Jessie McGuire Dent

[3] McGuire attended the segregated Central High School in Galveston, graduating in 1908, before attending the historically Black Howard University in Washington, D.C. She was one of the co-founders of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, which was founded on January 13, 1913, and later became a charter member of the Gamma Chapter in Galveston.

[7] Mary Church Terrell, best known as a advocate for women’s rights was made an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta in 1919 and marched as a woman in the college section.

[8] After graduating from Howard, Dent returned to Galveston in 1913 and began teaching English and Latin at Central High School, later serving as the dean of girls.

They produced a child in 1929 named Thomas Henry Dent Jr.[1] Their marriage ended in 1938[1] and their son passed shortly after in 1940.

[1] As she did not have family to inherit her estate, she and fellow founding sister Frederica Chase Dodd developed a 'survivors will'.

[1] She and her attorney, William J. Durham of Sherman, Texas, sued the Galveston School District in federal court under a violation of the 14th Amendment rights of equal protection under the law.

Additionally, Dent's goal of integration for Galveston public school systems have been realized as evident in the demographic information provided from the district.