During World War II Mae served as a nurse at Netley Hospital Victoria Park and also became assistant director of the Red Cross service club for black soldiers in Southampton.

Mae was of mixed parentage and in her biography “Passing as Black” she reflects on the conflicts she experienced because of it.

"Most of us, whether white or black, are mixtures of many races and nationalities,"

Mae Street Kidd returned to the USA after the war, entered politics and made civil rights the focus of her work.

Mae Street Kidd 1904 - 1999

Excerpt from Black Stories Southampton, Extraordinary Accounts by Don John