Lethia Sherman Hankins

Lethia Sherman Hankins (January 2, 1934 – December 29, 2014) was an educator, civic leader, and politician who was active in Wilmington, North Carolina. In 2005 she received national award from the YWCA, the Dorothy I. Height Racial Justice Award, and in 2020 her portrait was one of five commissioned to hang in Bellamy Mansion in honor of North Carolinian women who impacted women, as part of the centennial celebrations of the League of Women Voters for the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

Early life and education

Lethia Mae Sherman was born on January 2, 1934, in Georgetown, South Carolina,[https://relations.ncat.edu/pubs/attoday/spring2016.pdf North Carolina A&T Today, Spring 2016, "In Memorium"]{{cite news|last=Steelman|first=Ben|title=Funeral services set for veteran educator, civic leader|date=2014-12-31|work=Star-News|id={{ProQuest|1641324762}}}}{{subscription required}} the daughter of Mary (née Flowers) and Benjamin Sherman. The family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina shortly after her birth.{{Cite news|date=January 1–7, 2015|title=Educator/Civic Leader Succumbs|work=The Wilmington Journal |url=https://wilmingtonjournal.com/educatorcivic-leader-succumbs/}} Sherman was an only child, and the first of her family to go to college. She told Wilma magazine in May 2003, "My parents were not educated but believed if I could get this thing called and education, I could really do something."{{Cite news|last=Bon|first=Marita|date=May 2003|title=RoleCall: Cape Fear's Leading Ladies: Readin' and writin' and nurturin'|work=Wilma Magazine|oclc=51811639}} Sherman was a graduate of New Hanover County schools. Completing secondary school at Williston Industrial High in 1951,{{Cite web|last1=Johnson|first1=Joyce|last2=Cody|first2=Susan|date=2003-06-11|title=Interview with Lethia S. Hankins|url=https://digitalcollections.uncw.edu/digital/collection/oralhistory/id/777|access-date=2021-10-21|website=William M. Randall Library |publisher=University of North Carolina Wilmington|language=en}} she then went to the historically black college and university, North Carolina A&T. She married Harry Leon Hankins in 1957 in South Carolina; the couple divorced in 1987.North Carolina, Divorce Index, 1958-2004 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: 2008, Ancestry.com Operations Inc. Original data: North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics. North Carolina Divorce Index, 1958-2004. Raleigh, NC, USA: North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics, 2004.

Career

After completing her university studies, Hankins taught briefly in Hillsborough before returning to Wilmington, where she began teaching English at Williston Senior High School in 1959. At the time Hankins began teaching at Williston, it was not integrated, but during the desegregation debates in 1968, it was decided that Williston would close in 1968.{{cite news |last1=Steelman |first1=Ben |title=What is the History of Williston High School? |url=http://www.myreporter.com/2010/04/what-is-the-history-of-williston-high-school/ |access-date=21 October 2021 |work=Star-News |date=April 23, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919022016/http://www.myreporter.com/2010/04/what-is-the-history-of-williston-high-school/ |archive-date=19 September 2020 |location=Wilmington, North Carolina |url-status=live}} Hankins transferred to John T. Hoggard High School at that time and organized Speak Outs to defuse the racial tensions that led to incidents like the Wilmington Ten arrests.

Hankins later taught at Emsley A. Laney High School before retiring from teaching in 1994 to seek elected office.{{Cite news|date=September 28, 2000|title=Serious Talk about a Serious Issue|work=Wilmington Star-News}} She unsuccessfully ran for the New Hanover County Board of Education in 2000.{{Cite news|last=Jones|first=Sherry|date=November 8, 2000|title=School Board: Nunnally, Wigley, Nichols Winners|work=Wilmington Star-News}} She ran for city council in 2003.{{Cite news|date=October 5, 2003|title=Three Good Ones for City Council|work=Wilmington Star-News |url=https://www.starnewsonline.com/article/NC/20031005/News/605092328/WM |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211021174045/https://www.starnewsonline.com/article/NC/20031005/News/605092328/WM |archive-date=21 October 2021}} She was elected in November 2003 to the Wilmington city council, in a run-off election.{{Cite news|last=Fennell|first=Bettie|date=November 5, 2003|title=Hankins Wins Runoff|work=Wilmington Star-News}} Her election was seen by the local paper as "an encouraging sign of racial reconciliation" since the majority of the electorate was white, and her opponent was too.{{Cite news|date=November 6, 2003|title='It was about them, not their color'|work=Wilmington Star-News}} She served until 2007.{{Cite news|last=Steelman|first=Ben|date=January 1, 2015|title="Education, community leader dies,"|work=Wilmington Star-News}}

