The institute, c. 1910

Mayesville Industrial and Educational Institute was a school for African-American children in Mayesville, South Carolina. It was established and run by Emma Jane Wilson, an African American.[1][2][3]

Background

Emma J. Wilson

Wilson was educated at Goodwill Parochial School in Mayesville and then Scotia Seminary in North Carolina.[4]

She taught at the Presbyterian Trinity Mission School in Mayesville[5] which preceded Mayesville Institute. While at the school, she was Mary McLeod Bethune's first teacher, and later arranged for her to attend Scotia Seminary.[5][6]

Wilson was elected president of the annual Mayesville farmers conference around 1909.[7][8]

Mayesville Institute history

After graduating from Scotia Seminary, Wilson founded the Mayesville Institute in 1882 to serve African-American children. The school first began operating in a ginhouse shed. It focused on teaching trade skills to young girls and boys, including shoe-making, carpentry, blacksmithing, sewing, and cooking.[9][8] For the first 10 years, the school ran without outside funding.[7] In 1896, the school was incorporated.[1]

In 1895, Wilson met Louis Klopsch, the head of the Christian Herald newspaper, while fundraising in New York; after their meeting, Klopsch made the school one of the newspaper's "signature charities", and helped to raise money for the school. Klopsch became treasurer for the school's building fund, holding the role for several years, and later became a trustee.[9] The Mayesville Educational Association helped fund Wilson's work at the school.[10]

In 1909, the school had four buildings and 54 acres of land, including a school farm. That year, 550 students boarded at the school.[7][8] At one point, Joslyn Hall was among the buildings on its campus.[11]

Wilson died in 1924, but the school continued.[12] In the 1950s, what was left of the school was acquired by the state of South Carolina and an elementary school constructed.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 Hartshorn, William Newton (1910). Era of progress and promise, 1863-1910. Priscilla Pub. Co. p. 349.
  2. ↑ "Wilson helped create opportunities for children". The Sumter Item.
  3. ↑ Mbajekwe, Carolyn Wilson (2003). "THE DIFFICULT TASK: Fundraising for Small Southern Black Industrial Schools: The Case of Emma Jane Wilson and the Mayesville Educational and Industrial Institute, 1900-1915". American Educational History Journal. 30: 7–15. ProQuest 230062374.
  4. 1 2 Hollis, Tim (2005). "Billings Hall, 1915". Birmingham's Theater and Retail District. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4396-1290-3.
  5. 1 2 Condino, Meggin; Parks, Rebecca, eds. (2010). "Bethune, Mary McLeod (1875–1955)". African American Eras: Segregation to Civil Rights Times. Cengage Gale. pp. 423–427. ISBN 978-1-4144-3596-1. Gale CX2334900190.
  6. ↑ Howze, Jo (2000). "Bethune, Mary McLeod". In Benbow-Pfalzgraf, Taryn (ed.). American Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide from Colonial Times to the Present: A Critical Reference Guide from Colonial Times to the Present. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). St. James Press. pp. 84–85. ISBN 978-1-55862-430-6. Gale CX3400300098.
  7. 1 2 3 "INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS.: How Miss Emma J. Wilson Built Up Mayesville (S. C.) Institute". Afro-American. June 26, 1909. p. 6.
  8. 1 2 3 "What Women Are Doing In All Parts of the World". The Washington Post. July 18, 1909. p. M6. ProQuest 144939886.
  9. 1 2 Curtis, Heather D. (April 16, 2018). "The Limits of Evangelical Benevolence". Holy Humanitarians. Harvard University Press. p. 197. doi:10.4159/9780674985902-006. ISBN 978-0-674-98590-2. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  10. ↑ "List of Officers and Treasurer's Report". 1907.
  11. ↑ "Academic Building . Joslyn Hall. 12 inches of water in basement Mayesville Industrial Institute". Umbra Search African American History. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  12. ↑ Smith, Simmie (July 13, 1936). "Emma J. Wilson: Founder of Mayesville Institute, Sumter County, S.C." WPA Federal Writers' Project. Retrieved August 25, 2021.

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