The Mather School National Alumni Association will hold its 2019 Reunion and annual scholarship fund-raising banquet on July 27, 2019. The Mather School National Alumni Association continues to support Benedict College students through a scholarship in honor of the late Lucy Hughes, beloved Mather School teacher. In addition the MSNAA Chapter of the Lowcountry assists area students through various programs focused upon history, culture and leadership development. This year, the MSNAA Reunion Meeting is scheduled for the North Charleston Marriott and banquet tickets can be obtained by contacting Ms. Valerie Goodson at Benedict College (goodsonv@benedict.edu or 803-705-4568) or the MSNAA 2019 Planning Committee (MatherSchoolNationalAlumni@gmail.com). The scheduled banquet speaker is Ms. Ruth Jordan, Minority Business Enterprise Director for the City of Charleston.

Mather School was created in 1867 by Mrs. Rachael Crane Mather, from Boston, Massachusetts, to provide educational opportunities for the children of former slaves. In 1882, the Women’s American Baptist Home Missionary Society assumed support for the institution. Mather School developed as an accredited high school and junior college, which included a boarding component for African- American girls who came from across the nation. For more than 100 years, Mather School served Black families from the Lowcountry in South Carolina and across the nation before closing in 1968. The facilities were sold to the SC Department of Education, and the Technical College of the Lowcountry was established on the site of the former Mather School. Today, surviving Mather School facilities include important archives that illustrate the School’s historical economic and social contributions. Moreover, each February there is a ceremonial ringing of the original Mather School Bell and a tour of the Mather School Library, which now houses archival collections not found at Benedict College. The Mather School National Alumni Association is comprised of former Mather School students and staff as well as many of their descendants.