Ena L. Farley, Ph.D.

Ena L. Farley, Ph.D., noted historian, Professor Emerita at SUNY–Brockport, and former member of the Board of Regents for the State of New York, passed away on August 4, 2024, at the age of eighty-five. She was the loving wife and widow of Rawle Farley, Ph.D. (d. 2010), and a devoted mother to their four sons, Anthony, Felipe, Christopher, and Jonathan, as well as to her stepson Jeremy Farley (d. 2003) and her nephew Jay Callender. 

Born in Jamaica to lifelong educators Edna Morris and Richard Morris, Dr. Farley was a brilliant professor, and a tireless public servant. With the encouragement of their parents, the boys of the Farley household won academic prizes, set sports records, and were team captains at Brockport High School before going on to university, to graduate school or law school, and out into the world. She loved and admired her siblings, Rosalie Markes, M.Sc.; George Morris, D.D.S.; Edna Marie Clarke B.S.N. (d. 1995); Hyacinth Anglin, M.B.A.; and David A.N. Morris, Ph.D. (d. 2017), and her six grandchildren, all of whom are university students or recent university graduates, Obadiah, Elisha, Sarah, Dylan, Astrid, and Emma. 

Dr. Farley earned her Ph.D. in American History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, her Master’s in Education at the Putney Graduate School of Teacher Education in Vermont, and her Bachelor of Arts in History (with honors) from the University of London, University College of the West Indies. She was a proud graduate of the Wolmer’s High School for Girls in Jamaica, founded in 1729 C.E., “the oldest school for girls in the Western Hemisphere.” 

 Dr. Farley retired in 1995 as Professor and Chairperson for the Department of African & Afro-American Studies at SUNY Brockport, where she taught since 1973; she previously served as Assistant Professor of American History at SUNY Buffalo. Dr. Farley taught countless students and authored dozens of academic articles and a book, Ena L. Farley, The Underside of Reconstruction New York: The Struggle Over the Issue of Black Equality (Garland Press, NY: 1993). 

Dr. Farley served as a Regent for the New York State Board of Regents from 1997-2002. Prior to serving on the New York State Board of Regents, she served as a member of Brockport Central School Districts Board of Education. First elected to Brockport’s BOE in 1986, she served through 1989 and was reelected to serve from 1989-1994. Awarded the James C. Fallon Distinguished Service Award by the BOE in 2020, Dr. Farley’s name has been added to the plaque which is displayed in Brockport’s Board of Education Room in the District Office. In 1998, on the 50th Anniversary of the University of the West Indies, she and her husband were honored for their many contributions, with all four of their sons present in Jamaica for the ceremony.

A celebration of Dr. Farley’s life will take place at the Brockport Free Methodist Church, her church home for over fifty years, at 11am on September 7, 2024. 

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ena L. Farley Memorial Scholarship for African & African American Studies at SUNY Brockport either online at https://alumni.brockport.edu/give or via check mailed to The Brockport Foundation, 350 New Campus Drive, Brockport, NY 14420."