Local historian and educator Hanna Stith has died, 10 days after her 90th birthday.
Stith joined the NAACP while still a student at Central High School. She graduated in 1946, and obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degree from what was then St. Francis College.
She was one of the first black educators within the Fort Wayne Community Schools, joining the school system in 1960. She served as a Title 1 instructor, working at inner city schools and helping students who needed work in math and language.
After she retired in 1996, Stith served as a docent at the Lincoln Museum. In 1998, she co-founded the African American History Society, and later the African American History Museum, which officially opened in 2000.
Active in the Fort Wayne community, Stith served a number of mayoral administrations on various boards, including the Redevelopment Commission, Metropolitan Human Relations Commission and the Board of Public Safety.
A member of Turner Chapel AME Church, she taught Sunday School, organized Vacation Bible School and directed their Commission on Christian Education.
She was preceded in death by her husband Harold Stith in 2009, and is survived by her daughter.
