Monday, January 20, 2025

Oseola McCarty and Elon Musk

Oseola McCarty (1908-1999) was born in Shubuta, Mississippi.  She was a black woman who made her living doing laundry.  She was paid mostly in dollar bills.  She never had a driver’s license.  She was noted for her frugality.  When she was eight years old she opened a savings account in a local bank.  

She probably couldn’t spell the word “philanthropy,” but she set up an account to give financial aid to poor students at the University of Southern Mississippi.  That was a college that up until the Sixties was whites only. The amount she donated was $150,000, although when other people heard about what she had done, they added funds to the account.  Harvard gave her an honorary degree, and President Clinton honored her with a Presidential Citizens Medal.

Oh, and Elon Musk.  Fuck Elon Musk.

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