Margaret Mead- The Early Life

482 Words2 Pages
Margaret Mead was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 16, 1901. Margaret was born to mother, Emily (Fogg) Mead and father Edward Sherwood Mead. He father was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Mead’s mother was a sociologist as well as a women’s rights supporter. Mead said in her book, Blackberry Winter, that her family moved four times a year. They bounced from Philadelphia to New Jersey to help her father in the winter and to help her mother in the rest of the seasons. Margaret also attributed the planting of the Anthropology seed in her mind to her grandmother. Her grandmother was a teacher and played a large role in Margaret’s life. Margaret was actually taught by her grandmother for most of her pre-college life. She said, “I never expected any teacher to know as much as my parents or grandmother did.” (Mead, 48) When Margaret started to attend college she started at DePauw first. But she soon learned was that this school, at least when she attended, revolved around getting into a sorority or a fraternity. She explains, “By and large, however, the girls who were, by sorority standards, ineligible were less attractive and less sparkling than their classmates who were among the chosen.” (95) She was shunned and was never asked to join a sorority. Margaret was treated poorly at DePauw by not only the students but the professors as well. She made it through the full year and then asked her father to transfer to Bernard College. During her years at Bernard College Margaret developed friendships with a group of girls. They were known at the Ash Can Cats. She said that throughout her life they remained friends even though their careers were quite different. One of her friends in the Ash Can Cats was a gifted poet. The gifted girl made Margaret question her major of English. She decided to change her major to psychology. When her senior year
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