Hazel Hainsworth Young

Hazel Anne Hainsworth Young (September 12, 1905 – July 3, 2009) was an American educator, clubwoman, and centenarian, based in Houston, Texas. She taught Latin in segregated schools for several decades.

Hazel Hainsworth Young
Hazel Hainsworth Young, from the 1925 yearbook of Howard University
Born
Hazel Anne Hainsworth

September 12, 1905
Navasota, Texas
DiedJuly 3, 2009
Houston, Texas
Occupation(s)Educator, clubwoman, philanthropist

Early life and education

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Hazel Anne Hainsworth (sometimes seen as Haynesworth) was born in Navasota, Texas and raised in Houston, the daughter of Harry A. Hainsworth and Beatrice Hainsworth. Her father was a postal carrier.[1] She remembered the Camp Logan Mutiny of 1917.[2]

Hainsworth graduated from Houston Colored High School, and from Howard University in 1925. She was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha.[3][4] She founded the first Alpha Kappa Alpha graduate chapter in the Houston area, in 1928.[5]

Career

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Hainsworth taught school in Houston for almost fifty years.[6] She taught Latin at Jack Yates High School in Houston after college, from 1926 to 1956, when she became the school's Dean of Girls. She later taught at Wheatley High School from 1959 to 1972.[7] She gave a video oral history interview in 2007 to the Houston Oral History Project.[2]

Honors

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The Yates High School library was named for Young in 2005, to mark her 100th birthday.[8] In May 2009, shortly before her death, she was given a “Special Lifetime Achievement Award” by the Houston Independent School District, in recognition of her long career.[6] Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has proposed that a post office in Houston be named for Young, in several House resolutions.[9][10][11]

Personal life

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Hazel Hainsworth married electrician Howard Young in 1940. They had a daughter, Marianne.[12] Hazel Young died in Houston in July 2009, aged 103 years.[6] (Her sister Maye Frances Hutson also lived to be 100 years old.)[13] The Hazel Hainsworth Young and Robert W. Hainsworth Papers are in the collection of the Houston Public Library.[7]

References

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  1. ^ Pruitt, Bernadette (2013-10-24). The Other Great Migration: The Movement of Rural African Americans to Houston, 1900-1941. Texas A&M University Press. p. 231. ISBN 978-1-60344-948-9.
  2. ^ a b Barrera, Elma. "Interview with Hazel Young", Houston Oral History Project (2007); 50 minutes, 52 seconds video online.
  3. ^ Howard University, The Bison (1925 yearbook): 51.
  4. ^ "Alpha Kappa Alpha Ushers in Centennial Year". The Urban News. 2008-01-11. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  5. ^ "Collection: Hazel Hainsworth Young Collection". Houston Public Library Archives. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  6. ^ a b c Zheng, Zen T. C. (2009-07-10). "Longtime HISD educator Hazel Young dies at 103". Chron. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  7. ^ a b "Collection: Hazel Hainsworth Young and Robert W. Hainsworth Papers". Houston Public Library Archives. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  8. ^ Goode, J (July 9, 2009). "Hazel's Legacy". Houston Style Magazine. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  9. ^ Willis, Derek (2015-08-12). "H.R.3456: To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1900 West Gray Street in Houston, Texas, as the "Hazel Hainsworth Young Post Office Building"". ProPublica. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  10. ^ "US Congress HR78". TrackBill. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  11. ^ Jackson Lee, Sheila (2013-01-03). "Text - H.R.76 - 113th Congress (2013-2014): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1900 West Gray Street in Houston, Texas, as the "Hazel Hainsworth Young Post Office Building"". www.congress.gov. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  12. ^ "Scholarship Overview". Ivy Educational & Charitable Foundation of Houston, Alpha Kappa Omega Chapter. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  13. ^ "Maye Hutson Obituary - Houston, TX". Dignity Memorial. Retrieved 2022-02-03.