Hollingsworth, Dorothy (1920-2022)

Individual, Hollingsworth, Dorothy

Born in South Carolina, Dorothy Hollingsworth attended Paine College in George, the first in her family to attend college. After moving to Seattle in 1946, she joined the Christian Friends for Racial Equality and was active in the Seattle YWCA and the First African Methodist Episcopal Church. She graduated from the University of Washington School of Social Work in 1959 and initially worked as a social worker in the Seattle School District. In 1965 she became the first director of Seattle's Head Start program and in 1966 served on the national advisory board for "Sesame Street." She was a member of the City of Seattle's Human Rights Commission and was appointed by Mayor Braman to the Police Liaison Committee in 1968. Between 1969 and 1972, Hollingsworth was Deputy Director of Planning for the City Demonstration Agency under Walter Hundley as part of the Model Cities Program. She was elected to the Seattle School Board in 1975 and helped lead the effort to racially desegregate schools through busing. She was elected president of the School Board and elected to the State Board of Education in 1984. Hollingsworth retired in 1986 from her position as deputy director of the Department of Human Resources for the City of Seattle. Hollingsworth said her greatest asset was her past, which allowed her to understand the problems of the poor.