MacNolia Cox

MacNolia Cox (January 12, 1923 - September 12, 1976) was an American woman who, aged 13 in 1936, was one of the first African-American finalists, and the first African-American top five finisher, in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Her achievement was later celebrated in a verse novel, M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A, in a nonfiction children's picture book, How Do You Spell Unfair? (2023), and by a United States Senate resolution "Honoring the life, legacy, and achievements of MacNolia Cox" passed on September 15, 2021.

Early life MacNolia Cox was born in Akron, Ohio, on January 12, 1923. Her parents were John Thomas Cox and Alberta Key. John Cox was both a carpenter and a Works Progress Administration worker, and Alberta Key was a homemaker. MacNolia Cox had one brother and three sisters. The family was poor.

Cox and her family were members of the Livingston Baptist Church. This made Akron a heavily segregated town by the time Cox was born, making her life as a black girl harder.

Cox loved to read at an early age, and spent hours reading and memorizing the words in the dictionary, giving her an extraordinary vocabulary for a girl of her age. After enrolling in school, she began to dream of becoming a doctor.

Schooling

Cox attended Colonial Academy in the Kenmore district of Akron, Ohio. Cox competed against 50 of the best spellers in Akron in front of an audience of over 3,000 people in the event sponsored by the city newspaper, The Akron Beacon Journal. Cox impressed the audience with her abilities by spelling words such as pretentious, brusque, abstemious and apoplexy.

Her success was greatly celebrated within her community. The day following her victory her school was said to have been ‘bursting with pride’ Former Judge W. C. Hudston had also come from Washington D.C to Akron to attend the meeting and congratulate Cox “We’re proud of you young lady” he said “And we’re pulling for you to win down in my city (Washington D.C)”. The first challenge arose when Cox and her mother, previously sitting in the general coach, were moved to the “colored” car upon crossing the Maryland border, due to the persisting laws of segregation in the south. were the first African American students to compete in the National Spelling Bee, and hosted the nation's 17 best spellers. Hundreds of automobiles participated in a procession from Union Depot to Colonial School, where officials delivered speeches and congratulated Cox. Principal Boyd highlighted that Cox was an ‘A’ student in all her subjects and praised the girl on her showing in the contest and poignant acceptance of her defeat. Mayor William Sawyer also attended the event and dedicated a verse to the young girl. and received positive reviews by major book reviewers including Common Sense Media.

A verse novel, M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A, was published by A. Van Jordan on December 17, 2005. The novel focuses on the impact the spelling bee had on Cox’s life, while simultaneously exploring social and racial attitudes of the Depression thirties, using Cox’s experience as a base to bring awareness to the subject.

Senate resolution A Senate resolution "Honoring the life, legacy, and achievements of MacNolia Cox" was sponsored by former United States senators representing Ohio, Sherrod Brown (Democrat, 2007-2025) and Rob Portman (Republican, 2011-2023), and passed on September 15, 2021, this resolution “honors the life, legacy, and achievements of MacNolia Cox [as] an inspiration for young students of Color today.”. The resolution summarizes her life leading up to the National Spelling Bee, then addresses the differential treatment and racism she experienced while participating at the National Spelling Bee as a young Black girl, by acknowledging that “during the competition, MacNolia was asked to spell the word ‘‘nemesis’’, which at the time was capitalized and therefore barred from the competition; Whereas the use of this word in the competition was immediately protested by a Beacon Journal reporter, and despite learning 100,000 approved words, MacNolia misspelled the word and finished the competition fifth overall, taking home a $75 prize”.