Mary Jackson McCrorey

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Mary Jackson McCrorey, from a 1921 publication.

Mary Jackson McCrorey (November 9, 1867 – January 13, 1944) was an American educator, mission worker, and leader in the

Young Women's Christian Association
(YWCA).

Early life

Mary C. Jackson was born in

Atlanta University.[1]

Career

Jackson taught school in Athens, after college. She was also a school principal in

Haines Normal and Industrial Institute in Augusta, Georgia, working closely with the school's founder Lucy Craft Laney.[2][3] She wrote a profile of Lucy Craft Laney for The Crisis in 1934.[4]

After her marriage, McCrorey was based in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she worked in various capacities at Johnson C. Smith University. She served as president of the Baptist Division of Missions for Colored People, and was active in bringing the first YWCAs for black women in the American South.[5][6] She was an officer of the International Council of Women of the Darker Races.[7] She was part of a network of Southern black women at universities who were also involved with the YWCA and the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACW), including Juliette Derricotte, Jennie B. Moton, Margaret Murray Washington, and Nettie Langston Napier.[8][9] From 1920 to 1944, Mary Jackson McCrorey served on the National Commission on Interracial Cooperation.[10]

In 1941, McCrorey was awarded an honorary doctorate by Benedict College.[11]

Personal life

Mary C. Jackson married Henry Lawrence McCrorey, a widower and the president of Johnson C. Smith University, in 1916. She died in 1944, aged 76 years. After Henry's death in 1951, the black YMCA in Charlotte, North Carolina was renamed the McCrorey Family YMCA.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b W. H. Crogman, "Mary Jackson McCrorey" in Arthur Bunyan Caldwell, ed. History of the American Negro and His Institutions (A. B. Caldwell Publishing 1921): 620-624.
  2. ^ "The Dark Vestal Virgin: Lucy Craft Laney" The Weekly Challenger (September 29, 2016).
  3. ^ Mary Jackson McCrorey, "Lucy Laney" The Crisis (June 1934): 161.
  4. ^ National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Cauley-Wheeler Memorial Building (2008): 10.
  5. Newspapers.comOpen access icon
  6. ^ About Us, YMCA of Greater Charlotte.

External links