Thelma Dewitty

Thelma Dewitty (1912–1977) was the first African American to teach in the Seattle Public Schools, Seattle, Washington, U.S.. She was also active in the NAACP, serving as Seattle branch president in the late 1950s.

Career Dewitty was born in Beaumont, Texas. She began her career as a schoolteacher in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1933. She received her bachelor's degree in from Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, in 1941 and transferred to teach in her native Beaumont in 1942. Similarly, the discussion of the school on the National Park Service page about the school as a site on the National Register of Historic Places is largely about Dewitty.

The old school building is now the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center and houses the Thelma Dewitty Theater.