Samaria (Mitcham) Bailey

Samaria (Mitcham) Bailey was born on June 29, 1947 in Macon, Georgia. She was from a large family being that she was the second of ten children. She built her character from a proud, hardworking family. Her father, Wilbur Mitcham, was the provider for the family and was the cook for a fashionable restaurant in Macon. After the children in Samaria's family were grown, Samaria's mother returned to school and graduated from Wesleyan College.

Samaria was an instrumental figure in the Civil Rights Movement. She was one of the first American females of African descent to be accepted to Mercer University and the first American female of African descent to integrate and begin desegregation at A. L. Miller Senior High School, an all-white female school located in Macon, in 1964. Samaria graduated from Miller H.S. with honors.

Samaria is an accomplished pianist who is noted for her several performances both at Mercer University and throughout the Central Georgia region during the height of segregation. She was offered recording contracts with several music labels however, rejected them in order to pursue her education.

Her story is featured in the best selling novel, Stem of Jesse: The Costs of Community at a 1960s Southern School by Will D. Campbell and stage play, "Combustible/Burn", written by Andrew Silver.[1][2]

Early life and education

In 1964, black students in the twelfth grade were placed in either the all white Miller High School for girls, or Lanier High School for boys. Historically, white boys and girls had attended separate schools unlike the high schools for black students which were coed. Black students who were attempting to transfer to the white schools were required to be academically prepared; therefore, black students received summer tutoring in order to prepare for the transfer.

Samaria was a junior at Appling High School, a black, coed institution. She was one of the first to volunteer when students were asked to apply to enter either Miller or Lanier High School. Samaria was considered to be academically eager as she was referred to as an academic "gemstone". She was a hard-working student who received straight A's. She was involved in many extracurriculars such as chorus, band, and drama. However, at Appling High School she notes that she did not feel challenged enough, and was willing to apply to transfer to Miller High School. Samaria directly stated, "I wanted to see if I was really as smart as they said I was."

At Miller High School, Samaria was one of the only nonwhite students. Still, Samaria was regarded as a good and intelligent young woman. Because of her high regard as a student, she graduated with honors from Miller High School and was later admitted to Mercer University. She was the first African American female to be accepted to Mercer University. In her chemistry class, she was the only female pupil. The professor had to force someone to be her lab partner showing the sexism and racism she experienced day to day.

Samaria continued to endure racist remarks from her peers on a daily basis. Most students ignored her, never made eye contact, and disregarded her like she was not present. Even her professors treated her like a nonentity. This mistreatment, however, did not stop Samaria from pursuing her education; she notes, "I've never been a quitter."

Later life and occupation

Samaria Bailey is still alive today. Samaria is a medical technologist who resides with her husband in Macon, Georgia. Utilizing her Mercer University degree in the sciences, she started a company called, "Med-Tech Service"[3] where she practices as a medical technologist. Samaria employs forty to fifty people, providing nurses, technicians, and other health- care providers throughout the Macon area. Ninety percent of the people she employs are white. She notes, "I was never a separatist. I was never a black militant. I just always wanted to get the job done."

Contribution to Civil Rights

Not only did Samaria play a role in the desegregation of Miller High School and Mercer University in Macon, Samaria helped bring attention to the unfair cultural biases in the tests that were administered to both black and white students.

Admissions officers of universities felt as though black and white students should be weighed on the same scale and be given the same, standardized tests. Black students were placed at a disadvantage because the coed, black schools did not have as advanced resources as the white schools did. Black schools had inadequate libraries, outdated textbooks, overcrowded classrooms, etc. With these disadvantages, black students were still expected to score well on standardized tests that were designed for those, white students, with the advantage of having better academic facilities.

In order to combat this injustice, Dean of Men at Mercer University, Joseph Hendricks, created a secret, unnamed tutoring program for black high school, freshmen, sophomores, and juniors that was designed to help prepare them to succeed in previously all-white high schools that were to be desegregated. This tutoring program was created in order to help black students obtain higher standardized test scores and give them higher chances of being accepted to universities like Mercer. The tutoring took place at Mercer University in secret, and was not sponsored by the university itself.

Samaria Bailey was one of the seventeen students in the first original tutoring group that was carefully selected by Hendricks. Samaria was tutored in the summer with the rest of the group and academically flourished compared to the rest of the students in the tutoring group.

When testing came, Samaria did poorly. However, she did not despair. Samaria's situation helped confirm the fact that minority students were not doing as well on standardized tests because the test questions were not what black students were used to. The test itself was culturally oriented for the white students who received years of education that was superior to the education that black students received. Samaria was regarded as an intelligent student which confirmed the fact that black students were doing poorly on standardized tests because of their disadvantage in the school system, not because they did not have the intelligence to succeed.

Ultimately, Samaria's testing situation helped strengthen the tutorial program. In the summer of 1965, the tutorial program attracted close to 100 students. The number of faculty who helped teach the black students increased. Even students from UCLA heard about the program and helped with teaching the students various subjects. Hendricks enlisted others like college students, professors, and other townspeople to assist black students in preparation for testing and ultimately entry to college.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Miller 2005, p.111.
  2. ↑ Campbell, Will D. (1995). The Stem of Jesse: The Costs of Community at a 1960s Southern School. Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press. pp. ix, 212 p. 111, 24 cm. ISBN 0-86554-449-2. Miller, p.111.
  3. ↑ "Little Known Black History Fact: Samaria Bailey". Black America Web. 2014-10-21. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  4. ↑ Campbell, Will D. (August 2002). The Stem of Jesse: The Costs of Community at a 1960s Southern School. Mercer University Press. ISBN 9780865548565.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.