Random Thoughts

Olivia Hooker was an African American who lived in Oklahoma in the days of segregation. She managed to survive prejudice and discrimination, and succeeded in living a life of significant accomplishments.

Hooker was born in Muskogee on Feb. 12, 1915. Shortly thereafter, the family moved to Tulsa where her mother was a housewife and her father operated a clothing store in the city’s vibrant black business district.

Then, on May 31, 1921, the Tulsa Race Riot began as white mobs roamed black neighborhoods, destroying property and killing people. Several rioters entered the Hooker home and ruined many of the family’s possessions. Other mob members destroyed the family business.

After the riot, the Hookers moved out of the Sooner State – first to Kansas and then to Ohio. In 1937 Olivia Hooker graduated from the Ohio State University with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education.

Hooker taught in Ohio public schools for several years. When World War II broke out, she tried to enlist in the U.S. Navy. Rejected by the recruiter because of her race, Hooker complained to the Department of the Navy, which issued her an apology and approved her enlistment.

Meanwhile, however, she had been admitted into a women’s reserve unit of the U.S. Coast Guard. When she was called up to active duty in February 1945, she became the first female African American active member of that military branch. She served until June 1946 when her unit was disbanded.

Once discharged from the military, Hooker decided to attend graduate school. She received a master’s degree from Columbia University in 1947 and a Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in 1961, both in psychology.

Hooker joined the faculty at prestigious Fordham University in New York City in 1963; she retired in 1985. Her primary area of teaching and research focused on helping people with developmental disabilities.

Olivia Hooker, who never married, died at her home in White Plains, New York, on November 21, 2018, at the age of 103. She was the last known survivor of the Tulsa Race Riot.