HistoricSiteMarkers
Progressive & Modern Era

Myra Lillian Davis Hemmings

San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

Marker Inscription

(August 30, 1895 - December 8, 1968) African American educator, actress, and community activist Myra Hemmings was born in Gonzales, Texas to Henry and Susan (Dement) Davis. The family moved to San Antonio, where Myra graduated from Riverside High School in 1909. She attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., where on Jan. 13, 1913 she became one of 22 founders of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, the primary goals of which were to use their collective strength to promote educational excellence and to provide assistance to those in need. Their first public act was to participate in the women's suffrage procession down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington on Mar. 3, 1913, the day before Woodrow Wilson's presidential inauguration. Hemmings graduated from Howard in May 1913 and returned to begin her teaching career with the San Antonio Independent School District. She taught English and drama at Frederick Douglass and Phyllis Wheatley high schools for more than fifty years, influencing countless students to love performing arts and literature. Hemmings organized the San Antonio chapter of Delta Sigma Theta on Aug. 16, 1933 and served as its first president. Today there are more than 950 chapters and more than 250,000 members worldwide. Myra loved the theater and acting. In 1922, she married John (Pop) Hemmings, a former Broadway actor. Together they organized the Phyllis Wheatley Dramatic Guild Players. Their productions, in which she often acted, shaped the cultural life of Black San Antonioans. She directed more than twenty dramatic plays and appeared in three feature films: "Marching On!" (1943), "Go Down, Death!" (1944) and "The Girl in Room 20" (1946). Hemmings received her Master of Arts degree in Drama from Northwestern University in 1937. Myra Hemmings' prolific achievements continue to influence and inspire the community and the world. (2012)

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Born in Gonzales and raised in San Antonio, Myra Hemmings became one of 22 founders of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority at Howard University in 1913, and days later marched in the women's suffrage procession in Washington. Returning home, she taught English and drama in San Antonio's Black high schools for more than fifty years while founding the city's Delta Sigma Theta chapter and, with her husband, a dramatic guild. She also acted in stage productions and several feature films, shaping the cultural life of Black San Antonio.

Why it matters

Hemmings links the founding of a landmark Black sorority, the women's suffrage movement, and decades of African American arts education into one remarkable life.

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Related people

  • · Myra Lillian Davis Hemmings
  • · John Hemmings

Related events

  • · Founding of Delta Sigma Theta
  • · Woman Suffrage Procession of 1913

Themes & tags

African American HistoryWomen's HistoryEducationMemorial

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