Category Archives: Education

Teacher and school counselor Minnie Steckel worked on social causes

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Teacher and school counselor Minnie Steckel worked diligently for social causes that benefited women and her community as a whole. Photo Credit: The Sioux City Journal

Teacher and school counselor Minnie Steckel worked diligently for social causes that benefited women and her community as a whole.  Photo Credit: The Sioux City Journal

Teachers are among the most civic-minded individuals in American society. They work diligently for social causes that benefit their community, and society as a whole. This is certainly true about Minnie Steckel, a teacher and school counselor who became part of the poll tax repeal movement.

Minnie was born on March 19, 1890, in Woodbine, Kansas. In 1906, she enrolled at Kansas Normal School in Emporia, Kansas, completing her course of study in 1913. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, in 1917, her Master’s degree at the University of Chicago in Psychology in 1926, and her PhD from the University of Chicago in 1929.

While earning her degrees, Minnie taught school in Overbook and Burlingame, Kansas. She relocated to Iowa, where she taught in schools in Shenandoah, Blanchard, and Atlantic. By 1930, Minnie was working as a school counselor and the Dean of Women for Alabama College, a state-sponsored college for women located in Montevallo, Alabama. While there, she published many psychological and educational articles and books. She was also a member of the Business and Professional Women’s Foundation, the Alabama Mental Hygeine Society, the American Psychological Association, the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, and the American Association of University Women (AAUW).

In addition to her work as a counselor and author, Minnie conducted important research on the voting habits of women. She discovered that the low voting rate of women in elections was primarily due to the poll tax requirement, rather than their lack of interest in politics. This revelation launched her efforts to remove the poll tax, and to promote the rights of women to vote and serve on juries. She also worked tirelessly for the repeal of policies which prevented married women from working and for equal pay for women who did the same work as men.

Chalkboard Champion Minnie Steckel passed away on December 1, 1952. Following her passing, a scholarship for women was established by the Alabama Federation of Women’s Clubs in her honor. To read more about her, see the article, 34 Notable Alumni of Emporia State University.

 

Ruby Terrill Lomax: A founder of Delta Kappa Gamma

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Texas educator Ruby Terrill Lomax: One of the founders of the Delta Kappa Gamma International Society (DKG). Photo Credit: DKG

Throughout history, there have been many superb educators that have served in Texas public schools. Many of these have even become the teachers of teachers. Among these is Ruby Terrill Lomax, a high school Latin teacher from Dallas.

Ruby was born in 1886 and raised in Denton, Denton County, Texas. As a young woman, she earned her high school diploma at North Texas Normal College. In 1905, she completed the requirements for an Associate’s degree at John B. Denton College, and in 1906 she earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas.

Once she earned her Bachelor’s, Ruby accepted a position as a teacher of Latin at Dallas High School. While teaching in Dallas, Ruby spent four of her summers furthering her education at the University of Chicago. The other two summers she spent completing courses in Latin and Greek at Columbia University in New York.

Ruby’s work as an educator at Dallas High was so highly prized that in 1924 she garnered a Latin fellowship to the University of Texas, Austin. In 1918, she was offered a faculty position at East Texas State Teachers College in Commerce. There she taught Latin and served as the Dean of Women.

Ruby completed the coursework for her Master’s degree in 1925. That year, she accepted a position as the Dean of Woman and Associate Professor of Classical Languages at the University of Texas. She held that position until 1937. During her years at the University of Texas, Ruby met and married the well-known folklorist John A. Lomax.

In 1929, Ruby was one of 12 educators who founded the Delta Kappa Gamma International Society (DKG). By long-standing custom, the women were prohibited by from meeting together professionally, yet they believed there was a pressing need for an organization in which women educators could assist each other in their efforts towards becoming better teachers. They extended membership in the organization to rural and urban teachers; preschool, elementary, high school, college, and university teachers; librarians; and school administrators. DKG members worked to better professional preparation, to recognize women’s work in the teaching profession, and to fund scholarships to those who needed support to improve their professional skills.

