Pittsburgh Civil Rights Pioneer, Thelma Lovette, Dies At 98
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A civil rights leader, born and raised in Pittsburgh, has passed away.
Thelma Lovette was 98 years old.
She died Saturday in Arizona, where she was living with family.
Born in 1916 in the Hill District, Lovette spent her life fighting for equal rights.
She dedicated her life to fighting for the rights of others.
She participated in the original March on Washington in 1963 and served on the local YMCA board of management.
Lovette was a trailblazer as the first black social worker at UPMC and would stare confrontation in the face, whether it was marching against the KKK in her hometown of Pittsburgh, or making more subtle statements about equality, as a torch bearer for the Olympics.
Lovette, tiny in stature but large, wanted the world to know that all men and women were created equal.
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