Austin was born in Mount Pleasant, Tennessee, USA, on 21 December 1912, to parents Walter Ed Dawson (1877–1958) and Minnie Dawson (1883–1948).

In 1939, she married Richard Henry Austin (1913–2001). Her husband was the first African American elected as Michigan’s Secretary of State, serving from 1971 and 1995, the first to win election to any statewide office in Michigan except the Supreme Court, and the longest-serving Secretary of State in the state. Also, the first Black certified public accountant in Michigan. The couple established two scholarship funds and a lecture series at the Mike Ilitch School of Business. The couple had a daughter, Hazel.

In 2009, she was named the Matriarch of the Michigan Democratic Party and held lifetime memberships in the Detroit Branch NAACP, Booker T. Washington Business Association, League of Women Voters, and National Council of Negro Women. Furthermore, she was the first Black District Manager of the Girl Scouts of Southeast Michigan.

In December 2022, on her 110th birthday, she was visited by Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan.

Austin passed away in Dearborn, Michigan, USA, on 10 June 2023, at the age of 110 years, 171 days.