A native of
Campti, Louisiana, Hathaway traveled to
Los Angeles in 1931 in hopes of playing piano in one of the clubs on Central Avenue, also known as "Black Broadway". Instead, she began her career in the area working as an extra in Hollywood films, usually as an "Egyptian" or an "exotic." After auditioning for
Cabin in the Sky, Hathaway was hired as a body double for
Lena Horne throughout much of the film; she later worked as Horne's stand-in in
Stormy Weather. However, her Hollywood career ended when she refused to play an extra in a biopic about
Woodrow Wilson which required her to wear a bandanna and sit on a bale of cotton. She then returned to singing in cabaret in Los Angeles clubs, recording several songs including “Bayou Baby Blues”, “School Girl Blues”, “A Falling Star”, and “When Gabriel Blows His Horn” with
The Robins and “Here Goes a Fool” as a solo artist. During the civil rights movement, Hathaway became a major activist in the Los Angeles-Hollywood region. After she took up golf as a pastime after winning a bet against
Joe Louis in 1955, she began agitating against local golf courses which restricted black patrons from usage. In 1960, Hathaway organized the Minority Association for Golfers (MAG) to support young black golfers by advocating for golf-related employment. In 1963, Hathaway led a picket during the
PGA at the Long Beach municipal golf course to protest a lack of golf jobs for black professional golfers. She also campaigned for an increase black player participation in PGA tournaments. Her agitation spread to broader issues. Hathaway and friend,
Barbara Walden, an actress and dancer, gathered 35 signatures required to establish a branch of the NAACP in Beverly Hills-Hollywood. The charter was granted on June 1, 1962 with Hathaway serving as President and Board members including Walden and attorney James L. Tolbert. In 1967, she joined with
Sammy Davis Jr. and
Willis Edwards in holding the first
NAACP Image Awards. In 1975, Hathaway petitioned for
Lee Elder to be invited to play in the
Masters Tournament. During the following decades, she continued to write for the
Los Angeles Sentinel. She organized opportunities for young minorities to play and received financial help from PGA players, including
Jack Nicklaus. Hathaway died on September 24, 2001. == Personal life ==