E2024-G163

The Western Women Who Helped Lead Gwangju’s Modern Women’s Education

Narrative

Western missionary women were leaders in bringing modern education to Gwangju, in particular through Speer Memorial Girls’ School and Neel Girls’ School. Speer Girls’ School was founded in 1908 by Eugene Bell (1868-1925), while the school’s first principal was Ella Graham (1889-1930). Later principals included Mary Dodson (1998-1972), Anna McQueen (1883-1964), Margaret Martin (1892-?), and Florence E. Root (1893-1996). In 1937, Principal Root shut down the school herself in protest against imperial Japan’s forced veneration of Shinto shrines. The school reopened after Korea’s liberation in 1945. In 1951, the school was split into a middle and high school. Neel Girls’ School was founded in 1926 by Lois Hawks Swinehart (1869-1971) and Elisabeth J. Shepping (1880-1934). Its principals included Mary Dodson, Julia Dysart Bell (1872-1952) (wife of aforementioned Eugene Bell), and Florence Root.

Story Map

• Women and Democracy: The Untold Stories of May 18
  • The Role of the YWCA in the May 18 Democratic Uprising
  • Women and the May 18 Democratic Uprising
  • The Young Women of Speer Girls’ School and the Independence Movement
  • The Western Women Who Helped Lead Gwangju’s Modern Women’s Education
  • Kim Pil-rye: Leader of Modern Women’s Education in Gwangju