Olive Myrl Diggs (April 22, 1908 - November 10, 1980) was the managing editor of Anthony Overton's Chicago Bee from 1929 until it closed in 1947, a public official advocating for Chicago's African American community, and a city planner.
She was born in Mound City, Illinois, received a B.S. in Economics and Accounting from Northwestern University and an M.S. from Roosevelt University.
At the Chicago Bee, Diggs focused on housing for African-Americans in Chicago and advocated for neighborhood rejuvenation. She directed the Neighborhood Youth Corps[1] and was a consultant for the National Youth Administration.[2]
She served as Assistant Direct of the Illinois Commission on Human Relations. She gave speeches.[3] She retired as Administrative Assistant in the Chicago Department of Planning, City and Community Development in 1979.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b "Olive Diggs papers (BMRC.DUSABLE.DIGGS)". University of Chicago Library. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
- ^ "Former urban renewal official Olive Diggs dies". Jet. Johnson Publishing Company. December 4, 1980.
- ^ "Race relations speaker to visit campus". Daily Egyptian. January 28, 1955.
Further reading
edit- Halliday, Aria (2019). "Centering Black Women in the Black Chicago Renaissance: Katherine Williams-Irvin, Olive Diggs, and "New Negro Womanhood"". In Fielder, Brigitte; Senchyne, Jonathan (eds.). Against a Sharp White Background: Infrastructures of African American Print. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 240–258. ISBN 978-0-299-32150-5.
- Ottley, Roi (July 12, 1959). "Woman studies Negroes' gain on culture scale". Chicago Tribune. pp. 2 (Part 3) – via Newspapers.com.
- Weems, Robert E. Jr. (2020). The Merchant Prince of Black Chicago: Anthony Overton and the Building of a Financial Empire. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-05192-0.
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