HOUSTON- Lulu Belle Madison White, civil rights activist in the 1940s and 1950s, devoted most of her adult life to the struggle against Jim Crow in Texas.  She campaigned for the right to vote, for equal pay for equal work, and for desegregation of public facilities. Lulu was one of twelve children born to Henry and Easter Madison in East Texas at the turn of the20th century.

Her father, Henry Madison, a former Mississippi slave had moved to East Texas and later purchased 120 acres of farmland. When Lulu was born in Elmo, Texas in August 1900, she was born into a community that was 35 percent African American and 65 percent White. It was also a community where cotton and Jim Crow was “King.”

At Prairie View A&M University, (PVAMU) Lulu honed her leadership skills. Recognizing that the college had the responsibility of developing a cadre of college-educated African-American leaders, PVAMU emphasized the development of intellectual skill, rigor, and discipline in debate through the L & D society, the excelsior Literary Society, and the Aristo Club. She graduated magna cum laude from the college in June 1928.

Shortly after graduation, she married Julius White, a successful business owner who financed some of the race discrimination lawsuits in Houston. She was denied a teaching position in Houston. She comLufkin, Texas for two years before becoming involved in the struggle against Jim Crow.

Lulu began as an organizer to help support the Grovey lawsuit. She organized women groups such as the YWCA, Metropolitan Council of Negro Women, The Eastern Star and Grand Court of Calan. Lulu’s hard work earned her a new job as Executive Secretary of the Houston Branch of the NAACP.

She continued her efforts as she was selected by the National NAACP to be Director of Branches for the Southwest Region. While continuing in both positions, Lulu continued to oppose discrimination, unfair treatment of African- Americans, and Jim Crow. She was at case with the local leaders of the NAACP as with Thurgood Marshall and the leaders of the national NAACP. She was unafraid working with labor groups to enable African American workers, even at the risk of being called a communist.
 
But Lulu possessed the ideal background for NAACP activism. She did not disappoint the NAACP national headquarters. In six short years, she raised membership in the Houston branch from 2,000 to 10,000—the second highest in the nation.

Lulu left an indelible mark on the civil rights movement in Texas, especially Houston during the 1940’s-1960’s. Although she was involved in many court cases and protests to gain the equal rights for African-American, Lulu’s greatest achievement was her contribution to the Sweatt v. Painter case, which desegregated the University of Texas. She found and convinced Herman Sweatt to register for law school at the University of Texas.

She knew that even though Sweatt was qualified that he would not be permitted to attend UT’s law program without a fight. The Sweatt case was taken all the way to the Supreme Court. Based on the Supreme Court’s decision, this case lead to the desegregation of the University of Texas. The Sweatt case was also used as a precedent for Brown v. Board of Education.

The Supreme Court in Brown declared the doctrine of “separate but equal” null and void. This decision not only dismantled discrimination in education in Texas, but also limited discrimination in education all across the United States. Additionally, the decision also led the decline in Jim Crow laws.
She was a field worker in the national NAACP office between 1949 and 1951. Afterward, Lulu returned to Houston and devoted full time to her position as director of state branches. She died on July 6, 1957 and was buried in Houston.  The week before her death, the National NAACP established the Lulu White Freedom Fund in her honor.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Michael L. Gillette, “Heman Marion Sweatt: Civil Rights Plaintiff,” in Black Leaders: Texans for Their Times, ed. Alwyn Barr and Robert Calvert (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1981). Michael L. Gillette, “The Rise of the NAACP in Texas,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 81 (April 1978). Houston Informer, July 13, 1957.