Madree Penn White

{{Infobox person

| name = Madree Penn White

| image = MadreePennWhite1914.png

| alt = A young Black woman wearing an academic cap and gown

| caption = Madree Penn White, from the 1914 yearbook of Howard University

| other_names =

| birth_name = Madree Penn

| birth_date = November 21, 1892

| birth_place = Atchison, Kansas

| death_date = January 31, 1967 (aged 74)

| death_place = Shaker Heights, Ohio

| occupation = Editor, educator, suffragist, businesswoman

| years_active =

| known_for = One of the founders of Delta Sigma Theta

| notable_works =

| spouse(s) =

| relatives =

}}

Madree Penn White (November 21, 1892 – January 31, 1967) was an American editor, educator, businesswoman and suffragist. She was one of the founders of Delta Sigma Theta, and the sorority's second president.

Early life and education

File:Deltasigmathetafounders.jpg

Madree Penn was born in Atchison, Kansas, and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, the daughter of John Penn and Mattie Gordon Penn. In 1908, she took second prize in an essay contest about the work of Robert Burns.{{Cite news|date=1908-01-26|title=Burns Fittingly Honored|pages=4|work=Omaha Daily Bee|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94903884/burns-fittingly-honored/|access-date=2022-02-13|via=Newspapers.com}} In 1909, she represented the Literary and Historical Society of Omaha in an oratory contest, with a speech titled "Standard Bearers".{{Cite news|date=1909-01-31|title=Afro-American Happenings|pages=15|work=The Des Moines Register|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94904282/afro-american-happenings/|access-date=2022-02-13|via=Newspapers.com}} She graduated from Central High School in Omaha in 1909.{{Cite web|title=Madree Penn White|url=https://chsfomaha.org/halloffame/madree-penn-white/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220314/https://chsfomaha.org/halloffame/madree-penn-white/ |archive-date=2022-03-14 |url-status=live|access-date=2022-02-13|website=The Central High School Foundation|language=en-US}}{{cbignore}}

Penn graduated from Howard University in 1914. At Howard, she was the first "elected" associate woman editor of the school newspaper, an officer of the campus YWCA and NAACP chapters. She was one of the 22 founding members of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. In 1914, she won first prize with in a scholarship contest held by the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes.{{Cite news|date=1914-08-08|title=National League Social Science Prize Winners; Miss Madree Penn and Maynard H. Jones Win Awards|pages=6|work=The Denver Star|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94905768/national-league-social-science-prize/|access-date=2022-02-13|via=Newspapers.com}}

Career

Penn was executive secretary of the YWCA in Charlotte, North Carolina.{{Cite book|last=Parks|first=Gregory S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XmY1EAAAQBAJ&dq=Madree+Penn+White&pg=PT149|title=Black Greek-Letter Organizations in the 21st Century: Our Fight Has Just Begun|date=2008-06-13|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-3872-5|language=en}} She was president of the Kaffir Chemical Laboratories in Omaha.{{Cite news|date=1920-02-27|title=Kaffir Chemical Laboratories Incorporate|pages=1|work=The Bystander|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94903524/kaffir-chemical-laboratories-incorporate/|access-date=2022-02-13|via=Newspapers.com}} She was associate editor of the Omaha Monitor, and of the Howard University Alumni Journal. She owned and managed a printing company, Triangle Press Company, in St. Louis, Missouri.{{Cite news|date=July 19, 1949|title=Woman Aids Arrest of Bogus Check Passer|pages=3|work=Dayton Ohio Daily Express|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-jul-19-1949-3029188/|access-date=February 13, 2022|via=NewspaperArchive.com}} She taught Latin at the National Training School for Women and Girls in Washington, D.C., and taught at the Tucker Business College and Douglas University. She was active in the League of Women Voters.{{Cite web|title=Madree Penn White|url=https://www.dstcleveland.org/madree-penn-whie |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220314/https://www.dstcleveland.org/madree-penn-whie |archive-date=2022-03-14 |url-status=live|access-date=2022-02-13|website=Delta Sigma Theta of Cleveland|language=en}}{{cbignore}}

In 1963, White led a Delta Sigma Theta contingent in the march on Washington with several other civil rights groups. In 1966, she was honored by the Cleveland chapter of the League of Women Voters, for her participation in the 1913 inauguration of Woodrow Wilson and her work on a committee headed by Carrie Chatman Catt.{{Cite news|date=April 16, 1966|title=Madree P. White Honored by League for Suffrage March|pages=15|work=Call and Post|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-apr-16-1966-3029164/|access-date=February 13, 2022|via=NewspaperArchive.com}}

Personal life

Madree Penn married physician James Eathel White, and had two children. They divorced in 1930.{{Cite news|date=1930-11-08|title=Prominent St. Louis Doctor Named|pages=2|work=The Pittsburgh Courier|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94906233/prominent-st-louis-doctor-named/|access-date=2022-02-13|via=Newspapers.com}} She died in 1967, aged 74 years.