Maybeth Hurd Paige was a long-time Minneapolis community leader and politician. Before running for office, she had been President of the Women’s Christian Association, a leader in the Minneapolis Urban League, and a supporter of the Phyllis Wheatley Settlement House. In 1922, she ran as a Republican for the Minnesota House of Representatives and was one of the first women elected to the state legislature. She served for more than twenty years.

In 1942—amid the controversy surrounding the University of Minnesota and the International House—Paige wrote to Dean Willey and President Coffey, asking them to join her in a joint conversation concerning the problem of segregated housing with the President of the Urban League.