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Mack
Henry Hannah,
Jr., black
business,
civic, and
political
leader, was
born on
February 8,
1904, in
Brenham,
Texas, the son
of Mack Henry
and Daisy
(Brown)
Hannah. During
his childhood
the family
moved to Port
Arthur, where
Hannah
graduated from
Lincoln High
School in
1922. He
enrolled at
Bishop College
in Marshall in
1924,
graduated in
1927, and won
All-American
honors as a
football
player. After
serving as a
football coach
for Lincoln
High School in
1929-30, he
entered upon
numerous
business
ventures that
eventually
made him a
millionaire
and probably
the wealthiest
black in
Texas. From
1930 to 1944
he traveled in
Texas,
Louisiana,
Mississippi,
Arkansas,
Oklahoma, and
Florida as a
salesman for
the Orange
Casket
Company. He
organized the
Metropolitan
Service Life
Insurance
Company in New
Orleans,
Louisiana, in
1939. He
formed a
partnership
with New
Orleans
businessman
Joseph A.
Porter the
next year and
eventually
became the
sole owner of
their casket
company.
Hannah also
entered into a
partnership
with a
church-construction
company and
joined a
shrimping
venture with
Leander Perez
of Louisiana.
He organized a
savings and
loan
association,
engaged in
real estate
developments,
and operated
the Mack H.
Hannah and
Sons Funeral
Home in Port
Arthur.
He
was a founder
and president
of the Texas
Federation of
Burial
Associations
and served as
chairman of
the board of
directors for
the Negro Day
Nursery of
Port Arthur.
Hannah was a
Methodist,
assisted the
YMCA and the
Camp Fire
Girls, and was
a member of
the National
Association
for the
Advancement of
Colored
People, the
Masons, and
the Elks
lodge. He
served as
chairman of
the board of
directors for
Texas Southern
University and
was a trustee
for Bishop
College. As a
Democrat he
reportedly
influenced
black voters
in Jefferson
County
elections and
helped win
votes for
state leaders
Allan Shivers
and Lyndon
Baines
Johnson.qv
He served as
United States
consul to
Liberia for a
number of
years. He
married Reba
Othelene Hicks
in 1927; the
couple had
three
children.
Hannah was the
cousin of
another black
Texas
millionaire,
Hobart T.
Taylor.qv
Hannah died on
April 2, 1994.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Louie
Robinson, Jr.,
The
Black
Millionaire
(New York:
Pyramid,
1972). Who's
Who in Colored
America,
1950.
Paul
M. Lucko
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