Berry, Martha McChesney

Berry, Martha McChesney, 1866–1942, American educator and philanthropist, b. near Rome, Ga., Ph.D. Univ. of Georgia, 1920. Determined to provide educational opportunities for underprivileged mountain children, Berry opened (1902) a log-cabin school with five pupils. She developed this at Mt. Berry, Ga., into an institution comprising four units: a boys' school (1902), a girls' school (1909), Berry College (1926; coeducational), and a model practice school.

Bibliography

See biography by T. Byers (1932, repr. 1971); H. T. Kane and I. W. Henry, Miracle in the Mountains (1956).

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Berry, Martha McChesney (1866–1942) educator; born near Rome, Ga. Daughter of a wealthy planter, in the early 1900s she created nondenominational religious schools for Blue Ridge Mountain children with work-study programs that taught students skills useful in their own communities. Supported by benefactors such as Henry Ford, her schools became models for public schools in Georgia and other states. She founded Berry College in 1926.