The University of Iowa Libraries

Educator James Claude Wright was born in Kansas in 1903. He received his B.A. from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and his M.A. from the University of Iowa. He spent twenty-seven years in the Keokuk school system, first as a teacher and coach, then as the high school principal, and finally as the superintendent of schools. In 1955, Wright was appointed State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Iowa. He was responsible for closing many small town schools and reorganizing many Iowa school districts. Because of these and other controversial actions, he was not reappointed in 1960. Moving to Washington, D.C. in 1961, he became secretary of the Committee for the Advancement of School Administration. In 1963, he accepted the position of director of education in American Samoa. Returning to the continental United States, he became a professor of education at Northeast Missouri State Teachers College in Kirksville, Missouri. He remained there until his retirement.