[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 56 (Thursday, April 2, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E858-E859]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    TRIBUTE TO ELIZABETH EVELYN WRIGHT, FOUNDER OF VOORHEES COLLEGE

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                         HON. JAMES E. CLYBURN

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 2, 2009

  Mr. CLYBURN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Elizabeth 
Evelyn Wright, a visionary educator and an unsung American hero. Ms. 
Wright founded Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina in 1897, a 
remarkable accomplishment for a 25-year-old African American women 
during the post-Reconstruction era. Her tremendous legacy will be 
honored by Voorhees College on April 7, 2009 as the campus commemorates 
and Founders' Day and celebrates the extraordinary contributions of 
this amazing young woman.
  When Elizabeth Evelyn Wright was born on April 3, 1872 the seventh 
child of John and Virginia Wright in a poverty-stricken black community 
in Talbotton, Georgia, it would have been hard for anyone to believe 
she was destined for great things. Yet her academic talents were clear 
as she worked on the fundamentals of reading, writing, and arithmetic 
in the basement of St. Phillips AME Church. Her instructors urged and 
encouraged her to further her education, and despite significant 
financial challenges, she enrolled at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 
1888.
  While at Tuskegee, Elizabeth worked in the cafeteria to pay for her 
tuition, and she caught the attention of its principal Booker T. 
Washington and his wife Olivia. They became her mentors and encouraged 
her to dedicate herself to the education of young African Americans as 
they had.
  Elizabeth was forced to drop out of Tuskegee in her senior year due 
to illness. However, she was summoned by Mrs. Almira Steele, a white 
trustee at Tuskegee, and asked to teach at a school in McNeill, South 
Carolina. Elizabeth accepted, and in 1892, she began teaching in the 
Hampton County School. She spent only six months there before arson 
fueled by bigotry burned the school to the ground.
  In 1893, Elizabeth returned to Tuskegee and completed her degree. 
Still committed to her mission in McNeill, she returned and opened 
another school for the black children in the area. Two more times, 
arson destroyed any hope of the school's success, but Elizabeth didn't 
let that destroy her dream. She encouraged the school's other teachers 
to join her in opening another school in Denmark.
  As it was with her educational pursuits, finances were the primary 
obstacle for getting the school started. Undeterred Elizabeth began 
visiting churches to collect donations

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for the new school. In a fortunate turn of events in 1897, she met Mrs. 
Sontag, the white owner of a two-story general store in Denmark who 
gave Elizabeth permission to house her school on the store's vacant 
second floor. On April 14, 1897, the Denmark Industrial School opened 
its doors to 14 students.
  In one year the enrollment swelled to 270, and Elizabeth's mentors, 
the Washingtons, sent Martin Menafee, a Tuskegee graduate, to Denmark 
to help her raise money for a more permanent school. He was able to 
arrange a meeting with blind-philanthropist, Ralph Voorhees of Clinton, 
New Jersey. He and his wife Elizabeth became the primary benefactors of 
the school and enabled it to purchase land for a new structure on the 
outskirts of Denmark. To honor their generous contributions, the school 
was renamed Voorhees Industrial School, and in 1904, the South Carolina 
State Legislature voted to incorporate it.
  The following year, Elizabeth Wright and her financial officer, 
Martin Menafee, married on the campus of their beloved school. But 
their life together was cut short when Elizabeth again became gravely 
ill. She went to a hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan to receive 
treatment from two of the country's best physicians--Dr. Jean Harris 
Whitney and one of the Kellogg brothers, Dr. John Kellogg. Despite 
their best efforts, Elizabeth died on December 14, 1906 at the age of 
34.
  Elizabeth Wright Menafee believed her mission in life was ``to try 
and help my fellow man to help themselves and if a way was not open for 
them, I must open it myself.'' President Cleveland Sellers, his faculty 
and staff, and the students and alumni of Voorhees are to be commended 
for celebrating the life and sharing the story of Elizabeth Wright. 
Hers is an example for others to follow.
  Madam Speaker, I ask you and our colleagues to join me in applauding 
the tremendous legacy of Elizabeth Wright-Menafee. Her life is a 
testament to President Lincoln's declaration that ``it's not the years 
in your life that count; it's the life in your years.'' The 
accomplishments of this extraordinary woman, within such a short life 
are truly inspirational.

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