Sarah Ann Dickey

Sarah Ann Dickey (April 25, 1838 – January 23, 1904) was an American educator from Ohio who in 1875 founded Mount Hermon Female Seminary, a historically black institution of higher education for women in Clinton, Mississippi. She returned to the north to get a degree at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. Afterward, she went back to Mississippi to work on education for African Americans. She became an ordained minister in 1896 in the United Brethren Church.

Sarah A. Dickey
BornSarah A. Dickey
(1838-04-25)April 25, 1838
Ohio, U.S.
DiedJanuary 23, 1904(1904-01-23) (aged 65)
Clinton, Mississippi, U.S.
OccupationEducator
LanguageEnglish
Alma materMount Holyoke College

The women's college closed in the 1920s. Sumner Hill Junior High School developed at this site.

Background

Dickey was born ʱin 1838 near Dayton, Ohio. Although her formal education did not begin until she was sixteen, she received a teacher's certificate three years later.

During the Civil War she traveled to Vicksburg, Mississippi, to teach freedmen and their children. After the American Civil War, she attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (now Mount Holyoke College), graduating in 1869.

Career

Dickey returned to Mississippi to continue working with African Americans recently freed from slavery. She organized and established the Mount Hermon Female Seminary, which opened in October 1875 in Clinton, Mississippi.[1] The Seminary was modeled after Mount Holyoke, offering education for women, and preparing them for roles primarily as teachers.

The Seminary was eventually closed in 1924 by the American Missionary Association, which had earlier established a college in Tougaloo, Mississippi. The site of the seminary in Clinton is now Sumner Hill Junior High.[2] An historical marker honoring Dickey was placed there on 29 April 2016.[2]

In 1896 Dickey was ordained a minister in her church, the United Brethren Church. She never married but raised several children left in her care.

References
  1. "Welcome to Encyclopædia Britannica's Guide to Black History". academic.eb.com. Retrieved 2016-04-30.
  2. "Historical Marker Dedicated to Sarah Dickey". wjtv.com. Retrieved 2016-04-30.

Bibliography

Griffith, Helen (1965). Dauntless in Mississippi: The Life of Sarah A. Dickey. South Hadley, Massachusetts: Dinosaur Press.


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