Augusta Braxton Baker - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

Augusta Braxton Baker was born on April 1, 1911 in Baltimore, Maryland. Both of her parents were schoolteachers, who instilled in her a love of reading. During the day while her parents worked, her grandmother, Augusta Fax (from whom she received her name) cared for and told her stories. Baker delighted in these stories, carrying her love for them throughout her life. She learned to read before starting elementary school, later enrolling in the (racially segregated) black high school where her father taught, and graduating at the age of 16. Baker then entered the University of Pittsburgh, where she both met and married James Baker by the end of her sophomore year.

Relocating with her husband to New York, Baker sought to transfer to Albany Teacher’s College (now the State University of New York at Albany), only to be met with racial opposition from the college. It was then the wife of Franklin Roosevelt (who was then the Governor of New York), Eleanor, who was on the board of the Albany Interracial Council (now the Albany Urban League) and heavily advocated for Baker’s successful transfer. Though the college did not want to admit blacks, they also did not want to oppose the governor's wife, and Baker was admitted. She completed her education there, earning a B.A. in education in 1933 and in 1934 became the first African American to graduate from the college with a B.S. in library science.