Dr. Olivia J. Hooker turned 103 years of age this past February and in that same month in 1945, she made military history. Dr. Hooker, who passed away last week, became the first African-American woman to join the United States Coast Guard after being rejected by the United States Navy.
Hooker was born February 12, 1915 in Muskogee, Oklahoma. At the age of six, Hooker witnessed the Ku Klux Klan ransack her home during the violent Tulsa Massacre of Black Wall Street and was one of the few, if not the only, survivors of that moment in history.
The family relocated to Columbus, Ohio, and Hooker graduated from Ohio State University in 1937. The Delta woman attempted to enter the Navy and was denied due to her race. (READ MORE)
