Arenia Mallory

Arenia Mallory (December 28, 1904 – May 1977) was a religious grade- and high-school founder and advocate for civil rights and the poor in Holmes County, Mississippi.

Biography

Mallory was born in Jacksonville, Illinois. She received a bachelor's degree from Simmons College of Kentucky (1927), a master's degree from Jackson State University, and a master's degree University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1950). Mallory's best-known role was the founder and head of Saints Industrial and Literary School, a private secondary school for students grades one through twelve in Lexington, Mississippi. The school was renamed and is currently called the Saints Academy. She was president of the school from 1926 to 1983, it is ran under the Church of God in Christ.

Mallory was an active member of the church and participated in the Women's Department and was the leader in the national church. From 1952 to 1955, she was on the board of directors of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, a pro self-help, civil rights organization led by Dr. T.R.M. Howard of Mound Bayou, Mississippi.