Mary T. Washington Wylie ’41 made history as the first Black woman in the U.S. to become a certified public accountant (CPA). After graduating high school, she worked for Binga State Bank, where she trained under Arthur Wilson, the second Black CPA in the U.S.
Washington Wylie started her own accounting practice in her basement in 1939. Wilson encouraged her to continue her education, and she attended Northwestern, where she was the only woman in her graduating class to earn a degree in business. But due to widespread racism and sexism, no firm would hire her. So Washington Wylie founded her own firm. She brought on two other Black CPAs as partners at Washington, Pittman & McKeever and made the firm a launching pad for the next generation of Black CPAs.
By the 1960s, Chicago had the country’s highest concentration of Black CPAs, thanks in no small part to Washington Wylie’s mentorship. She retired in 1985 and died in 2005.
In 2018, Washington, Pittman & McKeever was acquired by Mitchell Titus, where a division still operates today. That same year, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel ’85 MA declared Sept. 30 Mary T. Washington Wylie Day, to celebrate her legacy.
Today, the Illinois CPA Society’s Mary T. Washington Wylie Opportunity Fund continues her mission of supporting aspiring Black accountants.
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