Olivia Letts, first Black teacher hired by Lansing schools, dies at 93

Olivia Letts, the first Black teacher hired by the Lansing School District, has died.

The 93-year-old died Monday morning in Chicago, her daughter, Eileen Letts, confirmed. 

After being told the district wouldn't hire her, Olivia Letts lobbied friends and local citizens for a position at Lansing schools, according to a biography from Michigan Women Forward.

After being hired in 1951, she pushed to desegregate schools and fought for opportunities for teachers of color.

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Letts was living in Chicago and dating her future husband Richard "Dick" Letts when she received a letter from Lansing schools saying "they had never made a practice of hiring anyone of her race but they would keep her under consideration," according to a 1990 interview Richard gave as a part of an oral history project sponsored by the Lansing Public Library.

Richard had been living in Lansing and trying to get Olivia to marry him. The district's rejection was a setback.

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"She sent me a letter in rebuttal to my request for her hand that she'd never come to Lansing if she couldn't get a job," Richard said in the 1990 interview.

Richard said he shared a copy of the district's letter with local leaders and that the school board asked Olivia to reapply. The district hired her the same year she married Richard. A decade later, in 1961, she was promoted to principal.

"My mother was a lot of firsts," Eileen Letts said.

But, Olivia Letts wasn't the type to draw attention to herself. One of her end-of-life caregivers told Eileen she learned of her patient's notoriety only after googling her name.

"She did so much but she so modest about it," Eileen Letts said. "She just did what was right."

Her commitment to education began early. Olivia Letts, then Olivia Davis, grew up in a rooming house shared by several families on the south side of Chicago. She used to study in the bathroom at 4 a.m. because that was the only time she could find peace and quiet.

She told her grandsons, Robert and Matthew, she was late to school once in her life — because she was waylaid by a trolley accident.

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After graduating from the Chicago Teachers College, she went on to earn three advanced degrees — a master's in education, an education specialist degree in administration and a doctorate in curriculum — from Michigan State University, according to Michigan Women Forward.

Olivia Letts belonged to MSU's chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha and was thrilled when her sorority sister Kamala Harris, a Howard University alumna, was inaugurated as vice president.

"She sat in front of the television the entire day enjoying that," Eileen Letts said.

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Richard, Olivia's husband of nearly five decades, died in 1997. He served as Lansing's equal opportunity officer and director of human relations. The city's Letts Community Center honors the couple.

Olivia was less gregarious and with a "softer" edge compared to Richard, but the couple shared a dedication to giving back, their daughter said 

Bob Kolt, now a spokesman for the Lansing School District, knew Olivia Letts through his prior work with the Capital Region Community Foundation, which sponsored a Richard D. Letts scholarship fund.

"She was just delightful," Kolt said of Olivia Letts. "Everyone thought highly of her and respected her."

She didn't believe in sitting idle and kept a crossword and a paperback in her purse in case she was stuck in a waiting room, Eileen Letts said.

A consummate optimist, Olivia Letts preferred books with happy endings. She liked novels by Nicholas Sparks and Barack Obama's memoirs.

She used to say she needed to give some change back to Jesus after she died because she had been given more than enough.

"She had a full life," Eileen Letts said. "She said she had done everything she wanted to do."

Services for Olivia Letts will be handled through the Riley Funeral Home.

Contact reporter Sarah Lehr at slehr@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahGLehr.