Juliette Derricotte
Juliette Derricotte (April 1, 1897 – November 7, 1931) was an American educator and political activist whose death was caused by being denied treatment after a fatal car accident in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This sparked outrage in the African-American community. At the time of her death she was the Dean of Women at Fisk University. Early life. She was born in Athens, Georgia, the fifth of nine children of Isaac Derricotte and Laura Derricotte. Her father was a cobbler and her mother was a seamstress. As a child, her dreams of attending the local Institute were crushed when her  mother told her she would be unable to attend due to her skin color. This event helped to shape Juliette's perception of the world and her desire to change people's racial prejudices. Education and career. Her drive for education helped her to attend Talladega College, where she ended up getting a scholarship for her public speaking. After she graduated in 1918, she enrolled at the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) Training School. She then became the YWCA secretary of the National Student Council. Her responsibilities included visiting colleges, planning conferences, and fostering ideas and leadership. She is  credited with reestablishing the council in 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 she was affiliated with the sorority's first graduate chapter in New York City. After her death, Delta established  a scholarship fund in her honor which would be awarded to members of the sorority who are employed in the social work field. Deadly discrimination. In 1931, Derricotte died in a traffic accident in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The accident occurred when the car she was riding in, driven by a student, collided with the car of a white couple. Both Derricotte and the student were seriously injured. Although both received emergency treatment from white doctors, they were refused admittance to the local hospital because they were black. Instead, they were moved to a local woman's house, where both died by  morning. This triggered national outrage and several investigations, one involving the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Legacy. In the 1930s, Sue Bailey Thurman who had been inspired by Derricotte's ideas about learning and travel, established a scholarship fund, the Juliette Derricotte Scholarship, which allowed African-American undergraduate women of high academic achievement to study and travel abroad. One of the recipients of her scholarship was Margaret Bush Wilson, who revived the fund decades later.