She Saved $150,000 … and Then Gave It Away

What would you do with your life savings?

Buy a house? Travel the world? Save every penny for yourself?

For Oseola McCarty, the answer was different. After spending most of her life working as a washerwoman in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, she decided to use what she had spent decades saving to give someone else an opportunity she never had.

And we’re not talking about a few hundred dollars.

In 1995, McCarty donated $150,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi to establish a scholarship for African American students in need. At the time, it was the largest gift the university had ever received from an African American donor.

Her story becomes even more remarkable when you learn how she earned the money.

Born on March 7, 1908, McCarty left school in the sixth grade to care for her aunt and never returned to formal education. She spent much of her life washing and ironing clothes for families in her community. She lived simply, saved consistently, and deposited the money she earned into local banks. Over the decades, those savings grew.

She wasn’t a wealthy business owner or celebrity. She was a woman who worked with her hands, often earning her money one load of laundry at a time.

That’s what makes what happened next so powerful.

When McCarty eventually began planning what would happen to her savings, she chose to give the majority of it to education. She wanted her money to help young people who wanted to attend college but might not otherwise have the financial opportunity to do so. Her gift established the Oseola McCarty Scholarship, with preference given to deserving African American students from southern Mississippi.

And her generosity didn’t go unnoticed.

McCarty received national and international recognition, including the Presidential Citizens Medal, one of the highest civilian honors in the United States. She also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi and the United Nations’ Avicenna Medal for her commitment to education.

But perhaps the most powerful part of her story isn’t the awards.

It’s the fact that McCarty understood something important: yYou don’t have to have everything to give something.

She could have looked at her circumstances and decided she didn’t have enough to make a difference. Instead, she spent a lifetime quietly saving and eventually turned those savings into opportunities for generations of students.

McCarty died on September 26, 1999, at the age of 91, in Hattiesburg. But just like Dr. Gladys West’s, her story is about so much more than when she was born or when she died.

It’s about what she did with the time in between.

Oseola McCarty didn’t have millions of dollars, a huge company, or a famous last name. She had determination, generosity, and a belief in the power of education.

And with that, she created a legacy worth far more than $150,000.