Huami Magazine For Nashville Jan./Feb. 2021

Page 29

Life Success by Dowdell By Laci Ollison Photos by Still Shots Photography A lover of God, people, and history, Mary McLean Dowdell has dedicated her life to making sure that the untold stories of her family are now being made available for the world to read. Mary, a resident of Greensboro, is the author of Brick to Brick: Building a Black Family in America. The inspiration behind the book came from her own family history and experiences. “I wrote the book to give the history of my family,” said Mary. “My father and mother graduated from Hampton in 1935. They went to New York, got married, and were then hired by the American Missionary Association.” After her parents, Neil and Iva McLean, were married, they returned to a small town in Eastern North Carolina called Brick. “The AMA had already established life centers where black people or freed slaves could learn how to achieve and maintain self-sufficiency. My parents were sent to gather people and assume leadership of the center that was in Brick,” Mary said. Once her parents took over the center, they worked to teach black people basic skills to improve their everyday lives. “One of the things they taught them was farming,” Mary said. “Although they knew how to take care of a farm, they didn’t know about the decisions when it came to selling produce. My parents taught them about leadership and the economics of the farm. They also taught them about owning property, home management, and home economics.” The life center also had a school where both adults and children received their education. Although Mary’s parents contributed much to the black community in the area, no one has taken the time to write their history or even include it in currently published history books. Continued on the next page

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