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. The school's first principal was Ella Graham. LAter principals included Mary Dodson, Anna McQueen, Margaret Martin, and Florence Root. 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 Swinehart and Elizabeth Shepping. Its principals included Mary Dodson, Julia Bell (the wife of aforementioned Eugene Bell), and the aforementioned Florence Root.