Merline Pitre (born April 10, 1943) is an American historian and educator. She is a professor of history at

Texas Southern University Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically Black university in Houston. The university is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund an ...

and previously served as president of the

Texas State Historical Association The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...

in 2011 and 2012.

Life and career

Pitre was born on April 10, 1943, in

Opelousas, Louisiana Opelousas (; ) is a small city and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. Interstate 49 in Louisiana, Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190 in Louisiana, U.S. Route 190 were constructed with a ju ...

, to parents Florence W. Pitre (d. 2014) and Robert Pitre. She grew up in the Louisiana Plaisance community and graduated as

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...

from

Plaisance High School Plaisance School is a school, established in 1921, in Plaisance, Louisiana, United States. The school was segregated during the Jim Crow-era and served African American students. It also went by the names Plaisance High School, and Plaisance Ros ...

in 1962. She received a B.S. in French from

Southern University Southern University and A&M College (Southern University, Southern, SUBR or SU) is a Public university, public historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. It i ...

and an M.A. in French from

Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded on September19, 1865, as Atlanta University, it was the first HBCU in the Southe ...

. She received another M.A. degree and Ph.D. at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

in 1972 and 1976, respectively. For three years, Pitre was a teacher at St. Augustine College in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

. She conducted research at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

, and the Frederick Douglass Memorial Home. In 1981, she was the recipient of a

National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preser ...

, which awarded a stipend for independent research. In 1983, Pitre became the associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences at Texas Southern University, a position she held until 1985. Between 1990 and 1994, as well as between 2000 and 2008, she served as the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences. From 2011 to 2012, she served as the president of the

. In 2007 and 2012, she received the

Liz Carpenter Mary Elizabeth Sutherland Carpenter (September 1, 1920 – March 20, 2010) was a writer, feminist, reporter, media advisor, speechwriter, political humorist, and public relations expert. As the first woman executive assistant to Vice President ...

Best Book on the History of Women Award from the Texas State Historical Association for her books ''Black Women in Texas History'' (with Bruce Glasrud) and ''Southern Black Women in the Modern Civil Rights Movement'' (with Bruce Glasrud), respectively. In 2014, she was awarded the

Lorraine Williams Lorraine Dille Williams is an American businesswoman. She was hired as manager of TSR, Inc. by company co-founder Gary Gygax in 1984, and was in charge of the table game company from 1986 to 1997. Williams gained control of TSR in October 1985 ...

Leadership Award from the

Association of Black Women Historians The Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH) is a non-profit professional association based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. The organization was developed in 1977 and formally founded in 1979. History The Association of Black Wome ...

and the President Achievement Award from Texas Southern University.

Writings

* * * *Review of ''Born to Serve: A History of Texas Southern University'' *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitre, Merline Living people 1943 births Temple University alumni Southern University alumni Atlanta University alumni Texas Southern University faculty 20th-century American historians 21st-century American historians People from Opelousas, Louisiana Historians from Louisiana American university and college faculty deans St. Augustine's University (North Carolina) faculty Women deans (academic) American women historians 21st-century American women writers 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century African-American writers 20th-century American women writers African-American historians Historians of Texas Historians of African Americans 21st-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century American academics