Maria Fearing (1838–1937) was an American teacher and missionary, most famous for her work in

Congo Congo or The Congo may refer to either of two countries that border the Congo River in central Africa: * Democratic Republic of the Congo, the larger country to the southeast, capital Kinshasa, formerly known as Zaire, sometimes referred to a ...

Life

Maria Fearing was born in slavery near

Gainesville, Alabama Gainesville is a town in Sumter County, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1832, it was incorporated in 1835. At the 2010 census the population was 208, down from 220. Confederate Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest surrendered his men near ...

in 1838, to Mary and Jesse, on the Oak Hill plantation of William O. Winston, in whose home she worked as a nanny and house servant for 30 years. After the end of slavery, she learned to read and write at the age of 33. She went on to graduate from the Freedman's Bureau School in Talladega and qualified as a teacher, and worked in Anniston. In spite of her old age of 56, she accompanied

William Henry Sheppard William Henry Sheppard (March 8, 1865 – November 25, 1927) was one of the earliest African Americans to become a missionary for the Presbyterian Church. He spent 20 years in Africa, primarily in and around the Congo Free State, and is best know ...

to Africa in 1894 as a Presbyterian

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

. Rejected by the church because of her age, she initially financed her mission primarily through funds from the sale of her home. For twenty years, she worked in the

as a teacher and Bible translator. She also bought many people out of slavery in the Congo. Her most famous achievement was the establishment of the Pantops Home for Girls in

Luebo Luebo or Lwebo is a town (officially a commune) of Kasai Province in south-central Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is also the seat of the territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to ...

, Congo. She was known as mama wa Mputu, which means "Mother from far away". Despite the church's skepticism, Fearing outlasted many of her colleagues in Africa and only retired from missionary service in 1915 due to age restrictions. She taught school in

Selma, Alabama Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, in the Black Belt region of south central Alabama and extending to the west. Located on the banks of the Alabama River, the city has a population of 17,971 as of the 2020 census. About ...

, until her death in 1937 at the age of 99.

Legacy

After her death, her fame was spread to many Alabama schoolchildren, both white and black, through the inclusion of her life story in Alabama history textbooks during the turbulent days of the 1960s. She was inducted into the

Alabama Women's Hall of Fame The Alabama Women's Hall of Fame honors the achievements of women associated with the U.S. state of Alabama. Established in 1970, the first women were inducted the following year. The museum is located in Bean Hall, a former Carnegie Library, on th ...

in 2000.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20090317074632/http://www.archives.state.al.us///afro/maria.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Fearing, Maria African-American educators 19th-century American educators 1838 births 1937 deaths People from Sumter County, Alabama American Presbyterian missionaries Presbyterian missionaries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo American expatriates in the Congo Free State African-American schoolteachers African-American missionaries Congo Free State people Female Christian missionaries Missionary educators Schoolteachers from Alabama 19th-century American women educators