Dr. Jane J. Martin

Dr. Jane J. Martin, Author, Educator, Expert on African History

Dr. Jane Jackson Martin of Clarks Summit, PA, died peacefully April 14 ^th at the Jewish Home of Eastern Pennsylvania in Scranton after a long illness.  She would have been 89 on April 29 ^th .

Dr. Martin spent much of her professional life as a teacher, first at Dana Hall School and Milton Academy, and then working in various capacities with Africans and Americans for the advancement of African peoples.  Her first African experience was in Liberia in 1961, when she worked with Liberian teachers and the Ministry of Education as a member of Operation Crossroads Africa.  She taught African History at several institutions of higher learning in the United States as well as at the University of Liberia and the University of Calabar in Nigeria.  From 1984 to 1989, Dr. Martin was the Executive Director of the U.S. Educational and Cultural Foundation in Liberia, a binational Fulbright Commission.  In the 1990's, as Senior Program Officer at the African American Institute in New York City, she directed the Liberia Watch program as that country descended into a protracted civil war.  She brought together African human rights groups, African women's organizations, Liberian Americans and former Peace Corps Volunteers to stay up to date on conditions in the country and to find ways to help the citizens. After her retirement in 1997, she worked with a non-profit organization called Friends of Liberia (FOL) as an official observer of the elections designed to end the hostilities.  She joined the FOL Board of Trustees and served for fourteen years as an advisor to its post-war teacher training intervention.  As a member of the African Women and Peace Support Group, she was one of the authors of "Liberian Women Peacemakers: Fighting for the Right to be Seen, Heard and Counted", published in 2004.

Dr. Martin was active in the Covenant Presbyterian Church in Scranton, and in the partnership between Presbyterian churches of Ghana's Brong-Ahafo region and the Presbytery of Lackawanna, Pennsylvania.  An appreciator of African art, she learned from and worked with curators and programs of African art in New York, Boston, Monrovia, Liberia, and Calabar, Nigeria.  She was a volunteer curator of African Art at the Everhart Museum in Scranton, PA, where she helped develop its African art exhibit.  Her personal collection of African art was gifted to Bryn Mawr College.  Jane was an active volunteer in SCOLA and was fortunate to have maintained close friendships with many participants.  Outgoing, faithful and generous, she loved to travel, and enjoyed friendships with many people around the world.

Dr. Martin was born in 1931, the daughter of Elfric H. and Katharine J. Martin.  She is survived by her brothers, Peter C. Martin (Nancy) of Fort Myers, FL, and the Rev. Richard B. Martin (Anne) of RiverWoods Exeter, NH; her cousin Samantha Weaver of Clarks Summit, and many nieces and nephews.  She graduated from Central High School in Scranton and Bryn Mawr College, where she earned her BA and MA degrees.  Dr. Martin received her Ph.D. in African History from Boston University.  The family is especially grateful to Ignacio, Sandra and Isaac Diaz for their loving devotion to Jane.

Gifts in her memory may be given to: Friends of Liberia, c/o Treasurer David Holmes, 9524 Heather Court, Blue Ash, OH  45242. A Memorial Service and Celebration of Life will take place in the Fall.