Juliette Derricotte facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Juliette Derricotte
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Juliette Derricotte, graduation, 1918
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| Born | April 1, 1897 Athens, Georgia, US
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| Died | November 7, 1931 (aged 34) |
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Juliette Derricotte (April 1, 1897 – November 7, 1931) was an American educator and political activist. Her death, after she was turned away from a white-only hospital following a serious car accident in Chattanooga, Tennessee, sparked outrage in the African-American community. At the time of her death, she was the Dean of Women at Fisk University.
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Early life
Juliette Derricotte was born in Athens, Georgia, the fifth of nine children. Her parents were Isaac Derricotte, a cobbler, and Laura Derricotte, a seamstress. As a child she wanted to attend the Lucy Cobb Institute in Athens but the school was segregated and did not accept Black girls. This helped shape Juliette's perception of the world and her desire to change people's racial prejudices.
Education and career
Derricotte's public speaking earned her a scholarship to attend Talladega College. After graduating in 1918, she enrolled at the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) Training School. She became the YWCA secretary of the National Student Council, where her responsibilities included visiting colleges, planning conferences, and fostering ideas and leadership. She is credited with re-establishing the council's ideology, helping it become more balanced, open, and interracial.
In 1924, Derricotte became a member of the World Student Christian Federation and began traveling the world as a delegate representing American colleges. In 1927, she received a master's degree in religious education from Columbia University. She resigned from her YWCA position in 1929 to become Dean of Women at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Derricotte was an active member of Delta Sigma Theta and affiliated with the sorority's first graduate chapter in New York City. After her death, Delta Sigma Theta established a scholarship fund in her honor, awarded to members of the sorority employed in the social work field.
Death
In 1931, Derricotte died after a traffic accident in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The car she was riding in, which was driven by another student, collided with the car of a white couple. Both Derricotte and the student were seriously injured. They received emergency treatment from white doctors but were refused admittance to the local hospital because they were black. They were moved to a local woman's house, where both died by morning. This triggered national outrage and several investigations, including one involving the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Legacy
Sue Bailey Thurman, who had been inspired by Derricotte's ideas about learning and travel, established the Juliette Derricotte Scholarship in the 1930s. This enabled African-American undergraduate women with high academic achievements to study and travel abroad. One of the recipients of the initial scholarship was Margaret Bush Wilson, who revived it decades later.
