St. Mary’s Academy, a Catholic institution dedicated to educating young Black women in New Orleans, has been making dreams a reality for decades. However, despite its remarkable achievements, the school faces a critical need for financial stability to sustain its excellence.
The school was founded in 1867 by Mother Henriette DeLille’s Sisters of the Holy Family, an order of African American nuns in New Orleans. Upon assuming the school’s leadership, Rogers revealed that the sisters lacked a substantial endowment.
The episode also delved into the academy’s profound history. DeLille, a Creole nun born in 1812 to a White Frenchman father and a mother who was a free person of color; she was the great-granddaughter of a West African slave, and defied anti-literacy laws to educate slaves and free people of color, inspired by her Catholic faith and desire to help others. “We continue to move forward with her vision,” Rogers affirmed, echoing the school’s founding principles. “We teach young women to give service, to empower themselves, [and] to be in the community. We teach them to grow spiritually, intellectually…to be good people and give to one another.”
The two mathematicians aren’t the only known scholars to formerly walk the halls of the academy. Nola.com noted that St. Mary’s boasts an illustrious list of alumni, including U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Dana Douglas and state Rep. Candace Newell (both Class of 1993); Criminal Court Judge Tracey Flemings-Davillier (Class of 1987); and former Interim NOPD Chief Michelle Woodfork (Class of 1988), among others.
Source: Black Enterprise
