Category Archives: Education

Teacher Ina Dillard Russell served as Georgia’s First Lady

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Elementary teacher Ina Dillard Russell, known as “Mother Russell” by many people in Georgia, served as the state’s First Lady during the years her son was Governor. Photo credit: New Georgia Encyclopedia

Many excellent educators also become very capable politicians. One of these was Ina (Bandana) Dillard Russell, an elementary school teacher who served as Georgia’s First Lady during the years her son, Richard Russell, Jr., served as the state’s governor.

Ina was born in rural Oglethorpe County, Georgia, on Feb. 18, 1868, and raised during the Reconstruction Period. As a young girl, she attended local schools, and  as a young woman she enrolled at first the Palmer Institute in Oxford and then the Lucy Cobb Institute in Athens, Georgia. In 1889, Ina inaugurated her career as a third grade teacher at the Washington Street School in Athens, where she taught for several years.

In 1891, Ina married Richard Brevard Russell, a lawyer from Athens, and the couple settled on their family farm in Winder. Thirteen children were born to the pair, and Ina home-schooled them all. She also ran the farm and supervised their tenant farmers. Meanwhile, her husband pursued a career as a politician, serving a number of years as a member of the Washington Street School Board and eventually rising to the position of Chief Justice of the Georgia State Supreme Court. The family grew to be well-known and influential throughout the state.

As her children grew to adulthood, Ina wrote copious detailed letters to them. She would typically write these letters in the mornings before her household was awake or in the evenings while everyone was asleep. Spanning her life from the turn of the century to the early years of the Great Depression, these missives provide an insight of what life was like for many women in the South during a time of great political and social upheaval, and the varied roles women were expected to fill. It’s estimated that she wrote at least 3,000 letters to her children. Many of the letters were published in 1999 in a volume entitled Roots and Ever Green: The Selected Letters of Ina Dillard Russell, edited by Sally Russell.

All of Ina’s children were successful in their career pursuits, especially her oldest son, Richard Russell, Jr., who was elected the Governor of Georgia in 1930. His tenure in that office spanned the years from 1931 to 1933. During these years, Ina and her husband lived in the Governor’s Mansion in Atlanta, where the popular lady, known as “Mother Russell” by many Georgians, served as the state’s First Lady.

Sadly, Ina suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and passed away on Aug. 30, 1953. She was 85 years old. To honor her contributions to her community and to the state, flags all over Georgia were flown at half-mast. This was an unusual honor for a public figure who had never been elected to a political office. In 1932, the library at Georgia State College for Women, today known as Georgia College and State University, was renamed in her honor.

 

CA educator, physician, and veteran Dr. Cleveland Wright

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Educator and physician Dr. Cleveland Wright served our country honorably in the military during World War II. Photo credit: Tribute Archive

There have been many multi-talented educators who have served our country honorably in the military. One of these is Dr. Cleveland Wright, a World War II veteran, teacher, and physician.

Cleveland was born on Nov. 16, 1924, in Sumter, South Carolina. Sadly, his father passed away when Cleveland was just a small boy. He attended public schools in his home town, graduating from Lincoln High School in 1942, the salutatorian of his class. The next year, with World War II in full swing, Cleveland went into the US Army. He served in the Philippines until the the end of the war, rising to the rank of Staff Sergeant. In 1946, he earned an Honorable Discharge.

Once his military service was completed, Cleveland returned to the United States, Landin in Washington, DC, where he enrolled at Howard University, a historically Black college. There he majored in zoology, completing the requirements for his Bachelor’s degree in 1949. He also became a member of the Omega Phi Fraternity.

Once he earned his college degree, Cleveland returned to South Carolina, where accepted a position teaching chemistry and physics at his high school alma mater at Lincoln. His career as an educator spanned nine years. During this time, he married Mildred Tidwell, and one son was born to the couple.

In 1958, Cleveland returned to Howard University, where he earned a degree in medicine in 1962. He then moved with. his family to the city of Riverside in Southern California, where he completed his internship and residency at Riverside Community Hospital. Once this work was completed, Cleveland established a private practice where he worked for 27 years. A beloved member of the community, he was recognized by Black Voice News in 1986 for his commitment and dedication to providing a better quality of life to the citizens of Riverside and San Bernardino through health care. He retired from the medical profession in 2008.

During some of these years, Cleveland served as the team doctor for the Rubidoux High School football team. He was also elected to the Riverside Unified School District Board of Education in 1976, the first African American to become a member of that body. He served a total of 14 years on the Board, and from 1982 to 1984, he acted as the Board’s President. He was also a member of the NAACP and the Rotary Club.

Dr. Cleveland Wright passed away on May 31, 2023, in Rialto, California. He was 98 years old. As a veteran, he was interred at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California.

Former World Languages educator Heather Webb becomes award-winning novelist

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Former  high school World Languages teacher Heather Webb has become an award-winning novelist. Photo credit: Heather Webb

Many excellent educators have also earned acclaim as novelists. One of these is Heather Webb, a former World Languages teacher who has become an award-winning author.

