Hazel Mountain Walker

Hazel Mountain Walker, born February 16, 1889 was the daughter of Chrles and Alice Mountain. As a young woman she attended Cleveland Normal Training School and in 1909 earned a Bachelor's and Master's in Education from Western Reserve University. During the summer break, when she was not teaching, Hazel worked towards a Law Degree at Baldwin-Wallace College where she earned her degree and passed the bar in 1919. Her motivation to become an attorney was to prove that black women could become lawyers.

She married George Herbert Walker on June 28, 1922. Unfortunately, he died in 1956. Then, in 1961 she married Joseph R. Walker of Massachusetts. She never had any children.

Hazel taught students who came from homes where no English was spoken and/or their families could not read at the Mayflower Elementary School from 1909-36. She also tutored black children from the juvenile court system who were from the South and having trouble adjusting to the Cleveland schools. In 1936 she became the principal at Rutherford B. Hayes Elementary School and in 1954 the principal at George Washington Carver Elementary school where she worked until she retired in 1958. In 1961 Hazel was elected to serve on the Ohio State Board of Education. She resigned in 1963 and moved out of state.

Hazel Walker was one of the first African Americans to be a part of the Women's City Club. She named the Karamu House in 1924 where she was a member and an actress. She was also a member of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party executive committee during the 1930's.

Certainly Hazel Mountain Walker was another gutsy woman!

Copyright M. A. Webb, 2005. All Rights Reserved

Source: http://GustyWomen.blogspot.com

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