Hazel Anne Hainsworth Young (September 12, 1905 – July 3, 2009) was an American educator, clubwoman, and centenarian, based in Houston, Texas. She taught Latin in segregated schools for several decades.

Early life and education

Hazel Anne Hainsworth (sometimes seen as Haynesworth) was born in

Navasota, Texas Navasota is a city in Grimes County, Texas, United States. The population was 7,643 at the 2020 census. In 2005, the Texas Legislature designated Navasota as the "Blues Capital of Texas" in honor of the late Mance Lipscomb, a Navasota native an ...

and raised in Houston, the daughter of Harry A. Hainsworth and Beatrice Hainsworth. Her father was a postal carrier. She remembered the Camp Logan Mutiny of 1917. Hainsworth graduated from Houston Colored High School, and from

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

in 1925. She was a member of

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen stud ...

. She founded the first Alpha Kappa Alpha graduate chapter in the Houston area, in 1928.

Career

Hainsworth taught school in Houston for almost fifty years. She taught Latin at

Jack Yates High School Jack Yates Senior High School is a public high school located at 3650 Alabama Street, very near Texas Southern University, in the historic Third Ward in Houston, Texas, United States. Yates High School handles grades nine through twelve and is par ...

in Houston after college, from 1926 to 1956, when she became the school's Dean of Girls. She later taught at Wheatley High School from 1959 to 1972. She gave a video oral history interview in 2007 to the Houston Oral History Project.Barrera, Elma
"Interview with Hazel Young"
Houston Oral History Project (2007); 50 minutes, 52 seconds video online.

Honors

The Yates High School library was named for Young in 2005, to mark her 100th birthday. In May 2009, shortly before her death, she was given a “Special Lifetime Achievement Award” by the

Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and ...

, in recognition of her long career. Congresswoman

Sheila Jackson Lee Sheila Jackson Lee (born January 12, 1950) is an American lawyer and politician who is the U.S. representative for , having served since 1995. The district includes most of central Houston. She is a member of the Democratic Party, and served ...

has proposed that a post office in Houston be named for Young, in several House resolutions.

Personal life

Hazel Hainsworth married electrician Howard Young in 1940. They had a daughter, Marianne. Hazel Young died in Houston in July 2009, aged 103 years. (Her sister Maye Frances Hutson also lived to be 100 years old.) The Hazel Hainsworth Young and Robert W. Hainsworth Papers are in the collection of the

Houston Public Library Houston Public Library is the public library system serving Houston, Texas, United States. History Houston Lyceum and the Carnegie Library The Houston Public Library system traces its founding to the creation of the second Houston Lyceum in 18 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Hazel Hainsworth 1905 births 2009 deaths American women centenarians People from Navasota, Texas Howard University alumni African-American women educators Alpha Kappa Alpha members African-American centenarians 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American educators 20th-century American educators 20th-century American women educators