Heather earned her Bachelor’s degree in French and Education, and she earned her Master’s degree in Cultural Geography. Then she taught French and Spanish at the high school level for nearly ten years. By her account, shelved her job as a teacher, but left the classroom to become a stay-at-home mother for her two small children. Shortly after that, Heather decided to try her hand at writing, and that is how her career as an author of historical fiction was launched.

The former teacher is not shy about declaring her appreciation of history. “What’s not to love about history?” she asks. “I think it gets a bad rap from our grade school and high school days where many teachers force-fed us timelines and names to memorize, as opposed to teaching us to explore movements and larger concepts–never mind all of those juicy stories,” she says. “This is what history, and historical fiction, really is: juicy stories,” she reveals. And she credits her early interest in history on her father. “I blame my initial love of history on my dad, a retired military colonel, lover of history, museums, and old movies, and geography nut,” Heather concludes.

Heather has written nine novels in the historical fiction genre. Her first, Becoming Josephine, was published in 2014. She also published Rodin’s Lover (2015), a Goodread’s Top Pick. Her next novel, Last Christmas in Paris (2018), garnered the Women’s Fiction Writers Association STAR Award. She also published The Phantom’s Apprentice in 2018. Her novel Meet Me in Monaco (2020), earned Heather a 2019 Digital Book World’s Fiction prize and was selected as a finalist for the 2020 Goldsboro RNA Award in Great Britain. She published The Next Ship Home in 2022 and Strangers in the Night in 2023. Her next novel, Queens of London, is set for release in 2024. She has also contributed to the historical fiction work Ribbons of Scarlet: A Novel of the French Revolution’s Women (2019), and published “Hour of the Bells: A Short Story” from Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War (2016). She collaborated with author Hazel Gaynor for the 2021 book Three Words for Goodbye. To date, Heather’s books have been translated to 17 languages.

Currently, Heather lives in New England. She instructs courses for the Master’s in Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program at Drexel University in Philadelphia and she also works as a freelance editor.

Wisconsin’s Katelyn Winkel-Simmerman garners recognition

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Middle school math teacher Katelyn Winkel-Simmerman has been recognized as one of her state’s five Teachers of the Year for 2024. Photo credit: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

Congratulations are due to Katelyn Winkel-Simmerman, a middle school educator from Cedar Grove, Wisconsin. She has been named one of five teachers in the state of Wisconsin who earned 2024 Teacher of the Year recognition.

Katelyn teaches mathematics to fifth graders at Cedar Grove-Belgium Middle School. She has taught at the school for the past six years. Students and staff say Katelyn. has a reputation for having a warm demeanor, empathetic nature, and upbeat attitude. “You feel valued when you are a student in Mrs. Simmerman’s classroom,” says the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction in a statement published on Facebook. “If you miss the bus and come in late for the third time that week, she greets you with a smile and tells you she’s glad you are here,” the statement continues. “If you are having a rough time at home, she provides a cozy space in her classroom to rest your thoughts because she knows you need a clear mind to learn at your best,” the statement concludes.

In addition to her work in the classroom, Katelyn serves as the adviser for her school’s Student Council. In this capacity, she works with students to plan events and provide meaningful opportunities beyond the classroom which have a positive effect on her school and community.

In addition to her Teacher of the Year recognition, Katelyn was one of two teachers out 100 applicants who garnered a Herb Kohl Fellowship Award for Excellence and Innovation in the Classroom.

Katelyn earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education in 2015 and her Master’s in Teaching and Learning with an emphasis in Math Intervention in 2019, both from the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh.

SD teacher Naomi Last Horse Black Elk serves Native American students

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Teacher Naomi Last Horse Black Elk speaks with one of her students at a unique school that integrates Native American culture, history, and language into lesson plans. Photo Credit: South Dakota News Watch

Many excellent Native American educators serve students of their own culture very well. One of these is Naomi Last Horse Black Elk, a teacher of Oglala Lakota descent. Naomi serves as an educator of Native American culture at the Oceti Sakowin Community Academy located in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Naomi was born and raised in Kyle, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Reservation. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in K-12th Lakota Studies Education from Oglala Lakota College. Raised by her grandparents in a traditional setting, the Lakota language was always spoken in the home. As a young girl, many things were taught to the children in her community, including beading, sewing, preparing traditional foods, foraging, harvesting, and butchering meat, She has been teaching Lakota language for over 11 years.

In her classroom, Naomi uses evidence-based, culturally-focused teaching methods, curriculum, and environments that are intended to improve the academic performance of her young students.

Naomi takes her position as a role model very seriously. “I became an educator to inspire, promote and contribute to the seventh generation, through language, culture and values,” she explains. “I promote indigenous education through speaking always, listening always, and encouraging always to our young ones to learn our language whenever and wherever, the goal is to never stop,” she continues.

In Naomi’s classroom, students encounter an environment that is decorated with Lakota numbers, letters, and translations. She creates lessons from books by Native authors and Native folk tales. She encourages a spirit of kinship among her students, who often refer to one another as “cousins.”

To learn more about Naomi and the unique school where she teaches, click on this link to an article about her published by South Dakota News Watch.