A trailblazer’s lasting commitment to higher education access

College wasn’t an option for many women of color in the early 1900s.

But Pearl Strickland was an exception, graduating from Atlanta’s Clark College with a degree in home economics in 1909.

Pearl and her husband, George, would later share a passion for helping others attend college. During their lives, they dedicated some of the money that George earned from a long railroad career and mutually savvy real estate investments to help the children of family and friends pursue college degrees.

The legacy of that commitment lives on. When she passed away in 1984, Pearl’s estate established a scholarship fund at the Community Foundation. The original gift of $500,000 has grown to more than $1.6 million today, with well over $1 million distributed in scholarships to date.

The George and Pearl Strickland Scholarship Fund is specifically earmarked to assist Georgia students attending undergraduate and graduate programs at Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine and Spelman College.

For more information on all Community Foundation scholarships, including the George and Pearl Strickland Scholarship Fund, visit cfgreateratlanta.org/scholarships.

Pictured above: Pearl Strickland, left, leveraged a Clark Atlanta degree in home economics to build a business as a seamstress and dressmaker. Her long-view vision for a planned gift created the scholarship fund driving equity and shared prosperity through education today.