Doris Glymph Greene was born in Columbia, S.C. She graduated in 1959 from Booker T. Washington High School, the first black high school in Richland County, where she was student council president and class valedictorian. Greene went on to graduate magna cum laude from Benedict College and the University of South Carolina (M.Ed).
Greene is a life-long educator who began her professional career teaching English at C.A. Johnson High School. She was an English instructor at Benedict College and an adult education instructor in Richland School District Two. Greene was honored as theteacher of the year in her second year on the faculty at Midlands Technical College in 1976 and was the college’s first African American English instructor.
Greene established the Booker T. Washington High School Foundation to preserve the history of the school that closed in 1974. She served as the Foundation’s president from 1977-1987 and has been president emeritus since 1987.
In 1978, the S.C. Department of Education recruited Greene as the first African American woman to join the Office of Adult Education as an educational consultant, a position traditionally held by men because of the nighttime travel requirement. After retiring in 1993, Greene was adjunct professor at Benedict College, coordinated an intergenerational program at Alcorn and W. A. Perry middle schools in partnership with Columbia College, as well as produced educational programs for SCETV and SC Public Radio.
Among her many honors, Greene has been recognized as a Woman of Distinction by the S.C. Commission on Women and a RichlandSchool District One Hall of Fame inductee. She has held local and state leadership roles in education, civic, and religious organizations such as Northminster Presbyterian Church, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., South Carolina Church Women United, and Alpha Kappa Mu Honor Society. Greene chaired numerous Delta Sigma Theta committees and was honored for her 60-year membership in 2021.
Greene and her late husband, Milton, have three children, four grandchildren, and two great-granddaughters.
Presented through a partnership between the South Carolina Department of Education and South Carolina ETV.
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