September 16, 2024 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Dr. Olivia Hooker tells the story of how and why she joined the U.S. Coast Guard.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
And we continue with our American stories. And we now
bring you the story of an extraordinary woman who was
an inspiration not only for women of color, but an
inspiration to all who knew her name, Doctor Olivia Hooker.
Here's Stacy Edwards with her story.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Ten years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her
seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus, and eighteen years before
Martin Luther King Junior delivered his I Have a Dream speech,
Olivia Hooker became the first African American woman to join
the US Coast.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Guard nineteen forty five. I joined March the ninth, was
the day we went on duty. We had been campaigning
for that privilege, but nobody joined. I kept watching the
new papers that I thought to campaign for certain civil
(01:07):
rights and then not use them. To me is very funeral,
and somebody orted to join up at the campaign.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Born in Muscogee, Oklahoma, Olivia was just seven years old
when her house was ransacked and burned by members of
the KKK during the Tulsa Race riots of nineteen twenty one.
Will Her and her three siblings hid under a table.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
There were times when I didn't know about prejudice because
the only people that I had seen who were not
African American were people who wanted to sell things to
my father, and they brought presents for the children and
(01:53):
listened to my sister play back, and all kinds of
things to show how int they were. So I was
totally surprised when the disaster happened.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Wasn't a riot.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
We were really the victims, but it took eighty years
before we got an apology from the mayor of Tulsa
and they admitted that we were the victims. Of course,
we got no monetary reimburshment, but at least they apologized.
(02:32):
After eighty years.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
After the riots, her family moved to Columbus, Ohio, where
she earned her Bachelor of Arts in nineteen thirty seven
from Ohio State University. While at OSU, she joined the
Delta Sigma Theta sorority, where she advocated for African American
women to be admitted to the US Navy.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
You see, there were no people of our race in
the Navy, not no girls. We had been campaigning for
that privilege, but nobody joined. I kept watching the newspapers,
and I thought to campaign for certain civil rights and
(03:13):
then not use them. To me, it's very futile, and
somebody ought to join up after the campaign. So I thought, well,
if I go and I survived, maybe someone else will come.
Although I had applied for the Navy and they kept
(03:36):
writing back saying there is a technicality, they didn't tell
me what the technicality was. So I said, well, let
me try the Coast Guard. And the Coast Guard recruiter
was just so welcoming. She wanted to be the first
one to enroll. African American.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Miss Hooker enlisted with the US Coast Guard in February
nineteen forty five. On March ninth, she went to basic
training in Brooklyn, New York.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
When they told us to go to basic training, I
took a trunk with all my luxuries at it. I
didn't know the seven girls other girls that when I
went all had Duffel bags. Everything was new to me.
They get you up at five o'clock in the morning
(04:28):
and you do exercises for an hour before you went
to breakfast, and then of course you had to polish
your floor, even though it didn't need polishing, and they
thought of chores for you. We went to Manhattan Beach
Training Station and we stayed there six and nine fifteen weeks,
(04:54):
I think. And then when I graduated from Yeoman's School,
I was sent to Boston. The head of the Yeomen's School, Lieutenantizley,
had written to all of the Coastguard stations. There were
eleven districts, and the only one who answered yes, they
(05:19):
would take an African American was Admiral Derby in Boston.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
While in Boston, Olivia earned the rank of Yeomen's second
class in the Coastguard Women's Reserve, where she served until
her unit was disbanded in nineteen forty six. By nineteen
forty seven, after receiving her masters, Hooker moved upstate to
work in the mental health department of a woman's correctional facility.
