 Martha Ann Cassell Thompson was the second child of Albert Cassell, an architect, and Ann Mason Cassell, a Baltimore Public school teacher.She attended James Monroe Elementary School, Garnett Patterson and Banneker Junior School, and Dunbar High School, graduating as class valedictorian in 1943.Along with her siblings Charles Cassell and Alberta Jeannette Cassell, Martha was encouraged by their father Albert Cassell to attend Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning for graduate work.