Activism and civic engagement

Hankins was a member of the 1898 Foundation,{{Cite news|last=Fennell|first=Bettie|date=December 3, 2001|title=1898 Foundation plans monument to past, but main focus is on future|work=Wilmington Star-News|url=https://www.starnewsonline.com/}} and served as its co-chair in 2003.{{Cite news|last=Cantwell|first=Si|date=April 8, 2003|title=COMMON SENSE - Foundation conditionally OKs redesign of 1898 Park|work=Wilmington Star-News}} The 1898 Foundation grew out of community efforts to memorialize the 1898 Massacre and Coup. She served on the New Hanover County Human Relations Commission and was chair in 2003. New Hanover County library, She was the a trustee with Cape Fear Community College. Hankins also served on the Wilmington Housing Authority Board of Commissioners and was chair of that board when she stepped down in 2010.{{Cite news|last=Reynolds|first=David|date=March 20, 2010|title=Eight apply for two vacant Wilmington Housing Authority seats|work=Wilmington Star-News}} YWCA board, Thalian Hall Center for the performing arts board of Trustees, the city of Wilmington's Commission on African American History. She was a member of Cape Fear Museum Associates Board, and the local chapter of the NAACP. Member of the First Baptist Missionary Church. In 2005, Ms. Hankins won a national YWCA Dorothy I. Height Racial Justice Award{{cite web |last1=Jenkins |first1=Velva |title=Eliminating Racism Empowering Women ywca Lower Cape Fear |url=https://www.ywca-lowercapefear.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/1914-Society-Launch-Oct-2019.pdf |website=YMCA Lower Cape Fear |access-date=21 October 2021 |page=14 |date=October 2019}}{{Cite web|title=Education, integration, leadership earn high award for Lethia Hankins|url=https://www.starnewsonline.com/article/NC/20050401/News/605054478/WM}} for her "outstanding contributions towards racial justice." The nomination stated: "During the height of the turmoil caused by the integration of our schools in 1968, Ms. Hankins was always able to reason with her students and convey to them confidence that integration could and would be harmonious".Award in Collection of Cape Fear Museum of History and Science, accession number 2016.004.0005

Personal life

The Hankins had three children, Angela Jannette Hankins (who is married to Reverend Owen E. Metts, Sr.),{{Cite web|title=New Hanover County Vital Records search|url=https://vitals.newhanoverdeeds.com/nhvsIndex.php?searchtype=B&instnum=1957901494&year=1957&booknum=0094&bpagenum=0143&pagesuffix=&lname=HANKINS%20&fname=ANGELA&mname=JANETTE&fathername=HARRY%20LEON%20HANKINS%20&mothername=LETHIA%20MAE%20SHERMAN%20&do=07%20-%2024%20-%201957&title=&id=&chargeID=&code=|access-date=2021-06-30|website=vitals.newhanoverdeeds.com}} Harry Benjamin Hankins, and Anita Hankins Galloway.{{Cite web|title=Anita Hankins Galloway Obituary (2007) Wilmington Star-News|url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/starnewsonline/name/anita-galloway-obituary?pid=92039237|access-date=2021-06-30|website=Legacy.com}} Hankins also raised a nephew, Derry Flowers.{{Cite web|title=Death Notices|url=https://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20061118/news/605125940|access-date=2021-06-30|website=Wilmington Star News|language=en}}

Hankins was a member of the Wilmington Alpha Kappa Alpha chapter. According to a Sunday Star-News article from February 18, 2001, Hankins said she joined in 1972. She was quoted as saying "I started pledging at North Carolina A&T, but wasn’t able to finish.." because the funds were too hard to raise.{{Cite news|last=Clemmons|first=C. J.|date=February 18, 2001|title="Bonds of Sisterhood: Local Alpha Kappa Alpha women share style, tradition and grace,"|work=Sunday Star-News}}

Hankins died on December 29, 2014.

Legacy

The Cape Fear Museum of History and Science featured Hankins in its This Month in Women's History.{{cite web |last1=Cape Fear Museum of History and Science |title=Lethia Hankins |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/capefearmuseum/albums/72157713462505923 |access-date=20 October 2021 |date=8 December 2015}} Collection of images of documents; click "Show more" for biography It acquired some of her possessions as part of its permanent collection in 2016, including a teal suit, a nameplate from City Council meetings, photographs, campaign materials and programs from her funeral.Ingram, Hunter. "Commissioners Approve Donations for Cape Fear Museum." Star - News, Feb 22, 2016. Via ProQuest. In 2020, to commemorate the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, the League of Women Voters of the Lower Cape Fear selected Hankins to be one of the five North Carolinian women whose portraits would be hung in the Bellamy Mansion for their actions as mentors and role models to other women. The works were commissioned from artist Livy Hitchcock, but their unveiling was postponed because of the COVID pandemic and the event was rescheduled for the fall of 2021.{{cite news |last1=Ingram |first1=Hunter |title=Wilmington's women voters: 'We are not successors to the suffragettes for nothing' |url=https://www.starnewsonline.com/story/special/2020/08/17/wilmingtonrsquos-women-voters-rsquowe-are-not-successors-to-suffragettes-for-nothingrsquo/42227247/ |access-date=21 October 2021 |work=Star-News |date=August 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927165226/https://www.starnewsonline.com/story/special/2020/08/17/wilmingtonrsquos-women-voters-rsquowe-are-not-successors-to-suffragettes-for-nothingrsquo/42227247/ |archive-date=27 September 2020 |location=Wilmington, North Carolina |url-status=live}}