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Black History in Arizona

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Laura Banks-Reed

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AliasesLaura BanksLaura NoblesLaura Nobles BanksDr. Laura Banks-ReedLaura Nobles Banks-ReedBirth 1921-06-29Death2023-04-14BirthplaceTucson, ArizonaAffiliationsNAACPYWCAAlpha Kappa Alpha SororityMount Calvary Missionary Baptist ChurchOccupationsCivil Rights ActivistTeacherSchool PrincipalPlace of ResidenceTucsonBiographical NoteLaura Nobles was born in Barrio Anita, Tucson to a family with nine siblings. She attended Dunbar School and graduated from Tucson High School in 1939. She attended the University of Arizona where she double-majored in P.E. and elementary education. She married Jack Banks in 1950 and in 1969, obtained a master's degree in education from the University of Arizona. She eventually earned her doctorate in education in 1980. She worked as a teacher and principal for several Tucson area elementary schools, retiring as the assistant superintendent of Tucson's largest school district in 1982.

Her husband Jack passed away in 1998 and in 2006, she married Eugene Reed, an airman from Tucson she met in the 1940s.

She served as president of both the local NAACP and YWCA and was a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. She worked within the Tucson community to end discrimination and segregation. She was awarded the Tucson NCAAP Woman of the Year and the Outstanding Woman of the Year by the Arizona Daily Star in 1964. The Laura Nobles Banks Elementary School in Tucson is named for her, as is the Dr. Laura Banks-Reed Center for Gender and Racial Equity at the YWCA of Southern Arizona.

Banks-Reed passed away in April of 2023 at the age of 101 in San Antonio, Texas.More InformationLaura Banks-Reed Was Devoted to Education, Equity in Tucson

Newspaper

Arizona Sun, 1960-06-09

Arizona Tribune, 1958-10-03

Arizona Tribune, 1959-12-04

Arizona Tribune, 1962-02-02

Arizona Tribune, 1962-02-23

Arizona Tribune, 1963-03-01

Arizona Tribune, 1963-03-29

Arizona Tribune, 1963-07-12

Arizona Tribune, 1964-01-31

Arizona Tribune, 1964-09-04

Entertainment Magazine, 1988-01

The Apache Sentinel, 1943-12-10

City Directory

1962 Cole's Directory, criss cross-cross reference of greater Tucson

1964 Cole's Directory, criss cross-cross reference of greater Tucson

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Arizona's Negro Journal

The Cactus Tribune

Document

Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records annual report 2008-2009

Yearbook

Desert, 1965

Publication Set

Arizona Educational Directories

CollectionArizona Research TopicsThe Cactus TribuneArizona's Negro JournalEventBlack History in ArizonaPlaceDunbar Elementary SchoolTucson High Magnet SchoolTopicCivil RightsEducationReligion and Spirituality

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Laura Banks-Reed