Roosevelt’s Oldest Graduate
BGS History, ’96
At age 91, Myrtle Shannon is Roosevelt’s oldest graduate. Shannon’s grandfather had been enslaved; after the Civil War, he followed Union soldiers to Iowa, earned his education and returned to Mississippi to become a teacher.
“He always taught us: Get as much education as you can,” she recalled. “He said that nobody could beat you out of anything, or take away things that belong to you. He said: Get as much education as you can.”
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