Marie Hicks - Philadelphia civil rights leader
Tuesday, April 24th, 2007
Marie Hicks made things happen for her community and her family.
Her fame for this trait had its genesis in an incident that occurred when she first visited the campus of Girard College. Her eldest son Junius Jr., was to receive a badge in a Boy Scout ceremony in front of Founders Hall.
The private boarding school was established in 1848 for white males who were orphaned or had lost their father. The school took in boys grades 1-12 at no cost to their family.
Though for years from the outside she had always thought that the place must be a prison, Marie Hicks looked at this 40 acre paradise in the middle of Philadelphia and she got mad. Her sons Charles and Theodore had lost their father, Junius Hicks Sr, to cancer in 1964. A decade before, the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision held that separate cannot be equal, and ordered schools to integrate to help achieve equality of the races. But still, black children could not get the educations they had been promised because states and their schools were not quick to comply with the decision. There were no black students at Girard College.
So in 1965 Marie Hicks became one of the leaders of a year-long protest outside the walls of Girard College. She led thousands of protesters, including Martin Luther King, until the gates opened and her son and others were admitted to the school. In September 1968, Theodore, then 9, and three other black students began classes at Girard. By this time Charles, then 12, was over the maximum age accepted. The school made an exception and Charles enrolled four months later.
Her efforts proved worthwhile for both the community and her family. Charles became the first black graduate of the school. In 1977 Theodore graduated as the school’s first African American valedictorian. The College now has 85% black students, and, 55% of the student body are female.
After securing her children’s primary education Marie eventually got a job as a maid at La Salle University. She attended night classes there and in 1980 earned a bachelors degree in sociology. She counseled homeless women at Mercy Hospice in Center City and worked for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. She retired 10 years ago.
Sometimes called the “Rosa Parks of Girard College,” Marie Hicks died in Germantown, PA on April 19, 2007 at age 83. She last visited the Girard campus when her funeral procession drove through the school and stopped in front of Founders Hall on the way to her final resting place.
For more information:
U.S. Government Archives
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