Quinn, Alfred Thomas Collection
Owning Institution: UCLA, Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies
About this Collection
Alfred Thomas Quinn (1922-2003) was a notable educator and civic leader in Santa Monica, California. His parents Minister Alfred Kerruthers Quinn and Essie Carolyn Quinn, nee Jones moved the family to California in 1924 where Alfred Quinn would attend a series of racially segregated grammar schools. The family moved to Santa Monica, CA in 1935 after Dr. Quinn's father became a founding minister to the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Santa Monica. Dr. Quinn attended William McKinley Junior High School in Santa Monica and matriculated to Santa Monica High School where he graduated in 1939. Quinn attended Santa Monica College (SMC) where he earned an Associate of Arts Degree in 1942 before enlisting in the armed forces, first in the Coast Guard and then the Army Air Corps. He married Sylvia Dorothy Pierce during his military service in 1943. During the war he was stationed in Italy. He worked in the Veterans Administration in Westwood and attended UCLA after he was honorably discharged from the Army Air Corps December 1945. In 1953 he became the first African American tenured teacher in the Santa Monica School District. He and his wife Dottie adopted their only child, Jill Renee. He joined the faculty at Santa Monica College in 1966. Quinn was appointed Dean of Student Services in 1980. He retired from Santa Monica College in 1988. In 1990 he was elected a trustee of the College and served in that capacity until 1997. View this collection on the contributor's website.View our statement on digital primary resources and historical description.
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