Lillie Maie Hubbard

Lillie Maie Hubbard Harvey (February 19, 1898 – October 2, 1997) was an American member of the United States Foreign Service for 38 years, from 1922 to 1961, with consular postings in Liberia, Portugal, the Canary Islands, the Azores, and Cuba. At the time of her retirement, she was vice-consul and citizenship officer at the United States Embassy in Rio de Janeiro.

Hubbard was described as "the only Negro woman in the foreign service department of the United States" in 1934, and later as "the State Department's first female African-American employee to serve overseas."

Early life Hubbard was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and a missionary. He died in Monrovia in 1932. "I am not a graduate of any school," she told Ebony magazine in 1960, "but I would not exchange my travel for the formal education I could have had by staying in the United States."

Career Hubbard was in Liberia with her parents on a mission trip when she joined the United States Consular Service in 1922, at first as a temporary clerk. In 1953 she became vice-consul at the United States Embassy in Havana. She retired in 1961, as vice-consul and citizenship officer at the United States Embassy in Rio de Janeiro.

Hubbard spoke French, Spanish and Portuguese. She corresponded regularly with W. E. B. Du Bois, especially in the 1920s.

Assignments

Monrovia, Liberia (1922–1927) Oporto, Portugal (1927–1930) Havana, Cuba (1953–1956) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1956–1961)