Education: Kingstree High School (1909); Winthrop College (1913) Bachelor's Degree
Public Career: Jasper County School Superintendent (elected 1924); SC State Senator (1929-1932).
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Office of the SC Senate; Legislative Printing, Information & Technology Systems |
When asked why she went into politics as a woman, she replied, "Why not? Women meet unpleasant situations in other phases of life, why not in politics?" (The News and Courier, May 24, 1931, p. B-4)
Ellis is most known for her efforts to improve educational resources for rural children in South Carolina. She particularly sought to improve the quality of education for black children, who were grossly underserved in S.C.'s segregated, public school system (For example, in 1911, S.C.'s average per capita expenditure for black students was $1.71; for white students it was $12.62 (Botsch, p. 401)). As Superintendent, Mary Gordon Ellis acquired private funding from the Rosenwald Fund to build new schools for
African American children, but when she tried to obtain buses and additional resources for them, she was fired. (Botsch, p. 42, 431). Later, she ran for
S.C. State Senate against the man that asked her to
resign as superintendent, H. Klugh Purdy, and won!
Unfortunately, Mary Gordon Ellis was only able to serve one term in the State Senate. She lost her reelection bid in 1932, due in part to her battle with cancer, which made her unable to campaign. She passed away in 1934 when she was only 44 years old, but her legacy of trying to improve the educational opportunities for rural children will be remembered.
(1) Carol Sears Botsch, "The Politics of Race and Gender From Schoolhouse to Statehouse" in South Carolina Women: Their Lives and Times, Volume 3, edited by Marjorie Julian Spruill, Valinda W. Littlefield, and Joan Marie Johnson. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2012.
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