Who was
Juliette Derricotte?
Juliette Derricotte (1897-1931) was a gifted speaker, educator, and peacemaker whose faith and warmth inspired many. Born in Athens, Georgia, she attended Talladega College, studied at Columbia University, became a national leader in the Young Women's Christian Association, and later served as Dean of Women at Fisk University, where she galvanized leadership among young Black women. Derricotte approached civil rights through peacemaking, promoting interracial fellowship and honest dialogue, believing that understanding across races could transform society; she wrote, “When I share the fellowship of many races without regard to color or creed I find an unconquerable peace of soul.”
After a car accident near Dalton, Georgia in November 1931, segregation kept her from the local hospital, and she died the next day in Chattanooga. Her tragic death drew nationwide attention and led to the expansion of hospital wards for Black Americans and eventually desegregated hospitals.
This documentary is based on a 1932 investigation published in The Crisis, written by W.E.B. Du Bois.
The account, “Dalton, Georgia, March 1932,” reconstructs the 1931 automobile accident involving Juliette Derricotte through eyewitness testimony, official statements, and correspondence sent to Du Bois.
It also incorporates letters from witnesses and medical officials, and compares multiple accounts, including findings from President Jones of Fisk University and the Inter-Racial Commission, regarding the medical care she received after the accident.
The following is based directly on these historical records.
“When I share the fellowship of many races without regard to color or creed I find an unconquerable peace of soul.”
TIMELINE
Born in Athens, Georgia April 1, 1896
In 1912 at church picnic, she was asked what her ultimate vocation would be:
“I don’t know whether it shall be teacher, missionary or social worker. Whatever it will be, I am going to try to do my level best to give good account of my stewardship.”
Talladega College (1915-1918)
Juliette graduated as class valedictorian. She said her inspiration “came from God through Mother” and grew at Talladega and “I will love and honor, live and die – for all three.”
YWCA Work (11 years)
Mary Jenness said “she herself would come radiant and sure, fairly breathing confidence into some of those shy, awkward students whose morale had collapsed because they felt themselves already beaten in a struggle too great for them. They would remember her all their lives as one who had put new heart into them”
“She had a rare forward thrust like a prophet, toward the next thing that had to be done. Then too she had a spirit of play that would often cause a hostile group to melt in laughter”
"In those years, I changed from a frightened uncertain girl into a confident woman with a real purpose in life... there were many humiliating incidents that hurt me deeply. But... they also gave me strength and power to do my job."
World Student Christian Federation
(1924)
“I want to join your host of friends in congratulating you upon your appointment to go to England. You deserve every bit of the honor and I rejoice with you.” WEB DuBois
“Everybody drinks wine and laughs in your face when you order orangeaid. We saw white women and [black] men and vice versa dancing and 3 fights. Some life I tell you. I met a young poet Langston Hughes, whom I knew in NY, who is working in [a cabaret] for the summer.”
Paris, July 13, 1924
“There is more to love than I am loving; there is more to know that I am knowing" - Juliette Derricotte's personal motto
Elected to the Talladega Board of Trustees
(the first woman ever selected)
Travel around the world to India
(6 months)
“There are moments when I am sure that I can love and not be loved, that I can give everything and care naught about the return and then too comes the unconquerable peace of the soul, …and yet the first act of discrimination produces a destructive hatred inside of me
She graduates from Columbia with an M.A.
in Religious Studies
​
Joins Fisk University as Dean of Women
Auto accident in Dalton, Georgia - November 6, 1931
Death in Chattanooga, Tennessee - November 7, 1931
“As a Christian leader of youth in our country, Juliette Derricotte could ill be spared, and circumstances of her death are a challenge to all of us to a real Christianizing of society” Max Yurgen
“We are not fighting for our rights; but we are fighting for our right to contribute what we have to give” - Juliette Derricotte
OTHER READING
The Death of Juliette Derricotte:
How a 1931 car accident in my hometown spotlights the overlooked injustice of Jim Crow-era healthcare
By Sam Rauschenberg
This resource features a short article and companion podcast by local historian Sam Rauschenberg telling the story of Juliette Derricotte. It explores her life, her impact on others, and the tragic role segregation played in her death in 1931 near Dalton, Georgia.
Juliette Derricotte (1897-1931)
By Linda T. Wynn
Linda T. Wynn is an adjunct instructor at Lipscomb University and co-founder of the Nashville Conference on African American History and Culture. This article, published in the 2016 conference proceedings, provides a scholarly overview of Derricotte’s life, leadership, and legacy within the YWCA and African American educational and activist communities. It also examines her tragic death in 1931 and the broader systemic injustices of segregation that shaped the circumstances surrounding it, highlighting her enduring significance in the struggle for racial justice.
A Nauseating Sentiment, a Magical Device, or a Real Insight? Interracialism at Fisk University in 1930
By Lauren Kientz Anderson
In “A Nauseating Sentiment, a Magical Device, or a Real Insight? Interracialism at Fisk University in 1930,” Lauren Kientz Anderson examines a debate among Fisk University leaders over the value of interracial cooperation. Through the perspectives of President Thomas E. Jones, researcher Mabel Byrd, and Dean of Women Juliette Derricotte, the article presents three distinct views of interracialism: as an unrealistic or even harmful ideal, as a powerful force for social change, or as a practical but imperfect approach to improving race relations. Derricotte’s contributions to this discussion reveal her engagement with some of the most important questions facing Black educators and activists during the Jim Crow era.