Mary Antoinette Brown Sherman (October 27, 1926 – June 3, 2004) was a Liberian educator, and the first woman to serve as president of a university in Africa.
Her father was an Americo-Liberian, or Congo, government official who became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia.
Her mother was from the Vai ethnic group, and was raised in the household of Joseph J. Cheeseman, the twelfth president of Liberia.
Mary Antoinette Brown was appointed Dean of the Teachers' College at the University of Liberia in 1958, and later vice president for academic affairs (1975-1978).
[5] In 1980, President Samuel K. Doe attempted to appoint Sherman as his secretary of education, but she declined the offer.
[6] In 1984, Sherman was dismissed from the university after the Liberian Army violently invaded the campus, and effectively shut down the school for several years.