Every Nov. 1, all throughout the American Southwest and elsewhere, our Mexican American students celebrate the Dia de los Muertos, also known as the Day of the Dead. The annual observance is a special day set aside to remember and honor the memory of beloved relatives who have passed away.
Here is a wonderful article that explains in detail the origins and practices of the Dia de Los Muertos. To see more photos, visit the School Arts Room, an art education blog for K-12 art teachers. Enjoy!
Athletic coach and Physical Education teacher Betty Lacey of Sherwood, New York, one of the very few women in that period who coached both boys’ and girls sports teams. Photo credit: auburn pub.com
Many women make fine athletic coaches, but very few have coached both boys’ and girls’ teams, especially in the 1940’s. One such coach was Betty Lacey, a physical education teacher from Sherwood, New York.
As a young woman, Betty earned her Bachelor’s degree from Sargent College at Boston University in 1944. In 1964, she earned her Master’s degree in Physical Education from Ithaca College in New York.
After her graduation from Boston University, Betty inaugurated her career as an educator when she accepted a position as a physical education teacher at Sherwood Central High School in Sherwood, New York. From 1944 to 1946, while World War II was in full swing which created a serious shortage of manpower, Betty taught and coached both boys’ and girls’ sports teams. This was highly unusual, even for that time. While at Sherwood, Betty coached boys’ football, basketball, and baseball. In addition, she officiated women’s university volleyball and basketball games at institutions across upstate New York and the northeast.
From 1956 to 1981, Betty taught at Auburn High School in New York. While there, the indefatigable educator coached all of the girls’ major athletic teams, including a record-setting field hockey team. Under her leadership, the Auburn teams garnered four consecutive New York State Championship titles in girls’ field hockey.
For her work as an athletic coach, Betty earned many accolades. She was the first woman to be inducted into the New York State Coaches Hall of Fame. She was also inducted into the Auburn High School Athletic Hall of Fame and the Ithaca College Athletic hall of Fame. In addition, Ithaca College Women’s Basketball bestows an annual award in her honor.
Betty Lacey passed away on August 11, 2012. To read more about this amazing Chalkboard Champion, see her obituary at Legacy.com.
Labor leader, Civil Rights worker, and former teacher Dolores Huerta dedicated her life to helping improve the lives of migrant farm workers. She passed away today at the age of 96.
The nation woke up to some very sad news today. Dolores Huerta had passed away at her home in Bakersfield. She was 96.
Like many people around the country, I have heard of the formidable labor leader and Civil Rights worker ever since I was a child in the 1960’s, and my mother declared to the family that we would support the labor strike launched by the United Farmworkers. That year, and for many years after, Dolores worked tirelessly to secure better working conditions for migrant farm workers. But did you know she was also once a teacher?
Dolores was born in Dawson, New Mexico, on April 10, 1930. Raised in Stockton, California, she graduated in 1955 with an AA and her teaching credentials from the College of the Pacific. After her college graduation, she accepted a teaching position in a rural Stockton elementary school. She had been teaching for only a short time when she realized she wanted to devote her energy to migrant farm workers and their families. “I couldn’t stand seeing farm worker children come to class hungry and in need of shoes,” she once explained. “I thought I could do more by organizing their parents than by trying to teach their hungry children.”
After just one year, Dolores resigned from her teaching position, determined to launch a campaign that would fight the numerous economic injustices faced by migrant agricultural workers. Joining forces with the legendary labor leader Cesar Chavez, the intrepid educator helped organize a large-scale strike against the commercial grape growers of the San Joaquin Valley, an effort which raised national awareness of the abysmal treatment of America’s agricultural workers. She also negotiated contracts which led to their improved working conditions. The rest, as they say, is history.
Although there are several fairly good juvenile biographies of this extraordinary woman, there is no definitive adult biography about her. The closest thing to it is A Dolores Huerta Reader edited by Mario T. Garcia. This book includes an informative biographical introduction by the editor, articles and book excerpts written about her, her own writings, transcripts of her speeches, and an interview with Mario Garcia. You can find A Dolores Huerta Reader on amazon. I have also included a chapter about this remarkable teacher in my second book, entitled Chalkboard Heroes.
Rest in peace, Dolores. Your fellow educators will miss you.
