Holland, Tommie Beatrice Laine
(born: 1916 - died: 2003)Tommie Beatrice Laine Holland, born in Madison County, KY to Florence and Henry Allen Laine and raised in Cleveland, OH, was the first African American teacher in Richmond, IN.
Holland, a graduate of Wilberforce University and Ball State University, was a teacher in Columbia, SC in the 1940s; she and her family moved to Richmond in 1950. In addition to teaching, Holland was head of the Wayne County (IN) Community Action Program and the first African American woman to head the Indiana Civil Rights Commission (1973-1977).
For more see "Richmond schools hired first Black teacher in 1960," Palladium-Item, 2/19/2008, Region section, p. 3A; and Tommie Beatrice Holland in "Obituaries," Columbus Dispatch, 1/17/2003, News section, p. 07C.