Mary Jim Morris
Greenville, Hunt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Born near Atlanta, Georgia, in 1876, Mary Jim Morris moved to Greenville, Texas, in 1899 with her family. That summer, Mary received her teaching certificate from the hunt county normal school, locally known as the county teachers institute for colored teachers. Mary started teaching at a time when many African American students were just starting to attend school. Following the Civil War, schools for freed slaves were not open in hunt county until 1881. Mary taught at North School and East Colored School in Greenville, where there were about 300 African Americans enrolled in the schools. She taught at these schools for 45 years. Mary earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Prairie View A&M College in 1934, which was something of a rarity in Greenville. By 1926, Mary was the assistant principal and teacher for grades five through eight at North School. In 1930 she became principal at Fred Douglass Elementary school. Fred Douglass was previously known as East Side Colored School. Mary remained principal there until her retirement in the late 1940s. Mary pushed her students to succeed and wanted her students in Greenville to achieve a higher graduation rate than any other public school in Texas. While she was involved in education in the Greenville Community and the state of Texas, she was also involved in the local New Hope Baptist Church. She was a Christian missionary at New Hope Baptist for more than 20 years. Mary Jim Morris died November 20, 1973, at her home in Greenville.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Born in Georgia in 1876 and settled in Greenville by 1899, Mary Jim Morris earned her teaching certificate at a county institute for Black teachers just as African American children were first gaining access to schools in Hunt County. She taught for 45 years at Greenville's segregated schools, earned her college degree from Prairie View A&M in 1934, and in 1930 became principal of Fred Douglass Elementary. A devoted missionary at New Hope Baptist Church, she pushed her students to outdo every other school in Texas.
Why it matters
Morris's decades in the classroom show how Black educators built opportunity for their communities from the thin resources segregation allowed, one insistent teacher at a time.
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Related people
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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