Born: 20 October 1904, United States
Died: 24 October 2006
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Enolia Virginia Pettigen
African-American educator and civil rights activist Enolia McMillan was the first woman to serve as president of the NAACP (the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).
McMillan graduated from Howard University in 1926 with a Bachelor’s in education, supported by a scholarship from the African-American sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. She went on to complete her Master’s from Columbia University in 1933, where her thesis was titled Some Factors Affecting Secondary Education for Negroes in Maryland Counties (Excluding Baltimore) and called out the state’s racially segregated school system for its unequal school terms, salary levels and curricula.
McMillan had firsthand experience, having begun teaching in Maryland’s Denton High School in 1927 and becoming a principal the following year at a different school. She later became president of the Maryland State Colored Teachers’ Association and regional vice-president of the National Association of Colored Teachers, and was named the first woman to chair the Morgan State University board of regents in 1975.
Retiring from teaching in 1968, McMillan became president of the NAACP’s Baltimore chapter the next year. During this period, the national organization was at risk of bankruptcy; under McMillan’s fundraising efforts, the Baltimore branch was able to raise $150,000, the largest contribution of any local arm of the organization.
In 1984, McMillan became President of the NAACP, serving in the role until 1990. Although largely ceremonial at the time, the position was influential and she was a driving force in relocating the head office from New York to Baltimore in 1986. She also worked to help African-American-owned businesses gain federal contracts and led a 1985 protest in Washington, D.C. opposing apartheid in South Africa.
McMillan was inducted into the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame in 1990, received an honorary degree from the University of Maryland in 1991 and had a Baltimore street renamed Enolia P. McMillan Way in 2000.
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