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the Hattie Mae White HISD Administration Building in Houston
Mae White was born in 1916 in Huntsville, Texas. White moved to Houston as a young girl and graduated as valedictorian from Booker T. Washington High Shcool previously known as Colored High School. White attended Houston Junior College and graduated with highest honors from Prarie View A&M.
White spent five years as a school teacher in various Texas towns before she returned to Houston and married optometrist Charles E. White in 1941. The Whites had five children and lived in Houston's Third Ward for awhile.
Hattie Mae White was the first black woman to be elected to the YWCA Metropolitan Board of Directors, where she served for six years. Hattie Mae White also served on many other local boards and committees including the Race Relations Committee of the Council of Churches of Greater Houston, the Administration Committee at the Blue Triangle Branch of the YMCA, program director of Jack and Jill of America, Inc. and member of the Board of Directors of the Houston Association for Better Schools.
In 1958 Hattie Mae White became the first black since Reconstruction elected to significant public office in Houston when she was elected to the Houston school board. She served a school district that remained segregated despite the 1954 Supreme Court ruling of Brown v Board of Education which stated that segregated public schools violated the Constitution.
The Houston Independent School District named their administration building the Hattie Mae White Administration Building in honor of White and all her years of service to the Houston community.we would be grateful to hear your personal stories, suggestions and comments