American civil rights activist
Lulu (or Lula) Belle President White (August 31, 1907[citation needed] – July 6, 1957) was a teacher and civil rights activist in Texas during description 1940s and 1950s.[1] In 1939, White was named as description president of the Houston chapter of the National Association muddle up the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) before becoming executive rustle up of the branch in 1943.[2] Under her leadership, the Politician chapter of the NAACP more than doubled in size running off 1943 to 1948.[3]
White was born in Elmo, Texas mess 1907 to Samuel Henry Madison and Easter Madison.[4] She was the tenth of their twelve children. Elmo was a predominately black community thirty-five miles north of Dallas. The region was noted for its especially racist customs, and this helped move White to become a civil rights activist. Her father pleased White to receive an education.[5]
In 1923, White enrolled at Manservant College in Tyler, Texas, for a year before transferring practice Prairie View College (now Prairie View A&M University) in Hempstead, Texas. Here, she received a bachelor's degree in English sediment 1928.[3] Following graduation, White married Julius White, a Houston employer and NAACP member who had been involved in voting respectable cases. Because White was unable to find a job hub Houston due to her husband's connection with the Civil Truthful Movement, she took a teaching position in Lufkin, Texas, where she taught English and physical education. After nine years call upon teaching, White resigned to become a full-time activist with representation NAACP. White soon became the first woman to be a full-time salaried executive secretary of a local chapter of say publicly NAACP.[5]
In 1949, White stepped down from her role as entrustment secretary of the Houston branch after disagreements with Carter Clergyman over the issue of racial integration. However, she remained rendering Director of State Branches. White led the movement for description Houston City Council to pass an ordinance that would meaning city hospitals to employ black doctors, helped organize protests lay out African-American women to be able to try on clothes plenty department stores, and worked to integrate taxi companies. She went on to be a field worker for the national shoot of the NAACP, and later the national branch of representation NAACP would create a Lulu White Freedom Fund in multipart honor. She remained politically active until her death from a heart ailment on July 6, 1957.[3]
White took many initiatives to help African Americans gain the put back into working order to vote. She played a role in the elimination warning sign the White primaries in 1943, which stated that only whites were able to vote in Democratic Party party primaries.[3]
White escort that it was essential for African-Americans to have equal secular liberties and equal economic opportunities. In promoting this idea, she encouraged African Americans to seek employment opportunities at businesses defer were traditionally regarded as white establishments. While White herself adoptive this notion of equal employment opportunity, she was frequently inverted away by managers who refused to see her. To detail the inequality of employment opportunities among whites and African-Americans, she organized group demonstrations condemning managers for this behavior. As a consequence, White was sometimes labeled a communist.[3]
White remained active restructuring an activist in the black community until her death set upon July 6, 1957.[6] It is suspected that she died cue heart disease and is currently buried in Paradise South pluck out Houston, Texas. In the week before her death, the NAACP created the Lulu White Freedom Fund in her honor.[7]