Merline Pitre facts for kids

Merline Pitre (born April 10, 1943) is an important American historian and educator. She teaches history at Texas Southern University. She also led the Texas State Historical Association from 2011 to 2012.

About Merline Pitre

Early Life and Education

Merline Pitre was born on April 10, 1943. Her hometown was Opelousas, Louisiana. She grew up in a community called Plaisance in Louisiana. In 1962, she graduated from Plaisance High School. She was the best student in her class, known as the valedictorian.

Merline Pitre went to Southern University and earned a degree in French. Later, she received a master's degree in French from Atlanta University. She continued her studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There, she earned another master's degree in 1972 and a Ph.D. in 1976. A Ph.D. is the highest degree you can get in a subject.

Teaching and Research Work

For three years, Dr. Pitre taught at St. Augustine College in Raleigh, North Carolina. She also did a lot of research. She studied at famous places like the Library of Congress and the National Archives. She also visited the Frederick Douglass Memorial Home.

In 1981, she received a special award called a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship. This award gave her money to do her own research. It helped her study history even more deeply.

Leadership at Texas Southern University

In 1983, Dr. Pitre became an associate dean at Texas Southern University. She worked in the College of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences. She held this important job until 1985.

Later, she became the dean of the same college. She served as dean from 1990 to 1994. She returned to this role from 2000 to 2008. As a dean, she helped manage the college and its programs.

Leading the Texas State Historical Association

From 2011 to 2012, Dr. Pitre was the president of the Texas State Historical Association. This is a big honor for a historian. It means she was chosen to lead a group that studies and shares the history of Texas.

Awards for Her Books

Dr. Pitre has won several awards for her writing. In 2007, she received the Liz Carpenter Best Book on the History of Women Award. She won it for her book Black Women in Texas History, which she wrote with Bruce Glasrud.

She won the same award again in 2012. This time, it was for her book Southern Black Women in the Modern Civil Rights Movement, also written with Bruce Glasrud. These awards show how important her work is in sharing the stories of women in history.

In 2014, she received two more awards. She got the Lorraine Williams Leadership Award from the Association of Black Women Historians. She also received the President Achievement Award from Texas Southern University.

Writings

Dr. Merline Pitre has written several important books about history. Her books often focus on the experiences of Black women in the Southern United States. She helps us learn about their contributions to history and the Civil Rights Movement.