Oseola McCarty was a local washerwoman in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA, who became The University of Southern Mississippi’s (USM) most famous benefactor. Oseola spent 75 years bent over a washboard, scrubbing other people’s clothes by hand. She quit school in the 6th grade to care for a sick aunt and never went back. She never owned a car, walking everywhere she went, and never married or had children. For 75 years, she quietly saved, nickel by nickel, dime by dime.
While the world around her chased comfort, she chased something else – a future for children she would never meet.In 1995, arthritis forced her to retire. She sat down with a local banker, and gave away almost everything she had, $150,000 – her entire life’s savings, to the University of Southern Mississippi, so young Black students, who could not afford tuition would never have to quit school the way she did.
She rode in her first airplane and slept in her first hotel bed because of that gift, and stood in the White House to receive one of America’s highest civilian honors. Oseola McCarty proved true wealth is not what you keep. It is what you give away. And, that’s exactly what JESUS CHRIST taught, and urged His followers to emulate. Wake up, CHURCH!
In 1998, Oseola was awarded an honorary degree from USM – the first such degree awarded by the university. She received scores of awards and other honors recognizing her SELFLESS spirit, and President Bill Clinton presented her with a Presidential Citizens Medal – the nation’s second-highest civilian award, during a special White House ceremony. She also won the United Nations’ Avicenna Prize for educational commitment.
In June 1996, Harvard University awarded her an honorary doctorate. In 1997, she received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged – an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards. Oseola was also recognized with an Essence Award in 1997.
The University of Southern Mississippi Foundation honored the life and legacy of Oseola McCarty on Thursday, October 8, 2020. What a GODLY EXAMPLE she was.
The world, especially Africa, and the Church, needs more SACRIFICIAL and GENEROUS SOULS like Oseola McCarty. We do!
GOD bless her soul.
DA