1908 National Education Association Spelling Bee

American spelling competition July 2024 1908 NEA Spelling Bee Marie Bolden.jpg Individual champion Marie Bolden June 29, 1908 Hippodrome Theater, Cleveland, Ohio 60 Cleveland (team)Marie C. Bolden (individual) National Education Association Solomon Henry Clark The 1908 National Education Association Spelling Bee was a team-based, inter-city spelling bee held on June 29, 1908, at the Hippodrome Theater in Cleveland, Ohio. Predating the 1st Scripps National Spelling Bee in 1925 by seventeen years, this 1908 competition was the first national spelling bee in the United States. Cleveland won the team competition, and Marie C. Bolden was the individual champion.Eaton Sabrina Cleveland girl's spelling victory created racial controversy, national headlines in 1908 https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2017/05/cleveland_was_center_of_spelli.html July 18, 2019 cleveland.com May 30, 2017 July 18, 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190718210153/https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2017/05/cleveland_was_center_of_spelli.html live June 30, 1908 Cleveland Spellers Win the Big Match https://www.newspapers.com/image/1074586286/ May 20, 2025 The Cleveland Plain Dealer 2Albeck-Ripka Livia June 1, 2023 A Black Girl Won the 1908 Spelling Bee. Her Family Is Searching for Her Medal. en-US The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/01/us/spelling-bee-marie-bolden-medal-search.html 2023-06-02 0362-4331 May 31, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240531201245/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/01/us/spelling-bee-marie-bolden-medal-search.html live Competition The spelling bee was part of the forty-sixth annual convention of the National Education Association (NEA), which was held in Cleveland. The NEA invited teams to compete from across the United States and promoted the competition as the first national spelling bee. Six thousand people, including convention speaker Booker T. Washington, attended the event at the Hippodrome.Stiehm Jamie A Cleveland Bee Heard Round the World https://www.creators.com/read/jamie-stiehm/05/18/a-cleveland-bee-heard-round-the-world July 23, 2019 www.creators.com May 30, 2018 en July 23, 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190723224150/https://www.creators.com/read/jamie-stiehm/05/18/a-cleveland-bee-heard-round-the-world live Maguire James American Bee: the National Spelling Bee and the culture of word nerds 2006 Rodale 1594862141 65-66 https://archive.org/details/americanbeenatio00magu/page/65 Ackermann Marsha E. Black Thomas K. (III) How Do You Spell Ruzevelt? A History of Spelling in America Today and Yesterday 2014 Archway Publishing 9781480810921 73–75 Unlike the later Scripps National Spelling Bee competitions, the 1908 NEA Spelling Bee was an inter-city contest, with teams of fifteen eighth-graders each participating from Cleveland; Erie, Pennsylvania; Pittsburgh; and New Orleans. For the competition, each student took a written spelling test of one hundred words, and then spelled four words aloud on stage. The total number of spelling mistakes in both the written and verbal competitions determined the winning team.The N. E. A. Spelling Match American Journal of Education (Via Google Books) 1908 XLII September 29–31 https://books.google.com/books?id=kf4oZlQpEOYC&pg=RA1-PA29 September 30, 2019 July 25, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240725184440/https://books.google.com/books?id=kf4oZlQpEOYC&pg=RA1-PA29#v=onepage&q&f=false live The Cleveland team won the competition with the fewest errors, followed by Pittsburgh in second place, New Orleans in third place, and Erie, Pennsylvania in fourth. Marie C. Bolden, a thirteen-year-old black girl whose father was a mail carrier, was the only Cleveland speller with no errors, so she was named the individual champion and received a gold medal.Karst James P-R-E-J-U-D-I-C-E and S-C-A-N-D-A-L at the 1908 national spelling bee https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/vintage/article_b888349d-43b9-556d-8568-f51aa774bbb3.html July 18, 2019 NOLA.com April 23, 2017 en July 25, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240725184444/https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/vintage/article_b888349d-43b9-556d-8568-f51aa774bbb3.html live Colored Girl Wins Big Spelling Bee The New York Times LVII 18420 7 https://www.nytimes.com/1908/06/30/archives/colored-girl-wins-big-spelling-bee-perfect-score-in-500word-test-at.html June 30, 1908 July 25, 2024 June 3, 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230603235311/https://www.nytimes.com/1908/06/30/archives/colored-girl-wins-big-spelling-bee-perfect-score-in-500word-test-at.html live 30 June 1908 Correctors: Of Kids' Destinies Begin A Monster Meeting at the Forest City. Cleveland Girl Wins the Big Spelling Bee. Southern Children Balk at Entering Contest With Little Colored Miss, But Finally Lay Aside Prejudice—She Beats Them Easily. 3 Cincinnati Enquirer https://www.proquest.com/docview/897350397 October 10, 2023 897350397 July 25, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240725191002/https://www.proquest.com/docview/897350397 live Controversy Even before the competition, some members of the all-white New Orleans team "...balked at the idea of spelling against a negro girl..." in a racially integrated team such as Cleveland's. After Marie Bolden and the Cleveland team won the competition, New Orleans school superintendent Warren Easton apologized to the people of New Orleans, promised that New Orleans students would not participate in any other contests in Northern states, and was censured by the New Orleans school board for allowing white students to compete against a black speller.Greenlee Cynthia R. The Word Is 'Nemesis': The Fight to Integrate the National Spelling Bee https://longreads.com/2017/06/05/the-word-is-nemesis-the-fight-to-integrate-the-national-spelling-bee/ Longreads September 30, 2019 en 5 June 2017 August 2, 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190802144021/https://longreads.com/2017/06/05/the-word-is-nemesis-the-fight-to-integrate-the-national-spelling-bee/ live Eaton Sabrina May 30, 2017 Cleveland girl's spelling victory created racial controversy, national headlines in 1908 https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2017/05/cleveland_was_center_of_spelli.html 2023-06-02 cleveland en July 18, 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190718210153/https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2017/05/cleveland_was_center_of_spelli.html live Also in New Orleans, after Marie Bolden's victory, the local black YMCA organized a spelling bee to be held in her honor. However, under pressure from mayor Martin Behrman due to high tensions "over race questions", the event was canceled. In the written portion of the competition, pronouncer Solomon Henry Clark gave an incorrect example for the word "capitol", causing many spellers to write it as "capital". After the second-place Pittsburgh team and others raised concerns, the spelling bee organizers re-scored the written tests. After re-scoring, the teams kept their overall rankings, but Marie Bolden no longer had a perfect score, and two other girls on the Cleveland team did. Marie Bolden was still allowed to keep her gold medal and title as champion.Honors Remain Here: Spelling Bee Word Recount Shows Cleveland Won by Bigger Score The Cleveland Plain Dealer 12 July 4, 1908 References Further reading The untold tale of America's first spelling bee victor BBC News 31 May 2023 Nadine Yousif https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65755792 Category:Spelling competitions Category:1908 in Ohio Category:1908 in education Category:June 1908 in the United States Category:1900s in Cleveland Category:Education in Cleveland Category:African-American history in Cleveland