to North Carolina, where she taught at Slater Normal School, creating generations of teachers, one of the most critical and prestigious professions in the South. Later the school expanded its curriculum to become a full university, now called Winston-Salem State University. Berry met her husband, Samuel J. Shields, in New York City in 1913. They had six children together. The Shields family moved to South Carolina. There Joanna Shields worked as an educator at Central School in Darlington. In 1920, with financial support of the Rosenwald Fund, she increased the school year for African-American children from three to six months. Two years later, Shields and her family moved back to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Shields began to participate more in civic and religious activities. She was secretary at the Wentz Memorial Church and worked with the church's nursery school. In 1937 Shields and her family returned to New York City. There Shields taught English at Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx until 1943. Shields also was active in community groups, such as the Harlem YMCA, NAACP, Negro History Club, and the National Council of Negro Women. She was instrumental as an advocate for consumers and senior citizen's rights by serving on the Mayor's Committee on Human Rights and the Consumers Protective Committee. She worked in the voter's registration movement. She volunteered to care for the sick and ill by visiting hospitals and sewing. She died on February 2, 1965, in New York City. References External links Biography at Virginia Commonwealth University Honoring the Past: Alpha Kappa Alpha Founders Centennial Celebration: Founders 1884 births 1965 deaths Alpha Kappa Alpha founders 20th-century American educators Howard University alumni People from Manassas, Virginia 20th-century African-American educators