Mary Jane Dillard
Born: Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, on September 10, 1874. Died: Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, on November 29, 1954.
Mary Jane “Mamie” Dillard was born to Jesse and Fannie B. Johnson Dillard, in Lawrence, Kansas on September 10, 1874. Johnson Dillard arrived early in Lawrence, Kansas Territory, with her young son, Charles Johnson. Considered a child prodigy in music, he built a guitar from a cigar box and performed for audiences including Territorial Governor Wilson Shannon. Johnson then joined a professional minstrel troop, performing in the U.S. and Europe. Fannie Dillard was a survivor of Quantrill’s raid. Jesse Dillard arrived in Lawrence around 1870, and married Fannie Johnson, a widow. He worked as a messenger for the Lawrence, Leavenworth and Galveston Railroad Company and porter for Lawrence National Bank. Mamie continued to live in the family home on Louisiana Street during her life. The Dillard house is a contributor in Lawrence’s Pinkney I Historic District, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Mamie attended public schools in Lawrence and excelled in her studies. She was the only Black student in her high school graduation class. As part of her commencement, Dillard delivered a speech in favor of the WCTU. She became an active supporter of the organization’s efforts, joining the segregated Black chapter in Lawrence in 1892. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas in 1896. She was hired as a schoolteacher for first through third grades at Pinckney Elementary School in Lawrence. She taught African American students in the segregated public schools. Among Dillard’s students was Langston Hughes who attended Pinckney in 1909. She encouraged the young poet, continuing with him a close relationship and a correspondence decades after Hughes left Kansas.
Dillard took graduate school classes in English and special education at the University of Kansas between 1909 and 1913. After completing her course work, she was promoted to principal of Lincoln Elementary School. Dillard was a strong promoter of women’s education and woman’s suffrage, attending events that encouraged civic engagement. She served as a patroness of Delta Sigma Theta sorority at the University of Kansas. Her home briefly became the sorority's headquarters in the 1920s.
An active member of Lawrence’s African American literary and social community, Dillard was a member of numerous of clubs and women's organizations, including the Home and Garden Club and the Sierra Leone Club. She was president of the Double Six Club; and of the Self Culture Club, a local organization for African American women promoting education and community building for working mothers, in 1933. Dillard died in Lawrence, Kansas, on November 29, 1954. She is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Lawrence.
- Featured in the Kansas State Capitol Rebel Women Mural
Entry: Dillard, Mary Jane
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: November 2024
Date Modified: November 2024
The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.
