She grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

She was raised by her mother and grandmother, and dropped out of school in the 6th grade to take care of an aunt who had fallen ill. From the time she was a little girl, she worked doing laundry and ironing for families in Hattiesburg, living frugally and saving her money.

And although she had never visited the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi, located in her hometown, she made an extraordinary decision: This remarkable act of selflessness and generosity is a testament to the power of an individual, regardless of wealth or status, to use the resources they have to help others.

Oseola McCarty came from an industrious family. She recalled her mother working very hard at multiple jobs to support her daughter, and she herself began working while still in elementary school. Her mother also taught her the value of saving, helping her to open a savings account at a local bank to deposit her earnings.

After McCarty left school to take care of her sick aunt, she decided not to return because all of her classmates had already moved on to higher grades. So, she kept working.

Oseola McCarty

I just put it in. She never owned a car and pushed her shopping cart over a mile away to buy groceries.

Oseola McCarty, an investor from her heart | African American Registry

At the time of her retirement, she had traveled outside of Mississippi only once,to visit Niagara Falls when she was a young woman. She never married, had no children and lived in the simple house she inherited from an uncle in She lived alone since , after her grandmother, mother and aunt had all died. Though her own schooling ended at a very young age, McCarty recognized education as a tool to help other poor African-Americans to improve their lives.

She spent her entire working life in Hattiesburg her home was only a few miles from the University of Southern Mississippi but she had never set foot on the college campus. They used to not let colored people go out there, but now they do, and I think they should have it.

Oseola McCarty, Mississippi Writer from Hattiesburg, Mississippi

After giving up her own chance at receiving a public education in order to serve others, McCarty recognized that her lifetime spent working and saving could transform the lives of young people who wanted to learn. McCarty worked until , when at 86 she quit washing clothes due to arthritis. In the last few years of her working life, staff at her bank noticed that she was accumulating sizable savings and helped her to invest in conservative mutual funds and set up CDs to help her funds grow.

Bank managers also talked with her about how to set up a trust to ensure that she would be well taken care of in her old age, and to decide what she wanted to happen to her estate after she died. It was then that she voiced her wishes to pay for scholarships for financially needy African-American students at Southern Miss.

In she signed a trust agreement outlining her wishes for her estate, stating that the grant to endow the scholarship fund would be made to the university after her death. Although these transactions are normally kept confidential,the bank asked if they could make her gift public, due to its uniqueness. The announcement immediately caused a sensation. In fact, she gave almost everything she has. Among the many honors and recognitions inspired by her gift:.

She traveled to the White House to meet with President Clinton and the Congressional Black Caucus. She was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal, one of the highest civilian awards in the nation. Stories about her gift were aired on every major television network and appeared on the front page of the New York Times. It is these scholarships that McCarty said she is the most proud of, rather than all the national honors and recognition she received since her gift was announced.

Major philanthropists count McCarty among their role models of generosity and self-sacrifice. And what I can do I will do. I wish I could do more. Guides Great Givers Resources About. A Working Woman Learns to Save.