Viola Pettus
Encyclopedia
Viola Pettus was an African-American woman, born about 1886, who lived in Marathon
, Brewster County, Texas
. Viola is remembered in Texas for her courageous work as a nurse during the 1918 flu pandemic. Her legendary service — even to members of the Ku Klux Klan
— formed the basis for one of the plot lines in American Night: The Ballad of Juan José, a play by Richard Montoya, a member of the Culture Clash
performance group.
Viola was married to Benjamin Pettus. They had three daughters: Ura, Hazel, and Dorothy. The US Census lists the Pettus family as living in Justice Precinct 3, Brewster County, Texas, in 1910 and 1920.
Sometime prior to 1929, Benjamin and Viola Pettus opened their home in Marathon, Texas, to African-American and Seminole
children of the community who were denied education in the segregated school system of Brewster County.
Marathon, Texas
Marathon is a census-designated place in Brewster County, Texas, United States. The population was 470 in 2007, after growing from 455 in 2000, but had decreased to 430 by 2010.-Geography:Marathon is located at ....
, Brewster County, Texas
Brewster County, Texas
Brewster County is a county located in western part of the US state of Texas, along the border with Mexico. It is one of the nine counties that comprise the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas. As of the 2000 census, the population is 8,866. In 2009, the population was estimated to be 9,481. Its...
. Viola is remembered in Texas for her courageous work as a nurse during the 1918 flu pandemic. Her legendary service — even to members of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
— formed the basis for one of the plot lines in American Night: The Ballad of Juan José, a play by Richard Montoya, a member of the Culture Clash
Culture Clash (performance troupe)
Culture Clash is an Chicano American performance troupe composed of the writer-comedians Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas, and Herbert Sigüenza. Their work is of a satirical nature....
performance group.
Viola was married to Benjamin Pettus. They had three daughters: Ura, Hazel, and Dorothy. The US Census lists the Pettus family as living in Justice Precinct 3, Brewster County, Texas, in 1910 and 1920.
Sometime prior to 1929, Benjamin and Viola Pettus opened their home in Marathon, Texas, to African-American and Seminole
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...
children of the community who were denied education in the segregated school system of Brewster County.