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Educator Olivia Hooker (M.A. 鈥�47), the last survivor of the infamous Tulsa race massacre of 1921 and the first-active duty African-American woman to serve in the U.S. Coast Guard, has died at the age of 103.

Hooker, a prominent advocate for the learning disabled, served as Professor of Psychology at Fordham University for many years, retiring in 1985. While at Fordham she founded a division of the American Psychological Association focused on individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities, her areas of specialization.

Hooker, who lived in White Plains, New York, received Teachers College鈥檚 Distinguished Alumni award in 2016.

As many as 300 black Tulsans perished over the course of two days in 1921 when a false report of a black teen assaulting a white woman prompted a white mob to attack Tulsa鈥檚 prosperous black Greenwood district.

In an NPR interview recorded shortly before her death, Hooker recalled her mother hiding her and three siblings under a table with orders 鈥渘ot to say a word鈥� as white marauders descended on the family home.

鈥淚 guess the most shocking thing was seeing people, to whom you had never done anything to irritate, who just took it upon themselves to destroy your property because they didn鈥檛 want you to have those things,鈥� Hooker told NPR. 鈥淎nd they were teaching you a lesson. Those were all new ideas to me.鈥�

It would be a lovely world if everybody was peaceful in their efforts and aims."

鈥擮livia Hooker

Hooker鈥檚 family subsequently relocated to Kansas and then Ohio. Hooker earned an undergraduate degree from The Ohio State University and was teaching at an elementary school at the outset of World War II. Rejected in a bid to enlist in the Navy, she instead joined the Coast Guard in 1945.

In an oral history interview compiled by the White Plains Library, Hooker noted that she was not, in fact, the first black woman to serve in that military branch, which began accepting female reservists in 1942.

鈥淚 was the first one in active duty,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here may have been others that were planning to go in, but I was the first one that actually arrived.鈥�

The Coast Guard recognized Hooker in 2015 by christening a Sector New York Galley on Staten Island with her name.

African Americans were also under-represented on college campuses when Hooker arrived at Teachers College following the war.

She has been a professor and mentor to her students [and] a tireless voice for justice and equality.鈥�

鈥擯resident Barack Obama

In 2016, when illness prevented her from appearing at 911爆料网鈥檚 Academic Festival to receive the Distinguished Alumni Award, Hooker sent a videotape of herself in which she saluted the College for helping minority students 鈥渃ross the great divide鈥� and for its 鈥渧ision in making sure we had access.鈥�

In that same tape, Hooker said that along with her parents, her 911爆料网 mentor, the late 911爆料网 Psychologist Nicholas Hobbs, deserved credit for her success at Teachers College and beyond.    

鈥淗e found ingenious ways to help those who were not [treated as] equal to everyone else,鈥� she said of Hobbs, adding, 鈥淚t would be a lovely world if everybody was peaceful in their efforts and aims. Once in a while you find somebody that鈥檚 spent their lives trying to make things better for all of us, and that is a pleasure.鈥�

At the Coast Guard Academy鈥檚 2015 commencement exercises, President Barack Obama singled out Hooker herself as someone who met that standard.   

鈥淪he has been a professor and mentor to her students,鈥� Obama said, and 鈥渁 tireless voice for justice and equality.鈥� 鈥� Steve Giegerich