Lethia Sherman Hankins (January 2, 1934 – December 29, 2014) was an educator, civic leader, and politician who was active in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Completing secondary school at Williston Industrial High in 1951,[5] she then went to the historically black college and university, North Carolina A&T.
[6] After completing her university studies, Hankins taught briefly in Hillsborough before returning to Wilmington, where she began teaching English at Williston Senior High School in 1959.
[7] Hankins transferred to John T. Hoggard High School at that time and organized Speak Outs to defuse the racial tensions that led to incidents like the Wilmington Ten arrests.
[3][5] Hankins later taught at Emsley A. Laney High School before retiring from teaching in 1994 to seek elected office.
[11] Her election was seen by the local paper as "an encouraging sign of racial reconciliation" since the majority of the electorate was white, and her opponent was too.
[20] It acquired some of her possessions as part of its permanent collection in 2016, including a teal suit, a nameplate from City Council meetings, photographs, campaign materials and programs from her funeral.
The works were commissioned from artist Livy Hitchcock, but their unveiling was postponed because of the COVID pandemic and the event was rescheduled for the fall of 2021.