Alcenya Crowley facts for kids

Alcenya Crowley (April 3, 1926 – September 12, 2010), born Alcenya McElwain, was an American-born Canadian educator and activist.

Early life and education

Alcenya McElwain was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the daughter of William McElwain. She was educated at the Minneapolis School of Business. She later studied marketing at Ryerson University and earned a degree in political science from York University.

Career

Crowley worked in a law office, in an accountant's office, at the Metropolitan Children's Aid Society, and then as a secretary for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She later taught business for the Toronto District School Board, retiring in 1991.

Crowley joined the Canadian Negro Women's Association (CANEWA), later the Congress of Black Women of Canada. She served as vice-president from 1957 to 1958 and as president from 1959 to 1960. She chaired CANEWA's first Calypso Carnival, drawing on the cultures of the organization's Caribbean-born members. She represented CANEWA at the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr.

Personal life

She married a Canadian podiatrist, William Richard "Buddy" Crowley, in 1951, and moved to Toronto with him.

Crowley was widowed when her husband died in 1963; she died in Credit Valley Hospital in 2010, at the age of 84.