DUANE
Duane's take
The marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Now, if you wanted to build a life that mattered, you'd be hard pressed to find a better blueprint than the one Myra Lillian Davis Hemmings left behind. Born August 30, 1895, in Gonzales, Texas, to Henry and Susan Davis — Susan's maiden name being Dement — Myra came into the world in a state that didn't always make room for the kind of woman she intended to become.
She intended to become a big one. The family moved to San Antonio, and young Myra graduated from Riverside High School in 1909. Then she set her sights on something larger than Texas — she headed to Washington, D.C., to attend Howard University.
And that is where things get interesting. January 13, 1913. Twenty-two young women at Howard University sat down together with a shared conviction: that collective strength could promote educational excellence and provide assistance to those in need.
Myra was one of those twenty-two. What they founded that day was the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. Twenty-two founders.
One of them from Gonzales, Texas. And they didn't wait long to make their presence known. Less than two months later, on March 3, 1913 — the day before Woodrow Wilson's presidential inauguration — those women marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington as part of the women's suffrage procession.
That was their first public act as a sorority. Not a reception, not a ceremony. A march.
Myra graduated from Howard in May of that same year, 1913, and came home to San Antonio. She joined the San Antonio Independent School District and began teachin' English and drama — at Frederick Douglass and Phyllis Wheatley high schools — and she didn't stop for more than fifty years. Fifty years of students learning to love performing arts and literature because Myra Hemmings stood at the front of that room.
She wasn't just teaching, either. In 1922, she married John Hemmings — known to folks as Pop — a former Broadway actor. The two of them together organized the Phyllis Wheatley Dramatic Guild Players, and their productions shaped the cultural life of Black San Antonioans.
She directed more than twenty dramatic plays. She appeared in three feature films: Marching On! in 1943, Go Down, Death! in 1944, and The Girl in Room 20 in 1946. In 1937, she earned her Master of Arts degree in Drama from Northwestern University.
And somewhere in the middle of all of that, on August 16, 1933, she organized the San Antonio chapter of Delta Sigma Theta and served as its first president — the very sorority she had helped found two decades before, now taking root in her own city, by her own hand. Today, Delta Sigma Theta has more than nine hundred fifty chapters and more than two hundred fifty thousand members worldwide. Myra Lillian Davis Hemmings died December 8, 1968.
But you don't measure a life like hers by when it ended. You measure it by the fifty years of students, the twenty-two founders, the march down Pennsylvania Avenue, the films, the plays, the chapters, the members. The blueprint she left.
San Antonio had a lot of big personalities pass through it. Myra Hemmings didn't pass through. She stayed.
And she built something.
What the marker says
(August 30, 1895 - December 8, 1968) African American educator, actress, and community activist Myra Hemmings was born in Gonzales, Texas to Henry and Susan (Dement) Davis. The family moved to San Antonio, where Myra graduated from Riverside High School in 1909. She attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., where on Jan. 13, 1913 she became one of 22 founders of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, the primary goals of which were to use their collective strength to promote educational excellence and to provide assistance to those in need. Their first public act was to participate in the women's suffrage procession down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington on Mar. 3, 1913, the day before Woodrow Wilson's presidential inauguration. Hemmings graduated from Howard in May 1913 and returned to begin her teaching career with the San Antonio Independent School District. She taught English and drama at Frederick Douglass and Phyllis Wheatley high schools for more than fifty years, influencing countless students to love performing arts and literature. Hemmings organized the San Antonio chapter of Delta Sigma Theta on Aug. 16, 1933 and served as its first president. Today there are more than 950 chapters and more than 250,000 members worldwide. Myra loved the theater and acting. In 1922, she married John (Pop) Hemmings, a former Broadway actor. Together they organized the Phyllis Wheatley Dramatic Guild Players. Their productions, in which she often acted, shaped the cultural life of Black San Antonioans. She directed more than twenty dramatic plays and appeared in three feature films: "Marching On!" (1943), "Go Down, Death!" (1944) and "The Girl in Room 20" (1946). Hemmings received her Master of Arts degree in Drama from Northwestern University in 1937. Myra Hemmings' prolific achievements continue to influence and inspire the community and the world. (2012)