Kennedy School of Missions,
Hartford Theological Seminary (1928-42). This paper details
Carney’s interests and accomplishments in missionary training as
well as the conceptual difficulties she experienced in
integrating her professional ideas with her African-American and
African experiences regarding race, culture, and discrimination.
Her friendship with Charles T. Loram, Franz Boas, and W.E.B.
Dubois, and with the Editorial Board of the Journal of Negro
Education, broadened her exposure to racial and cultural issues.
Her travels in Africa and Canada also exposed her to new ideas
and modes of living. She steadily expanded and vitalized
Missionary Education at Hartford while also secularizing the
curriculum. The paper concludes by contextualizing her
accomplishments in the religious and social conflicts of her
active career and retirement.
