Born in Cairo, Georgia, in 1919, one of eleven siblings. Despite the harsh social and political environment for African Americans in the rural south of the 1920's, Hattie and her sister both became college graduates. Hattie taught elementary school for twenty years, married and had a son, Bil, and is now the Grandmother of twin girls, Trey and Shane. Sparked by her passion for the Civil Rights Movement, she labored with a number of community groups who believed that racial justice could be achieved through voting and political participation. She had great determination in seeing that as many as possible of her nieces and nephews earned a college degree and fourteen of them did. Such work meant more to her than the twenty-nine awards and plaques that cover the walls of her family room. (Tile dedicated by her son, Professor Bil Banks.)