Olivia Hooker, First Black Woman In The Coast Guard, DEAD @ 103
Dr. Olivia Hooker was one of the last survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riots.
Born Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1915 and six years old when her father’s clothing store was burnt by the Klu Klux Klan. It was one of the country’s worst race riots that took place in a Tulsa neighborhood known as “Black Wall Street” in 1921.
Born Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1915 and six years old when her father’s clothing store was burnt by the Klu Klux Klan. It was one of the country’s worst race riots that took place in a Tulsa neighborhood known as “Black Wall Street” in 1921.
Her family moved to Ohio where she would graduate from Ohio State University and became a third grade teacher for several years in Columbus.
President Franklin Roosevelt opened the female military corps to all minority groups by the mid-1940 which opened the door for Hooker to enlist in the Coast Guard. She was the first African-American woman in history to join the military branch.
Upon her death Coast Guard spokesman Barry Lane told the AP Hooker “was a national treasure, she was a very special lady.”
Comments