Enolia McMillan

Enolia McMillan

with the Rev. John Wright marching to Ocean City's Boardwalk in 1986
Born (1904-10-20)October 20, 1904
Willow Grove, Pennsylvania,
United states
Died October 24, 2006(2006-10-24) (aged 102)
Stevenson, Maryland,
United states
Occupation Teacher, NAACP President
Spouse(s) Betha D. McMillan, Sr.

Enolia Pettigen McMillan (October 20, 1904 – October 24, 2006) was an African American educator, civil rights activist, and community leader and the first female national president of the NAACP.

Biography

Born Enolia Virginia Pettigen in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Elizabeth Fortune Pettigen and John Pettigen, a former slave. The family moved to Maryland in search of improved educational opportunities when she was eight.[1][2] Enolia Pettigen attended Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore, Maryland and later Howard University in Washington, D.C. with the help of a scholarship from Alpha Kappa Alpha and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in education in 1926.

She became a teacher in 1927 in Caroline County, Maryland teaching at Denton High School. In 1928, she became a principal in Charles County.[2] McMillan received a master's degree in 1933 from Columbia University. During her masters education, she began to question the Maryland public education system and used the topic for her master’s thesis entitled Some Factors Affecting Secondary Education for Negroes in Maryland Counties (Excluding Baltimore). The thesis attacked Maryland’s racist dual school system in the 1930s. She found that the system provided unequal school terms, salary scales and curricula. These effects of segregation prompted her to become President of the Maryland State Colored Teachers' Association and as Regional Vice-President of the National Association of Colored Teachers.[1] On Dec. 26, 1935, she married Betha D. McMillan, Sr. They had a son, Betha McMillan Jr., in 1940.[2] After the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling outlawing segregated public schools, she was one of the first Black teachers at a White school.[3] She retired from teaching in 1968.

In 1969, she defeated Juanita Mitchell, becoming president of the Baltimore Branch of the NAACP. During her presidency, the National Office was threatened with bankruptcy through legal proceedings against it in connection with a 1966 boycott of white merchants in Port Bigson, Mississippi in 1976. She launched a fundraising drive to help defray expenses and her efforts resulted in the Baltimore Branch raising the largest local contribution of $150,000.[1] This money also helped the NAACP to purchase the Baltimore building.[4]

In 1984, she became the first elected woman national president of the NAACP and held the position until 1990.[1] The role at the time was largely ceremonial, but McMillian had considerable influence in the organization’s policies and operations. Along with former NAACP Executive Director Benjamin Hooks, she is credited with organizing the organization’s move from New York to Baltimore in 1986.[2] She was an outspoken critic of the Reagan administration which she felt harmed the NAACP’s advocacy efforts in housing, education, employment and business.[5] During her tenure, she also helped Black businesses to receive federal contracts and in 1985 led a protest against the apartheid in Washington.[3]

In 1975, she was named the first female chair of the board of regents at Morgan State University.[3]

McMillan died October 24, 2006, in Stevenson, Maryland from heart failure just four days after celebrating her 102nd birthday. She is buried at King Memorial Park in Baltimore.[6]

Awards and Honors

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Enolia McMillan, activist for education | African American Registry". www.aaregistry.org. Retrieved 2015-05-06.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Enolia P. McMillan -- first woman named NAACP president". Retrieved 2015-05-06.
  3. 1 2 3 Inc, The Crisis Publishing Company (2012). The Crisis. The Crisis Publishing Company, Inc. Retrieved 2015-05-06.
  4. ↑ "Requiem 2006". Retrieved 2015-05-06.
  5. ↑ "Women Leaders Are Backbone of NAACP" (PDF). 2009. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  6. ↑ "King Memorial Park". King Memorial Park. Retrieved 2015-05-06.
  7. ↑ "The Women of the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame". msa.maryland.gov. Retrieved 2015-05-06.
  8. ↑ "UMBC: Office of the Provost". www.umbc.edu. Retrieved 2015-05-06.

Sources

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