Vera Mae Green

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Vera Mae Green (1928–1982) was an American anthropologist, educator, and author who helped shape Caribbean studies, interethnic relations, Black family studies, poverty research, and international human rights. She was the first African‑American Caribbeanist and the first president of the Association of Black Anthropologists.

Early life and education
Born September 6, 1928, in Chicago, Green grew up in a poor urban neighborhood and attended public schools. An avid reader, she developed an interest in anthropology early on. Financial challenges briefly delayed her studies, but she earned a scholarship to study sociology and psychology at William Penn College in Oskaloosa, Iowa. She completed a BA in sociology at Roosevelt University in 1952, studying with noted scholars St. Clair Drake and Horace R. Cayton Jr. Drake encouraged her to pursue graduate work, but funding remained a barrier.

Career beginnings and advanced study
Green worked in Chicago social welfare roles, including group work, child welfare, and housing authority positions. She then pursued graduate study in New York City, earning an MA in anthropology from Columbia University in 1955. While at Columbia, she studied social stress, health, and disease, working with Charles Wagley and Eleanor Padilla, and she was mentored by Native American anthropologist Gene Weltfish. When Weltfish’s position came under attack during McCarthyism, Green supported her, which helped Green gain admission to Columbia’s PhD program. She earned her PhD in anthropology from the University of Arizona in 1969, after fieldwork in Aruba for her dissertation, Aspects of Interethnic Integration in Aruba, Netherlands Antilles, under Edward H. Spicer.

Fieldwork and collaboration
Green’s Caribbean fieldwork and her East Harlem research, along with her direct experience with poverty and social welfare, positioned her to contribute to Oscar Lewis’s study of urban poverty. In 1963 she served as a research assistant on the project that would become La Vida: A Puerto Rican Family in the Culture of Poverty—San Juan and New York, a book that won the National Book Award in 1967. Her Aruba dissertation and subsequent field notes helped shape Lewis’s work.

Academic and leadership roles
Green taught at the University of Iowa (1969) and the University of Houston (1969–1972) before joining Rutgers University in 1972. At Rutgers, she was a graduate advisor and chair of the Department of Anthropology, and later chaired Livingston College’s undergraduate division. From 1976 to 1982 she directed Rutgers’ Latin American Institute, attracting influential scholars and politicians to its programs. She also served on the Executive Council of the American Anthropological Association and helped found the Association of Black Anthropologists, serving as its first president. She hosted many meetings at her home and worked to connect Quaker scholars with anthropology.

Languages and religion
Green spoke Spanish, French, Urdu, Tamil, Dutch, German, and Papiamento. She was a Quaker, affiliated with the 57th Street Meeting of Friends, and she studied Black participation in Quakerism, presenting a report in 1973 titled Blacks and Quakerism: A Preliminary Report. She also contributed to Black Fire: African American Quakers on Spirituality and Human Rights.

Impact and publications
Green developed a methodological approach to Afro‑American anthropology that acknowledged diversity within Black communities and emphasized studying Black cultures in broader contexts. She published widely in the 1970s, including:
- The Confrontation of Diversity Within the Black Community (1970)
- The Black Extended Family in the United States: Some Research Suggestions (1978)
- Migrants in Aruba: Interethnic Integration (1974)
- Racial vs. Ethnic Factors in Afro-American and Afro-Caribbean Migration (1975)
- The Black Extended Family in The Extended Family in Black Societies (1978)
- International Human Rights: Contemporary Perspectives (co-edited with Jack Nelson, 1980)
- U.S. Blacks: The Creation of an Enduring People? (1981)
- Dominica in Political Parties of the Americas (1982)

Legacy
Green died January 17, 1982, at Princeton Medical Center in New Jersey. She left a lasting legacy as a pioneer for Black scholars in anthropology and Caribbean studies, and as a mentor to students of color. In recognition of her work, the Association of Black Anthropologists honored her in 1980 for her service and mentorship. She left her Caribbean art collection and other assets to support scholarships for Black and Puerto Rican students at Rutgers University and William Penn College, and to support the Zora Neale Hurston collection at the University of Florida. Her library and papers were placed at Tuskegee University. Johnnetta Cole wrote her eulogy, noting Green’s influence as a teacher and mentor.

Selected publications (a sample)
- The Confrontation of Diversity Within the Black Community (1970)
- Migrants in Aruba: Interethnic Integration (1974)
- The Black Extended Family in the United States: Some Research Suggestions (1978)
- International Human Rights: Contemporary Perspectives (1980, co-edited with Jack Nelson)
- U.S. Blacks: The Creation of an Enduring People? (1981)
- Dominica in Political Parties of the Americas (1982)