Anna Lewis

Anna Lewis (1885–1961) was a noted teacher, historian and writer, who specialized in American History, and particularly the History of the Southwest. Born in what was then Indian Territory to a family of mixed Choctaw and European Ancestry, she earned doctoral degrees from University of California, Berkeley (1915) and University of Oklahoma (1930). She was the first woman to receive a Ph. D. at the University of Oklahoma. Lewis spent her educational career at the Oklahoma College for Women (now the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (USAO)). She wrote two books and numerous articles for publications in her area of interest before retiring in 1956 to a home she had built in southern Oklahoma (the former Choctaw Nation before Oklahoma became a state). She died in 1961. 2Early life and education Lewis was born on October 25, 1885 near the town of Cameron in the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. Of mixed Choctaw and European ancestry, her parents were William Ainsworth Lewis and Betty Ann (née Moore). She was the fourth of ten children, three of whom died in childhoo