Veteran feminist and civil rights activist Hilda H M Mason died Sunday at the age of 91. According to the Washington Post, the cause of death was not immediately known. She is survived by two daughters, Joyce and Carolyn, two grandsons and three great-grandchildren.
Mason was a former teacher, member of the DC Board of Education, and at-large member of the DC Council. She played a key role in creating the University of the District of Columbia in the 1970’s and widely regarded as an authority on education issues.
“She had an extraordinary commitment to social justice and equality. She worked hard at that,” Frank Smith, a former D.C. Council member who met Mason when both were civil rights activists in the 1960s, said in the Washington Post. “She was involved with every progressive cause for the past 40 years.”