Ruby served the organization as its Parliamentarian, a National First Vice President, and its Keeper of the Records. She also served on numerous national committees, including Constitution (1929-1930), Membership (1933-1937), Initiation (1933-1934) Letters and Publications (1940-1942), Nominations (1941-1942), Awards (1946-1952), and Teacher Welfare and Morale (1954-1956). She represented the Founders on the National Planning Committee from 1946-1950.

This amazing chalkboard champion passed away on December 28, 1961. She was 75 years old. She is interred at Grove Hill Memorial Park in Dallas.

To read more about Ruby, click on this link at the DKG website: Ruby Terrill Lomax.

North Carolina teacher and principal Louise Archer

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North Carolina teacher Louise Archer taught core academic subjects and life skills in a segregated rural one-room schoolhouse. Photo Credit: Louise Archer Elementary School

Our nation’s students are indeed fortunate to have so many dedicated and hardworking educators teaching in our public schools. One of these was Louise Archer, an elementary school teacher from North Carolina.

Louise was born on Oct. 23, 1893, in Fayetteville, North Carolina. As a young woman, she attended Livingston College, a historically Black Christian college located in Salisbury, North Carolina. She married Romulus Archer, Jr., in 1915. The couple relocated to Washington, DC, in 1922, and Louise continued her education at Morgan State College, a historically Black college in nearby Baltimore, Maryland. There she earned her Bachelor’s degree.

Louise inaugurated her career as an educator at the Oak Grove School in Southampton, Virginia, in a one-room schoolhouse for African American children. She taught there two years. In 1924, she became both the teacher and the principal for another one-room segregated school, the Vienna Colored School, located in Vienna, Virginia. The camped, unheated facility was the first in Fairfax County to educate African American students in fifth through seventh grades. For many, this was the only education they would receive.

The first boys who were the first to arrive at the rural school each morning chopped wood for the fire to keep the schoolhouse warm. Students brought water each day from a nearby spring and stored it in buckets in one corner of the classroom. Louise taught her students using tattered, secondhand textbooks, but she supplemented these with lessons in music and poetry. In addition, she taught her students life skills such as cooking, sewing, embroidery, cabinet-making, and rug-hooking.

In addition to her work in the classroom, Louise established a 4-H Club for African Americans in Fairfax County. Through this club, her students planted a garden and raised vegetables to add to a soup that was cooked each day on a potbelly stove.

By all accounts Louise was devoted to her young charges. For example, if they needed help getting to school, she drove them to the schoolhouse herself. She invited students to her home in Washington, DC, so they could experience a big city, and she let students use her home address when they enrolled in a DC high school so they could continue their education without paying expensive tuition fees.

Later in her career, Louise organized a Parent Teacher Association to raise money to buy much-needed classroom supplies. The group also raised money to construct a new schoolhouse, this one with three rooms, which opened in 1939. In 1941, she spearheaded fundraising efforts to pay for electric lighting, a music teacher, kitchen supplies, and bus transportation for the students.

Sadly, Louise suffered a heart attack and passed on April 1, 1948. In 1950, her school was renamed the Louise Archer Elementary School in her honor.

Alaskan teacher Dan Seavey was instrumental in organizing the Iditarod Race

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Alaskan Social Studies teacher Dan Seavey was instrumental in organizing the modern-day Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Photo credit: Seward Community Foundation

Many outstanding educators have the most unusual personal projects. One of these is Dan Seavey, a high school teacher who is a self-described “hard-core Iditarod junkie.” In fact, he was instrumental in reviving the sport of dog mushing and establishing the modern-day Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Dan Seavey was born and raised in Hamlet Lake, Minnesota. But even as a young boy in his one-room rural school, he read Jack London’s stories which triggered a fascination for the far-off Alaskan Territory.

When he grew to become a young man, Dan enrolled in St. Cloud Teacher’s College (now St. Cloud State University). Once he earned his Bachelor’s degree, he accepted his first position as a social studies teacher and volunteer wrestling coach at the Red Wing Reformatory for Boys in Red Wing, Minnesota. That was in 1962. “I soon came to consider one-on-one rapport with students to be of greater importance than assigned academic duties,” recalled Dan. But even though he enjoyed his job in Red Wing, he never let go of his fascination for The Last Frontier.

