An article in the November 1927 edition of The Tougaloo
News described the dedication of the Sarah A. Dickey
Memorial Hospital: “Distinguished visitors from the
North and East, as well as the South, honored with their
presence on October 25th, not only Tougaloo College as
a whole but particularly the dedication of the Sarah A.
Dickey Memorial Hospital. During the ceremony there
was an appreciation from Dr. J. W. Provine, president of
Mississippi College in Clinton, who, because of his long
years in Clinton had known her personally, and spoke
movingly of her life, her Christian character, her energy,
her courage, and her conspicuous devotion in the face of
difficulties.”
Honoring Sarah Dickey’s
Legacy to Clinton
The life and work of Sarah Dickey have been faithfully
researched and documented in a wonderful book by
Helen Griffith titled Dauntless in Mississippi, The Life of
Sarah Dickey, 1838-1904. Though out of print, copies of
the book can be found through various used book sites on
the internet.
A footnote to Sarah Dickey story is that along Prichard
Road in Ohio some years ago, a gravestone was found over
the remains of the grave of Margaret Dickey, her mother,
leading to the conclusion her husband was also interred
on the spot. He was Isaac Dickey, the first white child
born in Madison Township, whose father was Samuel
Dickey, its first settler.
The only other tangible evidence of Miss Dickey’s life in
the Clinton area is the grave site which a Leadership
Clinton Committee refurbished making it easier for
public viewing. Her site is located just northeast of
Federation Towers and behind Sumner Hill School off
Northside Drive.
Mount Herman Seminar y
Main Building and East Wing
“My work does not end
within the walls of
Mount Hermon Seminary
Fully half of the work my hand
hath findeth to do cannot
be reported in a
school catalogue.”
Only through the mind’s eye can one envision a
thriving school near the grave, which at its peak enrolled
some 200 students. Miss Dickey’s life and significant
contributions prove that the power and influence of a
single individual must never be underestimated.
“All is well.
All is done.
Good-bye!
Let the work go
on as usual.”
Sarah Dickey’s Gravesite and
Last Recorded Words
Sarah Dickey
1838-1904
Founder of
Mount Herman Seminar y
“I do not boast.
Many a one in my place would
have accomplished much more, but
I am so thankful
my Heavenly Father
has honored me
with a little work to do,
as best I can,
in His vineyard.”
Mount Hermon Female Seminar y
Sarah Dickey
1838-1904
Since Clinton, Mississippi’s earliest days, the residents
of this historic city have recognized the importance of
providing educational opportunities for its citizenry. The
contributions of 19th century educator Sarah Ann Dickey
are a highlight in the chronicles of this distinguished
legacy. Founder of Mount Hermon Female Seminary
(Dickey Institute), her life and work are tributes to the
power of faith and single-minded vision.
From Poverty to a Life Rich
with Accomplishments
Sarah Ann Dickey was born near Dayton, Ohio, on April
25, 1838. One of eight children, Sarah was eight years old
when her mother died. Unable to raise the children
himself, her father parceled them out to relatives. Sarah
traveled from an aunt to a widow neighbor, then to a
cousin and at age 16 she could read and spell but not
write. Though friends and relatives discouraged her
burning desire to be a teacher, she “lent” herself to a
family of “kind neighbors,” and was able to finish school.
She began teaching in 1857.
In the 1860s, education of southern freedmen was a high
priority with many northern congregations. Dickey taught
six years in her native region, then she traveled by
steamboat to Vicksburg, Mississippi, to teach in a
freedmen’s school operated by her church, the
United Brethren in Christ (1863-65). She returned to
Massachusetts where she graduated from Mount Holyoke
Female Seminary (now Mount Holyoke College) in 1869.
She then returned to Mississippi and taught for a year in
freedmen’s school in Raymond.
In a letter to a Mt. Holyoke classmate, Sarah Dickey
wrote “Next summer I shall begin my lifetime work, that
of establishing a Mt. Holyoke Seminary for colored girls.
God has appointed me to this great and glorious work and
I shall do it.”
In 1871 she moved to nearby Clinton, where she began
working to open an academy for African-American
students. She raised the necessary funds and purchased
the buildings and grounds of the former Mt. Hermon
Female Institute from Mr. T. G. Rice. Miss Dickey
reopened the school under the new name Mt. Hermon
Seminary. She enlisted the aid of northern teachers and
ran the school successfully for 28 years with an average
attendance of 100 girls per session.
Dickey not only secured support among the local and
statewide black community--including Hiram Rhodes
Revels, T.W. Stringer and Senator Charles Caldwell, she
also enrolled a board of trustees of prominent
Mississippians, including Reverend Walter Hillman,
president of Central Female Institute which later
became Hillman College. In 1873 a charter was granted
for the Mount Hermon Female Seminary, which opened in
October 1875 in a large brick house situated on 160 acres.
Patterned after Mount Holyoke in its work-study
system, Mount Hermon had to deal with largely
unprepared students. A primary course was instituted to
prepare students for the regular work of the seminary.
Dickey held standards high, as evidenced by the fact
that only one student ever received a diploma from the
seminary for finishing the entire course. Several students,
however, completed the three- (later four-) year normal
course and became teachers.
American people. The town of Dickeyville, once located on
land near the seminary, was a memorial to that part of her
work. In 1896, she was ordained a minister in The United
Brethren Church.
Miss Dickey died of acute pneumonia on January 23,
1904. She was buried on the campus in the spot she had
chosen in a grove of pine trees, where two students, the
Ingle girls, an infant, and Granny Sukey-Bukey already lay.
Later, a dignified tombstone was erected to mark the spot.
Some fifty years later, the Mississippi State Federation
of Colored Women’s Clubs put an ornamental metal
fence around the grave and planted two yews by it. After
her death in 1904, the Seminary continued to educate
African American women until around 1920. Mount
Hermon Seminary passed into the hands of the American
Missionary Association, which closed it in 1924 in favor of
its own Tougaloo College.
Sarah A. Dickey Memorial Hospital
Tougaloo College
Jackson, Mississippi
In 1926, a one-story brick structure was built on the
Tougaloo campus using money the American Missionery
Association received from the sale of Mount Herman.
The building was named the Sarah A. Dickey Memorial
Hospital and for years was known as the Sarah A. Dickey
Health and Wellness Center .
Sarah Dickey with her students at
Mount Hermon Female Seminar y
Class of 1897
While her main work was to provide educational
opportunities for African-American girls, she reared a
number of African American children left in her care and
was interested in securing better homes for African
Ms. Dickey’s photo and her Mt. Holyoke diploma were
once displayed there. A copy of this photo and diploma
are now on display in the Clinton Visitor Center
courtesy of Tougaloo College.
The Sarah A. Dickey building is now a student training
site for the Jackson Heart Study, providing medical
training opportunities for Jackson-area students and a
location for gathering vital data on heart disease among
southern African Americans.