Byas, Ulysses

Ulysses Byas, African American educator and administrator, was born in Macon, Georgia on June 23, 1924. After serving in the United States Naval Reserve during World War II, Byas graduated from Fort Valley State College in 1950. He earned a Master of Arts in Education Administration from Columbia University in 1951, in addition to a Doctorate of Education from the University of Massachusetts in 1977. After serving as principal of several schools in Georgia, Dr. Byas became the first African American principal of Macon County Public Schools in Tuskegee, Alabama in 1970. In 1977, he then became the superintendent of the Roosevelt Union Free School District, where he served for ten years before he retired in 1987. Upon his retirement, the elementary school in the district was renamed the Ulysses Byas Elementary School. Dr. Byas married Annamozel Boyd on July 5, 1953 and has four children.