Dan’s stint in Red Wing lasted about a year and half. Then he got the news that he’d been offered a teaching job in the newly-formed 49th state. With great excitement, he accepted the position. In 1963, Dan and he wife, Shirley, traveled with their three young children north on the 3,500-mile Alaska Highway—and some of that highway was nothing more than dirt road! They landed in Seward, where the couple established a homestead. There he continued his career in education as a social studies teacher at Seward High School. Dan spent the next 20 years there before he retired. During those years, he established the first outdoor education program on the Kenai Peninsula. He developed the program for his high school students to teach them the skills they needed to survive in the wilderness without the conveniences of home. His program was so successful that one year the senior trip was camping in Denali for a week.

But Dan is probably best known for his involvement with the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. “My interest in the historic trail began in 1963 when I was assigned to teach Alaska History.” explained Dan. “I was taken with the trail’s importance to Alaska’s early development and Seward’s vital role in that development,” he continued. As a result, he launched himself into an active role in all aspects of the Itidarod Trail, including helping to inaugurate the first modern-day Itidarod Race in 1973. The tradition continues to this day. He details his experience in his book The First Great Race: Alaska’s 1973 Iditarod available on amazon. With his sons and grandsons, Dan also leads Alaska dogsled tours for tourists, which you can explore on his website at Ididaride Dogsled Tours.

In 2016, Dan was inducted into the Iditarod Hall of Fame for his tireless work as a pioneer and a preservationist for the Iditarod. In addition, he is one of the founders of the Iditarod Trail Blazers, a local nonprofit dedicated to establishing a physical trail from Seward into the Interior.

Marcia Brown: Teacher, author, award-winning artist

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Former teacher Marcia Brown became an internationally renowned author and illustrator of children’s books. Photo Credit: University of Albany

Many talented educators earn recognition for achievements outside their classrooms. Marcia Joan Brown was a spectacular example of this. She was an internationally renowned author and illustrator of children’s books. Marcia has published over 30 books in her lifetime, and she is a three-time winner of the coveted Caldecott Medal, the highest award for excellence in children’s picture book illustrations bestowed by the American Library Association.

Marcia Brown was born in Rochester, New York, on July 13, 1918, one of three daughters of the Reverend Clarence Edward and Adelaide Elizabeth (Zimber) Brown. As a young child, Marcia lived in several small towns in upstate New York, including Cooperstown and Kingston, as her father moved from one ministerial post to another. She was raised in a family that supported artistic expression, and she decided at an early age to become an artist. In a videotaped interview in 1996, Marcia reminisced about the books and artworks in her local public library in Cooperstown, New York, that as a child nurtured her sense of wonder and joy in beautiful things.

After her high school graduation in 1936, Marcia enrolled in New York State College for Teachers (NYSCT), the University at Albany’s predecessor, where she majored in English and Drama. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in 1940. While in college, her literary and artistic talents blossomed, as she made numerous contributions to the college’s literary and humor magazines.

After graduating from NYSCT, Marcia accepted her first position as a high school teacher at Cornwall High School in New York City. In 1943, she began working in the New York Public Library’s Central Children’s Room. She spent the next six years gaining valuable experience as a storyteller, while also delving into the library’s extensive international and historical collections. She published her first four books while working in the library’s Central Children’s Room.

During her long career as a writer and illustrator, Marcia produced over 30 children’s books, and many of her titles have been reprinted in other languages, including Afrikaans, German, Japanese, Spanish, and Xhosa-Bantu. Critics have marveled at her use of spare texts, strong images, and a variety of media, including woodcuts, pen and ink, and gouache. Her characters are described as lively, humorous, magical, and enchanting, and they include handsome princes, sly cats, evil sorcerers, flying elephants, and snow queens.

From 1955 to 1983 Brown won a total of three Caldecott Medals, the award bestowed annually to the illustrator of the year’s “most distinguished American picture book for children” by the American Library Association. She had been a runner-up six times from 1948 to 1954, and those six books have been designated Caldecott Honor Books.

In her last years, Marcia Brown lived in Laguna Hills, California, where she passed away on April 28, 2015. She was 96 years old.