Avery Hood papers

Avery McConnell Hood was born on December 2, 1911, to Dr. Daniel Edward McConnell and Pansy Avery Traywick McConnell in Gastonia, N.C. She graduated in 1932 with a sociology degree from the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, now known as University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In 1933, she married Richard Lewis Dandridge "Dan" Hood. Hood finished her graduate work at Columbia University's New York School of Social Work and soon found a position with the Red Cross, working in Manhattan and the Bronx. She also took coursework at Hunter College in supervision, and at the New School for Social research in child development. In 1938, the Hoods moved to Mecklenburg County, N.C. and soon were able to find positions in social work with the Mecklenburg County Department of Welfare. Around 1945, Avery Hood went to work as child welfare supervisor, and later worked for the Alexander Children's Center as their first case-worker. The Hoods soon began taking foster children into their home, from the late 1940s through the mid 1950s, as an alternative to the juvenile jail. In 1962, Avery Hood accepted a position with the Redevelopment Commission of the City of Charlotte. Hood also spent many years as a Girl Scout leader and was active in several other organizations of various sorts in the Charlotte area. Avery Hood died on December 3, 1996, in Mecklenburg County, N.C.