Violet J. Kennedy

Violet Jaye Kennedy was born in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1922, the only daughter of a local businessman and theater owner. After graduating from Howard University, she moved to New York where she was a member of the American Negro Repertory Players and eventually appeared on Broadway as Calliope Oliver in The Hickory Stick. She left the theater to serve in the American Red Cross at the close of the Second World War.