{{Short description|American politician (1916–2007)}} {{about|the American politician|the English architect|Hilda Mason (architect)}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Hilda Mason.jpg | caption = Mason in 1997 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1916|6|14}} | birth_place = Campbell County, Virginia, U.S.<ref name = denies>Redmon, Jeremy. "Has her time passed? - Mason denies she's too old to run." ''The Washington Times''. October 16, 1998.</ref> | death_date = {{Death date and age|2007|12|16|1916|6|14}} | death_place = Washington, D.C., US | office = Member of the Council of the District of Columbia At-large | term_start = April 2, 1977 | term_end = January 2, 1999 | predecessor = Julius Hobson | successor = David Catania | party = D.C. Statehood Green Party }}
'''Hilda Mason''' (June 14, 1916 – December 16, 2007) was an American politician and statehood advocate in Washington, D.C. Mason was a member of the D.C. Statehood Green Party and served as an at-large member of the Council of the District of Columbia from 1977 to 1999, becoming, at the time, the longest-serving elected official in the district's history since the beginning of home rule.<ref>{{Cite news|last=DeBonis|first=Mike|date=February 12, 2013|title=Jack Evans is now the D.C. Council's longest-serving member|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/mike-debonis/wp/2013/02/12/jack-evans-is-now-the-d-c-councils-longest-serving-member/|access-date=May 15, 2021|newspaper=Washington Post|language=en-US}}</ref> Mason was one of a few members of the Democratic Socialists of America to be elected to public office before 2017.<ref>''Democratic Left,'' vol. 8 no. 1 (January 1990), page 7.</ref>
==Life and career== A great-granddaughter of enslaved people, Mason was born in a split log cabin in rural Campbell County, Virginia. Mason first worked as a teacher of "colored" students in racially segregated Altavista, Virginia. After moving to Washington, D.C. in 1945,<ref name="hold">{{cite news|last=Montgomery|first=David|date=October 15, 1998|title=Mason's Hold on Council Seat May Be Waning|page=B1|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1620001293/}}</ref> Mason continued to teach in the public schools there which were also still segregated. Mason was a staff member at the LaSalle Laboratory School and the progressive Adams Morgan Community School Project. In 1957, Mason met fellow activist Charlie Mason,<ref>{{Cite web|title="HILDA MASON — EDUCATOR, ACTIVIST AND WASHINGTON, DC'S GRANDMOTHER"|url=https://www.childrensdefense.org/child-watch-columns/health/2008/hilda-mason-educator-activist-and-washington-dcs-grandmother/|access-date=2021-05-15|website=Children's Defense Fund|language=en-US}}</ref> a white man who had graduated from Harvard University and Howard University Law School.<ref name= hold/> They married at All Souls Church in 1965;<ref name= hold/> they had two daughters.<ref name="PostObit" />
Mason was an elected member of the District of Columbia Board of Education from 1972 to 1977 and then was appointed to the D.C. Council to replace Julius Hobson, who died in 1977.<ref name="PostObit" /> Mason's focus while on the council was public education; Mason advocated for the creation of the David A. Clarke School of Law at the University of the District of Columbia.<ref name="PostObit" /> In the mid-1990s, Mason's mental condition came into question; her behavior was "sometimes-erratic and unpredictable".<ref>Valerie Strauss, "Mason's behavior worries allies, foes alike", ''The Washington Post'', Aug. 1, 1995, p. B1.</ref> Later in life, Mason began calling herself the "Grandmother to the world".<ref>James Jones, "Loose Lips: Brazil Takes Offense", ''Washington City Paper'', Nov. 17, 2006.</ref> In 1998, she finished third in an at-large race that elected two council members.<ref name="PostObit">{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=J. Y. |last2=Holley |first2=Joe |title=Vocal Former Member Of D.C. Council Pushed Home Rule, Education |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/17/AR2007121701977.html |access-date=28 November 2020 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=18 December 2007 |pages=B1}}</ref><ref>Mike DeBonis, "Hilda Mason Dies at 91", ''Washington City Paper'', Dec. 17, 2007.</ref>
==Political career== thumb|right|Mason at her Council desk, 1982 * April 2, 1977 — appointed by the D.C. Statehood Party to fill the at-large council seat left vacant by the death of Julius Hobson<ref>{{cite news | title=Hilda Mason to Fill Hobson Council Seat | last=Williams | first=Juan |author2=Coleman, Milton | newspaper=The Washington Post | date=1977-04-03 | page=21 | accessdate=2008-07-21 | url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/143175792.html?FMT=ABS | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525020539/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/143175792.html?FMT=ABS | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 25, 2011 }}</ref> * July 19, 1977 – elected at-large council member in special election (narrow win over Barbara Sizemore)<ref>{{cite news | title=Mason Leading Sizemore | last=Coleman | first=Milton |author2=Morgan, Thomas | newspaper=The Washington Post | date=1977-07-20 | page=A1 | accessdate=2008-07-21 | url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/143311352.html?FMT=ABS | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131162412/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/143311352.html?FMT=ABS | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 31, 2013 }}</ref> * November 7, 1978 — reelected at-large council member<ref name=history>{{cite web |title=Historical Elected Officials: At-Large Member of the Council of the District of Columbia |author=District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics |accessdate=2008-07-19 |url=http://www.dcboee.org/information/eo_index/history/AT_LARGE.shtm |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080716231147/http://www.dcboee.org/information/eo_index/history/AT_LARGE.shtm |archivedate=2008-07-16 |url-status=dead }}</ref> * November 2, 1982 — reelected at-large council member<ref name=history /> * November 4, 1986 — reelected at-large council member<ref name=history /> * November 6, 1990 — reelected at-large council member<ref name=history /> * November 8, 1994 — reelected at-large council member<ref name=history /> * November 3, 1998 — ran for reelection but was defeated in general by Phil Mendelson and David Catania (the at-large race has two winners)<ref name=history />
==Activism== {{unreferenced section|date = September 2025}} Mason and her husband were Washington, D.C.'s most significant activist couple from the early 1960s to the 2000s. Before her political career, working as a teacher, she helped organize a school chapter of the Washington Teachers Union. Mason fought for equal treatment for black students and teachers. In the mid-1960s, Mason organized a rent subsidy project and summer enrichment program for children in the neighborhood around All Soul's Church. Mason also picketed the D.C. Transit Company to demand an end to its racist hiring practices and to protest the Whites-only membership policy of the YMCA. After losing her bid for a Council term in 1998, Mason and her husband continued to provide financial assistance to college students. The couple was instrumental in establishing the University of the District of Columbia School of Law and were great patrons of the institution. They contributed large sums to provide scholarships for students attending the school. In 2004, the school Board of Trustees honored them by naming its library the Charles N. and Hilda H. M. Mason Law Library.
==See also== *List of Democratic Socialists of America who have held office in the United States
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-dc}} {{Succession box | before=Julius Hobson | title=At-Large Member, {{nowrap|Council of the District of Columbia}} | years=1977–1999 | after=Phil Mendelson }} {{end}}
{{Authority control}}
==External links== * [http://library.gwu.edu/dcaap-fa/dcaap0052.xml Hilda Mason Finding Aid]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Hilda}} Category:1916 births Category:2007 deaths Category:20th-century American women politicians Category:D.C. Statehood Green Party politicians Category:Members of the Council of the District of Columbia Category:Members of the Democratic Socialists of America from Washington, D.C. Category:Women city councillors in the District of Columbia Category:People from Campbell County, Virginia Category:21st-century American women Category:20th-century Washington, D.C., politicians