Hidden Figures: Mary Hamilton #BlackHERstoryMonth 29/29 (Patreon)

Hidden Figures: Mary Hamilton #BlackHERstoryMonth 29/29

Mary Lucille Hamilton (October 13, 1935 – November 11, 2002) was a Black American civil rights activist whose case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Hamilton v. Alabama, decided that a Black American was entitled to the same courteous forms of address customarily reserved solely to whites in the Southern United States, and that calling a black person by his or her first name in a legal proceeding was "a form of racial discrimination”. Hamilton was born October 13, 1935, to Robert Emerson DeCarlo and Elizabeth Winston Hamilton. She grew up primarily in Iowa and Colorado graduating from East Denver High School in Denver, Colorado in 1953. She briefly taught parochial school in Los Angeles, due to her original goal of becoming a nun, but after discovering socialism, she became active in the Civil Rights Movement, and joined the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), becoming a Freedom Rider. She was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1961 for her participation in the Freedom Rides and her efforts to register Black voters, yet she continued to engage in non-violent protest. Hamilton rose to the position of "field secretary", the only female field secretary at CORE the time, only the third one in CORE's history, and eventually she became CORE's Southern regional director- a rare level of authority for a woman. After being arrested in Lebanon, Tennessee, Hamilton informed local officials to address her not as Mary, but as "Miss" or "Mrs.": “If you don't know how to speak to a lady...then get out of my cell.” In Gadsden, Alabama, in 1963, Hamilton was again arrested for picketing and brought before the court for sentencing; when officials refused to call her Miss Hamilton, she refused to answer. Ordered by the judge to answer the prosecutor and apologize, Hamilton refused again, insisting, "My name is Miss Hamilton," and was fined $50 and sentenced to five days in jail for contempt of court. Her lawyers appealed the case, saying that the prosecutor and judge had denied Hamilton her constitutional rights by treating her differently from the way they treated white witnesses, and refusing to address her with respect as ‘Ms.'. While her case was initially denied by the Alabama Supreme Court, she appealed, and eventually her case landed before the Supreme Court in Hamilton v. Alabama. In April 1964, Supreme Court justices issued a summary reversal, overruling the Alabama courts, and ruling that a court could not address black witnesses differently than white ones. The case made national headlines and landed Hamilton on the cover of Jet magazine, but left her tired and in ill health. She retired from active protest work to become a union organizer and teacher, receiving her B.S. from Briarcliff College in Briarcliff Manor and her M.A.T. (Master of Arts in Teaching) in 1971 from Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York. Miss Mary Hamilton died on November 11, 2002 at the age of 67. #HiddenFigures #MaryHamilton ****************** Merchandise! MAKE SURE U GETTA SHIRT!! https://www.teepublic.com/user/sssseren Follow me on social media! Instagram: @sensei_aishitemasu Personal Tumblr: http://sensei-aishitemasu.tumblr.com Tumblr for my work: https://sssseren.tumblr.com Snapchat: sssseren GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/tc5wh7q Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seren_sensei ****************** Did you know I wrote a book? ☺️ 'So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture' Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/About-That-Contemporary-Essays-Culture-ebook/dp/B013V0CHK6 Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013V0CHK6 Digital download (e-book): https://gumroad.com/l/IkUa ****************** Links: When 'Miss' Meant So Much More: How One Woman Fought Alabama — And Won: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/11/30/567177501/when-miss-meant-so-much-more-how-one-woman-fought-alabama-and-won Mary Hamilton Wesley, 67; Civil Rights Activist Challenged Segregation: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-dec-12-me-passings12.3-story.html Mary Hamilton: https://tminstituteldf.org/tmi-explains/thurgood-marshall-institute-briefs/tmi-briefs-active-voice/mary-hamilton MARY HAMILTON WESLEY: CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST KNOWN FOR THE “MISS MARY CASE:” https://blackthen.com/mary-hamilton-wesley-civil-rights-activist-known-miss-mary-case/ 'How 2 Women Fought To Be Called 'Miss' And 'Ms.': https://www.tspr.org/post/how-two-women-fought-be-called-miss-and-ms Mary Hamilton: https://aaregistry.org/story/mary-hamilton-born/ Mary Hamilton (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Hamilton_(activist)