Hundley, Mary Gibson, 1897-1986

Mary Gibson Hundley, educator and civil rights activist, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 18, 1897, the daughter of Malachi Gibson, a lawyer, and Mary Matilda Syphax, a teacher. On her mother's side, MGH was a descendant of Martha Custis Washington and granddaughter of William Syphax, first superintendent of Colored Public Schools of Washington and Georgetown. She graduated from Dunbar High School (then known as the "M" Street school) in Washington D.C. in 1914. At Radcliffe College she concentrated in English and composed songs for her class and for college theatrical productions. Her financial difficulties, compounded by Radcliffe Dean Boody's insistence that she work her way through college as a maid, would have led to her withdrawal from college had not President Le Baron Russell Briggs intervened to arrange a loan for her. (See related records in Radcliffe College Archives.) She was graduated cum laude in 1918. She later pursued graduate study in French at Middlebury College (AM 1927) and the Sorbonne (1928).

After teaching for two years in Baltimore, MGH moved back to Washington and taught French, English, and Latin at Dunbar High School (DHS), 1920-54, and part-time at Miner Teachers College, 1931-32. She was chairman of the College Bureau of DHS, 1943-49, and a member of the Guidance Committee. She organized after-school enrichment programs for DHS students: the Coleman and Margaret Jennings Clubs (social service clubs) and Le Cercle Francais. MGH was credited with inspiring generations of Black students to go on to higher education and enroll in Ivy League colleges.

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