Mary Hines Johnson was born Mary Elizabeth Hines on March 23, 1895, in Glenn, Georgia. She started teaching at the age of 14. Like many blacks during the time, she began her career out of the church, which for her was the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Mary would walk for miles to meet mothers who entrusted their children to her at the fork of the road.
She opened the first black school in segregated Heard County in 1940. The original school was located in Franklin, Georgia.
Who is Mary
Hines Johnson?
The Legacy of an Educational Pioneer
Once, when she and some children were leaving Ebenezer Church, a storm forced them under a bridge. As she watched the inhabitants flee to their individual places, she pondered why the colored children of Heard County did not have a place they could go for shelter. She closed her eyes and prayed for a school.
Having donated her entire salary of $28 a month, Mary's dream came true. The Mary Johnson School for Negro Children was opened in 1941, standing as a monument to both its founder and the education of segregated children during that time.
.webp)
.png)
After successfully expanding her original school by adding on an army barrack, Mary Hines Johnson was now faced with the integration of once-segregated schools.
The black children who once depended solely on her for their education were now being bused to schools with white children for the first time.
With these changes also came the need for teacher certification, which was a foreign concept to both Mary and some of the teachers who worked for her because many were her former students, having become teachers immediately upon their high school graduation.
They worked at her school, fulfilling an unmet need that the black children of Heard County had. These students longed for an education and a way for upward mobility within society, whether by going to college or joining the workforce.
In 1954, the Heard County Board of Education built a new brick school that still carried the Mary Hines Johnson name. Most attendees were excited to finally have a school that encompassed the resources, materials, desks, and space that they had lacked at their original wooden school.
.png)
However, the camaraderie that the former students of the original school shared was not the same at the new brick school.
.png)
Nevertheless, during the 1969-1970 school year, Mary Hines Johnson School was renamed Heard Elementary School.
This broke Mary's spirit, and many people, including former students and teachers, saw her school as a special symbol of their community and history.
On September 18, 1969, Mary Hines Johnson died at the age of 74. It is commonly believed that she died of a broken heart.
In 1992, Mary Hines Johnson's niece, Frankie Berry Wise, and great-great niece, Michele Wise-Wright, petitioned the Heard County Board of Education to rename the school back to Mary Hines Johnson.
This did not happen; however, on February 19, 1993, the media center was renamed the Mary Hines Johnson Media Center. A ceremony took place to commemorate it.
Immediate family, close friends, and community members attended.
.png)
The beauty of this occasion was that the community had once again expressed in no uncertain terms that they would not allow Mary's legacy to fall by the wayside, be forgotten, or rewritten.
The renaming of the media center was also an opportunity to introduce younger generations of students to Mary Hines Johnson and the principles she exhibited as an educator and pioneer. These students, who had not known of Mary beforehand, could now teach others about the historical significance of her original wooden school to Heard County.
.png)
In 2010, the brick school that once carried Mary's name and that was pivotal in securing equal access to education for the black students of Heard County during segregation was unfortunately demolished.
The Wise Family, who had donated the painting and plaque during the media center dedication ceremony, was able to retrieve them back before the school was completely dismantled.
To ease the community hurt from the demolishment coupled with the fear that Mary Hines Johnson's contribution to education would be forgotten, the City of Franklin, Georgia renamed a street in her honor.
In 2013, Marshalette Wise, the great-great niece of Mary Hines Johnson, wrote and published the documentary Continuing the Legacy of an Educational Pioneer on the life of this inspirational heroine and educational trailblazer via the lens of those who worked with, knew of, was taught by, respected, and loved Mary.
In July 2021, Marshalette Wise founded and established the Mary Hines Johnson Foundation to preserve Mary's legacy by advocating for and working with the same vulnerable populations of students of color that she once targeted.
In October 2021, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) gave a posthumous "Women in History Award" to Mary Hines Johnson, which her niece, Frankie Berry Wise, accepted on her behalf.
During the DAR Ceremony, The City of Franklin declared October 9th as officially "Mary Hines Johnson Day" in honor of the work she had done for the black children of segregated Heard County.
