TIRELESS VOICE FOR JUSTICE
At age six, Dr. Hooker survived the Tulsa Race Massacre by hiding under the kitchen table. When she was rejected by the Navy on "technicalities", her Ohio State University sorority protested. She joined the Coast Guard instead, becoming the first black woman in the Women's Reserve. After receiving her Ph.D. in 1961, she taught at Fordham University. In 1997, she founded the Tulsa Race Riot Commission to try to get reparations from Tulsa and Oklahoma. The U. S. Supreme Court dismissed their lawsuit without comment in 2005. She had two Coast Guard buildings named after her. President Obama praised her as a "tireless voice for justice and equality".
