1908 National Education Association Spelling Bee facts for kids
Quick facts for kids 1908 NEA Spelling Bee |
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Individual champion Marie Bolden.
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| Date | June 29, 1908 |
| Location | Hippodrome Theater, Cleveland, Ohio |
| Winner | Cleveland (team), Marie C. Bolden (individual) |
| Sponsor | National Education Association |
| No. of contestants | 60 |
| Pronouncer | Solomon Henry Clark |
The 1908 National Education Association Spelling Bee was a big spelling contest held on June 29, 1908. It took place at the Hippodrome Theater in Cleveland, Ohio. This event was special because it was the very first national spelling bee in the United States. It happened many years before the more famous 1st Scripps National Spelling Bee, which started in 1925. In this exciting competition, a team from Cleveland won the overall team prize. A young girl named Marie C. Bolden also became the individual champion.
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What Was the 1908 Spelling Bee?
The 1908 spelling bee was part of a large meeting called the forty-sixth annual convention. This meeting was organized by the National Education Association (NEA). The NEA is a group that supports education. They held their big convention in Cleveland that year.
How Was This Spelling Bee Different?
The NEA invited teams from all over the United States to join the spelling bee. They called it the "first national spelling bee." About six thousand people came to watch the event at the Hippodrome Theater. Even famous speaker Booker T. Washington was there!
Unlike the later Scripps National Spelling Bee, this 1908 contest was a team competition. Teams of fifteen eighth-graders each came from different cities. These cities included Cleveland, Erie, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, and New Orleans.
How Did Teams Compete?
To compete, each student first took a written spelling test. This test had one hundred words. After that, each student spelled four words out loud on stage. The team with the fewest total spelling mistakes won. Mistakes from both the written and spoken parts were counted.
Who Won the 1908 Spelling Bee?
The team from Cleveland won the competition. They had the fewest errors overall. Pittsburgh came in second place, New Orleans was third, and Erie, Pennsylvania, finished fourth.
Marie C. Bolden, who was thirteen years old, was a speller on the Cleveland team. She was amazing because she didn't make any mistakes at all! Because of her perfect score, Marie was named the individual champion. She received a special gold medal for her achievement.
