Category Archives: Education

Teacher Irene Hartley taught school out of her suitcase in a migrant camp

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There are many fine teachers in American history who invested their time, effort, and talent in contributing to their communities. One of them was Irene Hartley, who established a school for migrant children in California.

In 1938, in California’s Kern County, there were no schools for migrant children because state school officials believed migrant children didn’t live in the state long enough to enroll.

But Irene Hartley, a former teacher from Oklahoma who had relocated to California to pick cotton, opened a school with a suitcase. Her suitcase contained: eight books, twelve pencils, thirty sheets of paper, and a small blackboard that folded in half.

The photo above, snapped by famous Depression-era photographer Dorothea Lange, shows Irene teaching fourteen migrant children sitting on the ground under a cottonwood tree beside a migrant labor camp. In the photo, she holds open a book entitled “The Story of America” and the children are leaning forward to see because there is only one book. Her suitcase is open on the ground, serving as her desk.
Irene volunteered to teach every afternoon from 4 PM to 6 PM after picking cotton all day from 5 AM to 3 PM. She conducted lessons in reading, writing, and arithmetic to children ages 5 to 13 who had not been able to attend school for more than 6 months. Some of them had not been to school in two years.
In Kern County in 1938, there were more than 15,000 migrant children who had no school. About 2,000 were enrolled, but more than 13,000 worked in fields or lived in tents. Irene’s school had a rule: any child who came for lessons had to teach another child what they learned that day. So 14 children became 28, then 42. Irene kept attendance on the inside of her suitcase lid with chalk: “Feb 8 — 14 present — 2 absent picking peas.”
In 1939, the state finally opened a migrant school in a tent. Irene was hired as its first teacher. She was paid $90 a month. The amount was more money than she ever made picking cotton.

She kept her suitcase. It is now in the Smithsonian.

 

Joseph Murillo: CA teacher and consummate athletic coach

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Chino High School teacher Joseph Murillo was also a consummate athletic coach. Photo credit: Chino ChampionPhoto credit: Chino Champion

Many fine educators also make superlative athletic coaches. One of these was Joseph Murillo, a science teacher and basketball coach from Chino, California.

Joseph was born on Sept. 18, 1945, in the town of El Refugio in the state of Zacatecas, Mexico. When he was only ten years old, he came to the United States with his family and the group settled in Chino, California. He attended public schools and graduated from Chino High School in 1965.

“As a young man, Joe showed preternatural skill for virtually any game that requires hand-eye coordination,” reads the educator’s obituary, “but he particularly excelled at basketball. A lank point guard who sometimes jumped center, Joe’s team’s home games often drew large crowds and are the stuff of legend.” In 1963 and 1964, Joseph led his team to two Tri-County League Championships and a CIF playoff. In his honor, the Chino High School gymnasium floor was dedicated to both Joseph and his high school basketball coach, Frank Elder.

After graduating from high school, Joseph attended first Mt. San Antonio College and then California Polytechnic University, Pomona, where he continued to play basketball. During the summers, he organized recreational programs for children at Richard Gird Elementary School in Chino. He also worked maintaining the Little League baseball fields in the town. He completed the requirements for his Bachelor’s degree in 1972.

In 1974, Joseph inaugurated his career teaching biology to English language learners at his alma mater, Chino High. For many years, he also instructed driver’s training courses. In addition, he coached both boys’ and girls’ basketball. He led the girls’ team to 17 league championships during his nearly 30-year career as Head Coach. He also coached them to CIF Championships in 1981, 1986, and 1988.

For his work as an athletic coach, Joseph earned many accolades. In 2010, he was inducted into the Southern California Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the Chino Valley Unified School District Richard Gird Hall of Fame in 2015, and the CIF-Southern Section Hall of Fame in 2022.

Sadly, Joseph Murillo, consummate educator and coach, passed away on December 18, 2023.

Alaskan teacher Dan Seavey helped organize 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.