Haynes was born in 1890, to a dentist father and a mother very active in the Catholic church. In 1930, she received a master’s degree in education, and founded the math department at the University of the District of Columbia, which focused most of its work on educating black teachers. She then began work as a professor at that university, and during her time as the head of the math department, she became the first black woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics. From her series of positions as an authority figure, she was very vocal about the issues poor students had to deal with, and denounced the segregationist policies of the schools she worked for. She was also a devout Catholic and worked toward many religious causes and organizations centered toward furthering the fight against racial segregation. She passed away in 1980 at the age of 89. Legacy: For her work through the Catholic Church, Haynes was awarded a papal medal in 1959. When she passed away, the Catholic University of America endowed a chair and established a student loan fund in their education department from a bequest received from her estate.