Madree penn white biography

Madree Penn White

 

Biographical Database of Black Woman Suffragists

Biography of Madree Penn White, 1892-1967

 

 

Madree Penn White (1892-1967)

 

From the Delta Archives. Reprinted with the permission of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Accessible online at https://www.dstcleveland.org/madree-penn-whie.

Madree Penn White was born November 21, 1982 in Atchison, Kansas. She grew up with her parents, John and Mattie Penn and siblings, Elijah, Marshall, Noel, Jenny and William in Omaha, Nebraska.

Madree Penn graduated in 1909 with honors from Central High School in Omaha, Nebraska. She turned down scholarships to the University of Iowa and the University of Nebraska to attend Howard University in Washington, D.C. She was the first female editor of the Howard Journal, the campus newspaper. She was a member of the Classical Club, president of the campus chapter of the YWCA, vice-president of the student branch of the NAACP, vice-president of the Social Science Club, and class journalist, vice-president, and treasurer of her class during her ye

Madree Penn White

American suffragist

Madree Penn White

Madree Penn White, from the 1914 yearbook of Howard University

Born

Madree Penn


November 21, 1892

Atchison, Kansas

DiedJanuary 31, 1967 (aged 74)

Shaker Heights, Ohio

Occupation(s)Editor, educator, suffragist, businesswoman
Known forOne of the founders of Delta Sigma Theta

Madree Penn White (November 21, 1892 – January 31, 1967) was an American editor, educator, businesswoman and suffragist. She was one of the founders of Delta Sigma Theta, and the sorority's second president.

Early life and education

Madree Penn was born in Atchison, Kansas, and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, the daughter of John Penn and Mattie Gordon Penn. In 1908, she took second prize in an essay contest about the work of Robert Burns.[1] In 1909, she represented the Literary and Historical Society of Omaha in an oratory contest, with a speech titled "Standard Bearers".[2] She graduated from Central High School in Omaha in 1909.[3]

Penn graduated from Howard Univers

Founders

 

First Row:

Winona Cargile Alexander, Madree Penn White, Wertie Blackwell Weaver, Vashti Turley Murphy, Ethel Cuff Black, Frederica Chase Dodd; 

Second Row:

Osceola Macarthy Adams, Pauline Oberdorfer Minor, Edna Brown Coleman, Edith Mott Young, Marguerite Young Alexander, Naomi Sewell Richardson, Eliza P. Shippen; 

Third Row: Zephyr Chisom Carter, Myra Davis Hemmings, Mamie Reddy Rose, Bertha Pitts Campbell, Florence Letcher Toms, Olive Jones, Jessie McGuire Dent, Jimmie Bugg Middleton, Ethel Carr Watson.

Mrs. Osceola McCarthy Adams was born in Albany, Georgia, and knew she could achieve all that she conceived.  She did not hesitate to create an impression on the world in her own unique manner. Within the ranks of Delta, Ms. Adams called upon her prior leadership experience to aid in the founding of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.  In Chicago, Illinois, she was installed as the first president of Lambda, and she served as the grand treasurer of the national organization.  Ms. Adams also made enormous strides in the theatrical realm of her life when

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