Jessie May McGuire Dent

Dent's 1943 suit drew on years of organizing among Black teachers. She worked through the Colored Teachers State Association, and in March 1941 she joined its Texas Commission on Democracy in Education. Galveston's segregated schools commonly paid Black teachers about 20 percent less than white teachers with the same qualifications and experience. The case was settled on June 15, 1943, and the school board agreed to pay Black and white teachers equally. Her father was a police officer, and her home at 2818 Avenue R later received a city historical designation.

What the plaque says

Jessie May McGuire Dent Born in Galveston on March 24, 1892 to Robert and Alberta (Mabson) McGuire, Jessie May McGuire Dent was an important Galveston Civil Rights figure. In 1909, she graduated as valedictorian from Central High School. While a student at Howard University, she became one of the 22 founding members of Delta Sigma Theta sorority in 1913. Delta Sigma Theta would become one of the most important black sororities in America. After graduating from Howard, McGuire Dent returned to Central High School as girls' dean and Latin teacher. She married Thomas Dent in 1924, and they had one child, Thomas Henry Dent, Jr. McGuire Dent was an active member of the Galveston community, belonging to Avenue L Missionary Baptist Church, the Red Cross, NAACP, Galveston's Community Chest, the Colored Independent Voters League and the Colored Teachers State Association of Texas. In 1941, she established what is now the Galveston Almunae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta. McGuire Dent is most known for the 1943 case Jessie McGuire Dent, et al vs. The Board of Trustees of the Public Free Schools of the City of Galveston, Texas, et al. The case was the second to demand equal pay for African American teachers, deans, secretaries and principals filed by the NAACP in Texas. The court ruled that the Galveston School District must pay African Americans equally, regardless of whether the employee was educated in segregated schools. McGuire Dent died March 12, 1948, and is buried in Lakeview Cemetery. In honor of her contributions to the sorority, education and community, the Galveston Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta named their scholarship for Galveston County High School graduates after her. In 1999, Galveston named its recreation center, on the site of her family home, in honor of McGuire Dent for her contributions to the city and equality for African Americans. (2020)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Moody Mansion — 0.8 mi
  A four-story, 28,000-square-foot house on Broadway, finished in 1895, that W. L. Moody Jr. bought just after the 1900 storm and his family kept until Hurricane Alicia in 1983.
• 1859 Ashton Villa — 0.9 mi
  A brick Italianate house on Broadway, built with enslaved labor in 1859, whose lawn has held Galveston's Juneteenth commemoration of General Orders, No. 3 every year since 1979.
• 1892 Bishop's Palace — 1.3 mi
  Nicholas Clayton's stone house on Broadway for the railroad lawyer Walter Gresham, later home to Galveston's Catholic bishops and one of the most admired Victorian houses in the country.
• The Strand — 1.3 mi
  Five blocks of iron-front brick buildings near the harbor that were once called the Wall Street of the Southwest, emptied after 1900 and brought back by preservationists from the 1960s.

More markers nearby

• Galveston's African American Lifeguards — steps away
• Galveston Artillery Club — 0.5 mi
• Site of Ursuline Convent and Academy — 0.5 mi
• Gail Borden, Jr. — 0.5 mi