Many women in this facility were considered to have severe
(05:46):
learning disabilities by staff. Hooker felt they were more capable
than giving credit and re evaluated them and helped the
women to pursue better education and jobs, a passion she
inherited from her mother.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
My mother was a real suffragist. I mean she was
a campaigner for the women's vote, and so I guess
I inherited some of that. And I want to see
equal pay for equal positions, and naturally I'm trying to
(06:21):
vote for people who believe that equal pay for equal
positions should be the right of every person.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
By nineteen sixty one, Olivia Hooker became doctor Olivia Hooker
when she earned her PhD in psychology from the University
of Rochester. In nineteen sixty three, she joined Fordham University
as a senior clinical lecturer. Eventually she served as an
associate professor until nineteen eighty five. But it was her
(06:51):
experience in the US Coast Guard where doctor Hooker realized
her full potential.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
I didn't know many people that were not of my hue,
and it was good for me to mix with other
people and find out, you know, how they thought and
what they were like. It taught me a lot about
order and priorities. But I would like to see more
(07:20):
of us realizing, you know, that our country needs us,
and I'd like to see more girls consider spending some
time in the military if they don't have a job
at all, and they have ambition and they don't know
(07:41):
what heights they might reach. It's really nice to have
people with different points of view and different kinds of upbringing,
and the world would really prosper from.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
More of that. After retiring at the age of eighty seven,
she joined the US Coast Guard Auxiliary at the age
of ninety five. She received a presidential citation in twenty
eleven and was inducted into the New York State Senate
Veterans Hall of Fame on November twenty first, twenty eighteen.
(08:17):
She died of natural causes in her home in White Plains,
New York, at the age of one hundred and three.
Although she was a practicing Methodist, doctor Olivia Hooker found
inspiration in the story of Saint Francis.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Saint Francis was a terrible boy. I mean, he did
everything wrong to his family. And so if Saint Francis
could become Saint Francis after all the things he did
as a boy, I have faith that other people can
(08:53):
change and concede the right path and not take the
path of the straddled. My favorite hymn, one of them
is have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way.
(09:14):
Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Mold me
and make me after their will while I am waiting,
peaceful and still. And I was just fond of that,
thinking of the creator being the potter and I being
(09:37):
the clay to me, that was important.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Doctor Olivia Hooker's story here on our American story.
And we continue with our American stories. And we now
bring you the story of an extraordinary woman who was
an inspiration not only for women of color, but an
inspiration to all who knew her name, Doctor Olivia Hooker.
Here's Stacy Edwards with her story.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Ten years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her
seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus, and eighteen years before
Martin Luther King Junior delivered his I Have a Dream speech,
Olivia Hooker became the first African American woman to join
the US Coast.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Guard nineteen forty five. I joined March the ninth, was
the day we went on duty. We had been campaigning
for that privilege, but nobody joined. I kept watching the
new papers that I thought to campaign for certain civil
(01:07):
rights and then not use them. To me is very funeral,
and somebody orted to join up at the campaign.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Born in Muscogee, Oklahoma, Olivia was just seven years old
when her house was ransacked and burned by members of
the KKK during the Tulsa Race riots of nineteen twenty one.
Will Her and her three siblings hid under a table.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
There were times when I didn't know about prejudice because
the only people that I had seen who were not
African American were people who wanted to sell things to
my father, and they brought presents for the children and
(01:53):
listened to my sister play back, and all kinds of
things to show how int they were. So I was
totally surprised when the disaster happened.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Wasn't a riot.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
We were really the victims, but it took eighty years
before we got an apology from the mayor of Tulsa
and they admitted that we were the victims. Of course,
we got no monetary reimburshment, but at least they apologized.
(02:32):
After eighty years.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
After the riots, her family moved to Columbus, Ohio, where
she earned her Bachelor of Arts in nineteen thirty seven
from Ohio State University. While at OSU, she joined the
Delta Sigma Theta sorority, where she advocated for African American
women to be admitted to the US Navy.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
You see, there were no people of our race in
the Navy, not no girls. We had been campaigning for
that privilege, but nobody joined. I kept watching the newspapers,
and I thought to campaign for certain civil rights and
(03:13):
then not use them. To me, it's very futile, and
somebody ought to join up after the campaign. So I thought, well,
if I go and I survived, maybe someone else will come.
Although I had applied for the Navy and they kept
(03:36):
writing back saying there is a technicality, they didn't tell
me what the technicality was. So I said, well, let
me try the Coast Guard. And the Coast Guard recruiter
was just so welcoming. She wanted to be the first
one to enroll. African American.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Miss Hooker enlisted with the US Coast Guard in February
nineteen forty five. On March ninth, she went to basic
training in Brooklyn, New York.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
When they told us to go to basic training, I
took a trunk with all my luxuries at it. I
didn't know the seven girls other girls that when I
went all had Duffel bags. Everything was new to me.
They get you up at five o'clock in the morning
(04:28):
and you do exercises for an hour before you went
to breakfast, and then of course you had to polish
your floor, even though it didn't need polishing, and they
thought of chores for you. We went to Manhattan Beach
Training Station and we stayed there six and nine fifteen weeks,
(04:54):
I think. And then when I graduated from Yeoman's School,
I was sent to Boston. The head of the Yeomen's School, Lieutenantizley,
had written to all of the Coastguard stations. There were
eleven districts, and the only one who answered yes, they
(05:19):
would take an African American was Admiral Derby in Boston.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
While in Boston, Olivia earned the rank of Yeomen's second
class in the Coastguard Women's Reserve, where she served until
her unit was disbanded in nineteen forty six. By nineteen
forty seven, after receiving her masters, Hooker moved upstate to
work in the mental health department of a woman's correctional facility.
Many women in this facility were considered to have severe
(05:46):
learning disabilities by staff. Hooker felt they were more capable
than giving credit and re evaluated them and helped the
women to pursue better education and jobs, a passion she
inherited from her mother.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
My mother was a real suffragist. I mean she was
a campaigner for the women's vote, and so I guess
I inherited some of that. And I want to see
equal pay for equal positions, and naturally I'm trying to
(06:21):
vote for people who believe that equal pay for equal
positions should be the right of every person.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
By nineteen sixty one, Olivia Hooker became doctor Olivia Hooker
when she earned her PhD in psychology from the University
of Rochester. In nineteen sixty three, she joined Fordham University
as a senior clinical lecturer. Eventually she served as an
associate professor until nineteen eighty five. But it was her
(06:51):
experience in the US Coast Guard where doctor Hooker realized
her full potential.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
I didn't know many people that were not of my hue,
and it was good for me to mix with other
people and find out, you know, how they thought and
what they were like. It taught me a lot about
order and priorities. But I would like to see more
(07:20):
of us realizing, you know, that our country needs us,
and I'd like to see more girls consider spending some
time in the military if they don't have a job
at all, and they have ambition and they don't know
(07:41):
what heights they might reach. It's really nice to have
people with different points of view and different kinds of upbringing,
and the world would really prosper from.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
More of that. After retiring at the age of eighty seven,
she joined the US Coast Guard Auxiliary at the age
of ninety five. She received a presidential citation in twenty
eleven and was inducted into the New York State Senate
Veterans Hall of Fame on November twenty first, twenty eighteen.
(08:17):
She died of natural causes in her home in White Plains,
New York, at the age of one hundred and three.
Although she was a practicing Methodist, doctor Olivia Hooker found
inspiration in the story of Saint Francis.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Saint Francis was a terrible boy. I mean, he did
everything wrong to his family. And so if Saint Francis
could become Saint Francis after all the things he did
as a boy, I have faith that other people can
(08:53):
change and concede the right path and not take the
path of the straddled. My favorite hymn, one of them
is have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way.
(09:14):
Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Mold me
and make me after their will while I am waiting,
peaceful and still. And I was just fond of that,
thinking of the creator being the potter and I being
(09:37):
the clay to me, that was important.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Doctor Olivia Hooker's story here on our American story.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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