Arenia Mallory

Arenia Conelia Mallory (December 28, 1904 – May 1977) was an American educator and teacher in Mississippi, and a national political activist working for African-American education and civil rights. She gained a national reputation as president of Saints Industrial and Literary School, which she developed over 50 years from a few students in 1926 to a private K-12 academic school and junior college on 350 acres. It was affiliated with the Pentecostal Church of God in Christ, in which Mallory had been active since about age 18.

At a time of disenfranchisement of blacks, segregation, and historic underfunding of black education in the South, Mallory contributed to emerging national networks of black women and drew from them and white philanthropists to raise money for the school. Saints was instrumental in black education in Mississippi; for many years, it was the only accredited high school for blacks in its area. It attracted students from nearly every state and from African nations due to its strong academic reputation; over the decades, Mallory educated an estimated 20,000 students through Saints.

In addition, Mallory became a national leader in the COGIC Women's Department; from the 1940s, she helped to create wider civic engagement of church women; they worked for a "sanctified world." Through the National Council of Negro Women, of which Mallory was a charter member beginning in 1935 and vice-president for many years, she worked for education and civil rights for African Americans. She engaged with national leaders such as Mary McLeod Bethune in the NCNW to raise funds to support her school in Mississippi and to draw women leaders into greater public life.

Through Saints and her civic activities, Mallory promoted her advocacy for the mostly black and poor sharecroppers in the county and for the Civil Rights Movement.

Arenia Mallory was born in Jacksonville, Illinois to parents who were successful in show business. She originally trained as a concert pianist. At about age 17, she became involved with the Pentecostal Church of God in Christ. Her parents were much more worldly, and the church's strict teachings led her to become estranged from her family. The church opposed members being involved in any show business, had dress standards that forbade women from wearing make-up, and had other restrictions. Mallory earned a bachelor's degree from Simmons College of Kentucky (1927).

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