Thelma Dewitty (1912-1977) joined the faculty of Seattle Public Schools in September 1947, one of the first two Black teachers hired by the district. Dewitty previously taught in Texas for 14 years, but segregationist policies there prevented her from attending graduate school, and she moved to Seattle to study at the University of Washington. Dewitty was hired in 1947 to teach second grade at Cooper Elementary School in West Seattle, then later taught at Sandpoint, John Hay, and Laurelhurst Elementary Schools, and retired in 1973 from Meany Junior High School. Dewitty was also active in the Seattle Branch of the NAACP, and served as its president in the late 1950s. She also served on the State Board Against Discrimination and on the Board of Theater Supervisors for Seattle and King County.
This photo of Thelma Dewitty was taken the day after she arrived in Seattle from Corpus Christie, Texas in September 1947.
Caption information source: "Dewitty, Thelma (1912-1977)" by Mary Hendry, HistoryLink.org Essay 1163 Caption information source: “Seattle first hires black teacher in 1947,” Seattle Times, September 10, 2016. Retrieved at https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-first-hires-black-teacher-in-1947-and-her-students-brought-her-flowers/ Caption information source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 4, 1947, p. 5.
