Jessie McGuire Dent, educator, equal rights activist and women ahead of her time. A well deserved honor from the Galveston Historical Foundation. – Alice Gatson, Chair of Galveston Historical Foundation’s African American Heritage Committee
A reception will immediately follow the dedication. Attendance to both is free, but email RSVP to tdb9142@gmail.com is required for anyone attending the reception. The deadline for RSVP is September 21, 2024.
As one of the most visible programs of the Texas Historical Commission (THC), historical markers commemorate diverse topics in Texas history, including: the history and architecture of houses, commercial and public buildings, religious congregations, and military sites; events that changed the course of local and state history; and individuals who have made lasting contributions to our state, community organizations, and businesses. Subscribe to Historical Markers Newsletter Updates Historical markers can be found in all 254 Texas counties. Age, significance, and architectural requirements govern the eligibility of topics and sites when applying for either a subject marker, Historic Texas Cemetery marker, or a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark marker.
Jessie May McGuire Dent was an important Galveston Civil Rights figure born in Galveston on March 24, 1892, to Robert & Alberta (Mabson) McGuire. In 1909, she graduated as Valedictorian from Central High School. While a student at Howard University, she became one of the 22 Founding Members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority in 1913, a Public Service Sorority. Upon returning to Galveston, Texas, she taught English and Latin at Central High School and became Dean of Students. Taking a leadership role, she was active in supporting the underserved. McGuire Dent is most known for the 1943 Case Jessie McGuire Dent, et. al. vs. The Board of Trustees of the Public Free Schools of the City of Galveston, Texas, et. al.
ABOUT JESSIE MCGUIRE DENT
Jessie McGuire Dent was born Jessie May McGuire in Galveston, Texas, on March 24, 1892, the second child of three to parents Robert McGuire and Alberta Mabson McGuire. She attended the public free schools of Galveston, Texas, and graduated from Central High School in 1909 as valedictorian.
In the fall of 1909 Miss McGuire enrolled in Howard University in Washington, D. C. During her senior year at Howard, she was one of the 22 founding members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, founded on Howard’s campus on January 13, 1913, and was elected to serve as the corresponding secretary of the newly formed Alpha Chapter. The founding members used their collective strength to promote academic excellence, social change and provided assistance to those in need. The sorority incorporated on February 18, 1913. A few weeks later, Alpha Chapter was listed as a “Public Service Organization” when the newly formed group of women participated in the Woman Suffrage Parade on March 3, 1913, in Washington D.C. While individual African American women participated, the sorority marched in the giant parade as a group of undergraduates under the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority banner.
After she graduated from Howard University with a bachelor’s degree in English and Latin, Miss McGuire returned to Galveston in 1913 to teach at her alma mater, Central High School, where she later became the Dean of Girls at the high school campus. Back in her home town, McGuire continued the sorority’s mission to be active in one’s community. She was part of the congregation of Avenue L Baptist Church, the oldest African American Baptist Church in Texas, and lent her voice to civic issues and accepted leadership roles to assist the underserved through her memberships in the Negro Divisions of the American Red Cross and Galveston’s Community Chest. On July 8, 1924, McGuire married attorney Thomas Henry Dent. They had one child, Thomas Henry Dent, Jr., born on May 25, 1929. The following year she was elected to the first executive committee for the newly formed Colored Independent Voters League for Galveston County.
In 1941, McGuire, now Mrs. Dent, took on the task to establish a Galveston chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. The charter was granted as the Gamma Delta chapter in April 1941 and McGuire Dent served as the newly formed chapter’s first president. A very active group, the Gamma Delta chapter organized and participated in health fairs, presented programs to improve the livelihood of the community, and held an annual fundraiser known as “Jabberwock” to raise funds for college scholarships awarded to Central High School’s graduating seniors. McGuire Dent was also a member of the Colored Teachers State Association of Texas and in 1925 she spoke at the organization’s annual convention. She was still involved in March 1941 when the association formed the Texas Commission on Democracy in Education to promote racial equality for African American schools in terms of funding, course equality, and accreditations and advocated better opportunities for African American educators through equal pay and access to administrative positions.
As an educator in Galveston, McGuire Dent and other African American teachers within the community of Galveston faced inequalities both socially and financially. The issue was statewide, however, as McGuire Dent was aware. After several years of unsuccessful lobbying attempts by African American educators, Jessie McGuire Dent sued the Board of Trustees of the public free schools of the City of Galveston in 1943 and demanded equal pay for African American teachers, deans, secretaries, and principals. The suit was filed by the state’s leading African American attorney for the NAACP, William J. Durham, of Sherman, Texas.
McGuire Dent’s lawsuit was the second such lawsuit filed in the state. In 1942, Durham filed the first equal pay lawsuit against the Dallas school board on behalf of Dallas educator Thelma Elizabeth Page. After the rulings in favor of Page in 1942 and McGuire Dent a year later, school districts across the state started to settle pay disputes with little fanfare. McGuire Dent’s ruling, issued in Galveston, Texas, on June 15, 1943, by United States Judge T. M. Kennerly ruled for the plaintiff and instructed the Galveston school district to equalize pay for African American teachers, deans, secretaries and principals over a period of three years.
When McGuire Dent sued the Galveston school district for equal pay for African American educators and school administrators, she was a divorced woman living alone, having lost her sister, Roberta in 1908 and her father, Robert McGuire in 1920. In 1927, her brother, John, passed, and in 1938, she lost her mother, Alberta. Her greatest loss was suffered in 1940, when her only child, Thomas Dent, Jr., died as a result of appendicitis complicated by pneumonia. In spite of the personal losses, Jessie May McGuire Dent was able to forge forward in the fight for equality and after winning her lawsuit was able to enjoy a few years of equal pay before she died on March 12, 1948. The Inscription on McGuire Dent’s headstone at Galveston’s Lakeview Cemetery reads:
A WOMAN OF FORTITUDE
FOUNDING SOROR
EDUCATOR – HUMANITARIAN
CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST
After McGuire Dent’s death, the Gamma Delta chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority honored her by naming their scholarship fund the Jessie McGuire Dent Scholarship Fund. In 1969, Gamma Delta was re-chartered as the Galveston Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. Today, the active chapter continues to honor her legacy through the annual Jessie McGuire Dent scholarships awarded to Galveston County high school graduates. The Texas Historical Commission approved a State Historic Subject Marker honoring Jessie McGuire Dent on February 3, 2021. The marker was sponsored by Galveston Historical Foundation and will be placed at McGuire Dent Recreation Center.
ABOUT GALVESTON HISTORICAL FOUNDATION
Galveston Historical Foundation (GHF) was formed as the Galveston Historical Society in 1871 and merged with a new organization formed in 1954 as a non-profit entity devoted to historic preservation and history in Galveston County. Over the last sixty years, GHF has expanded its mission to encompass community redevelopment, historic preservation advocacy, maritime preservation, coastal resiliency and stewardship of historic properties. GHF embraces a broader vision of history and architecture that encompasses advancements in environmental and natural sciences and their intersection with historic buildings and coastal life and conceives of history as an engaging story of individual lives and experiences on Galveston Island from the 19th century to the present day.
