The story of Anna Knight: A missionary and pioneer

“After much thought and continued persuasion, I have attempted to write a brief story touching upon a few high points in my experience as they appeal to me. … I am now sending this story forth with a prayer that those who read it may be drawn a little nearer to the Lord because of the experiences herein related…” 

So reads the preface to Rachel Anna Knight’s autobiography, “Mississippi Girl.”

Anna, as she was known, was born in Gitano, Mississippi, on March 4, 1874. Her parents were Newton Knight, a white ex-Confederate soldier, and Georgeanne, a mixed-raced former slave. Growing up in her father’s community called Six Town, she loved to learn, despite the challenge of being barred from the local school. She taught herself how to read and write with a stick in the dirt by the bank of the river by her home. 

One day, an Adventist salesman came by offering subscriptions to the Home and Fireside magazine, and Anna begged to be allowed to get the lessons. Her mother allowed her, and Anna reveled in the magazines and additional reading materials she had ordered and started to fall in love with Jesus.

Through correspondence with an Adventist lady, Anna decided to take more significant steps in her faith, and she traveled from Mississippi to Graysville, Tennessee. She was baptized and started attending Graysville Academy, which later became Southern Adventist University. According to her biography in the Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists, “Because of her light complexion, Anna’s racial identity was not immediately obvious, and upon the advice of her father, she had not spoken of it. But soon after her enrollment, some parents made angry demands and threats based on reports from their children. 

Anna was prohibited from attending classes, though she remained at the school, sharing a room with the matron. The matron taught Anna individually, while Anna assisted the matron with her work.”

After her short, disappointing time at Graysville, Anna returned home for a while. She then attended Mount Vernon Academy and the Battle Creek Sanitarium, graduating as a nurse in 1898. She founded and taught at a school near the one which she had not been able to attend as a child, and she also taught a course at Graysville for a short period of time in 1900, returning to the school that had barred her from attending classes. 

In 1901, Anna went to India. She was the first Black woman to be sent to India as a missionary, the first Black Seventh-day Adventist woman to be sent anywhere as a missionary and the second Black Seventh-day Adventist to be sent to India as a missionary. She remained there for six years, serving as a nurse, teacher, bookkeeper and helper at the printing press. 

In 1907, Anna returned to the U.S. Until her retirement in 1945 at what is now Oakwood University, Anna was a champion for youth ministry, health ministry and social ministry. She opened the first Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) in Atlanta, Georgia. She became an associate home missionary. She became the educational secretary for the Southeastern Union Conference. In “Mississippi Girl,” she wrote, referring to the period of time between 1911 and 1952, “I have held 9,388 meetings and have made 11,744 missionary visits. My work required the writing of 48,918 letters, and in getting to my appointments I have traveled 554,439 miles.”

This woman was amazing. I have grown up reading about her and admiring her perseverance and tenacity. She’s one of my favorite Adventist historical figures.

Knight passed away on June 3, 1972, but her legacy lives on in the opportunities she created for others and in the witness she brought to India and the South. I can’t wait to watch her meet Jesus when He comes and to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant… enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matthew 25:21).