Category Archives: Education

Pauline Young: Educator, librarian, and Civil Rights activist

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Educator, librarian, lecturer, and Civil Rights activist, Pauline Young. Photo Credit: University of Delaware

Often have I marveled at how much America’s teachers contribute to the social betterment of society as a whole. One teacher who made such contributions was Pauline Young, an African American educator, librarian, lecturer, and Civil Rights activist from Massachusetts.

Pauline was born on August 17, 1900, in West Medford, Massachusetts. Her father was a caterer and her mother was an English teacher. After her father’s death, Pauline’s mother moved with her children to Wilmington, Delaware. Pauline often said that her Delaware childhood home was a “wayside inn and an underground railroad for visiting Negroes and white literary friends, who wouldn’t go to the hotel, you know, since the hotel wouldn’t admit Negroes.” WEB DuBois, Langston Hughes, Paul Robeson, and James Weldon Johnson were among the guests who visited her home.

As an adolescent, Pauline attended Howard High School, the only school in Delaware that admitted Black students. Both her mother and her aunt, who was married to poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, were teachers at the school. After her graduation from high school, Pauline enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania. She was the only African American student in her class. At this school Pauline earned a Bachelor’s degree in History and English in 1921.

Once she earned her degree, Pauline accepted a position to teach Social Studies and Latin at Huntington High School, a school for Black students in Newport News, Virginia. Later she was hired to be the librarian at her alma mater, Howard High School. During her tenure there, Pauline also taught course in History and Latin. Her career spanned 36 years.

During her years as a teacher at Howard, the indefatigable educator accomplished a myriad of other achievements. In 1935, Pauline completed the requirements for a graduate degree from the Columbia University School of Library Service. She also traveled to the Southwest, where she taught at the University of Southern California. This amazing educator next went to Alabama, where she completed courses in pilot training at the Coffey School of Aeronautics in Chicago, Illinois, and flight instruction at Temple University. Pauline then instructed courses in pre-flight at Howard High School. In addition to these pursuits, the intrepid educator also worked actively for the NAACP and the United Service Organizations (USO), and collaborated on writing projects with WEB DuBois.

Pauline’s career at Howard spanned 36 years, from 1919 to 1955. After her retirement from Howard High School, Pauline helped to found the American Federation of Teachers. She also traveled to Jamaica, where she served as a teacher for the Peace Corps from 1962 to 1964. While there, she helped train librarians and library staff members. She also served as a librarian of the Jamaican Scientific Research Council. She worked on the Jamaican library’s first indexing system, where over 80,000 books were cataloged.

Once Pauline returned to the United States, she accepted speaking engagements and substitute teaching assignments. In 1968, she instructed a course in Afro-American history at the Central YMCA in Wilmington, Delaware. She also became active in the Civil Rights Movement. She even met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and participated in his 1963 March on Washington. She also took part in King’s March for Equality from Selma to Montgomery, as well as other peaceful protests.

This remarkable educator passed away on June 26, 1991, in Wilmington. She was 91 years old. For her lifetime achievements, Pauline was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Delaware Women in 1982. She also garnered recognition from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Association of University Women.

To read more about Pauline A. Young, see this link by historian Judith Y. Gibson at the University of Delaware.

Aaron Fussell: NC educator, legislator, and Bronze Star recipient

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North Carolina teacher, legislator, and World War II veteran Aaron Fussell earned the Bronze Star for his war-time service. Photo credit: Find a Grave

Many fine educators have also served our country in the military. Many more have served their community in public office. Aaron Fussell, a teacher from North Carolina, has done both.

Aaron was born on July 5, 1923, in Rose Hill, North Carolina. In 1940, he graduated from Rose Hill High School. The following summer, he worked for his uncle in Laurinburg, where he did the bookkeeping and handled the payroll. Next, Aaron earned his Bachelor’s degree from Atlantic Christian College in Wilson. He earned his Master’s degree in Education from the University of North Carolina. He also completed post-graduate courses at North Carolina State University and Duke University. While in college, Aaron played basketball, baseball, and tennis, a game at which he especially excelled.

During World War II, Aaron served his country as a corporal in the US Army. He was among the troops that comprised the 203rd Field Artillery Battalion, 30th Infantry Division, when they landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy in June, 1944. Later, he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. In fact, Aaron earned a Bronze Star for fighting in 318 continuous days of combat.

Once the war was over, Aaron became a teacher and coach at Elm City High School in 1946. He worked his way up the ranks, first as an Assistant Principal at Whiteville High School, then as the Principal of Millbrook High School in 1953, and finally as the Superintendent of Wake County Schools in 1957. He held that position until 1976, during which time he ensured the integration of the school district. In all, Aaron’s career as an educator spanned 31 years.

In addition to his work as an educator, Aaron was elected on the Democratic ticket to the North Carolina House of Representatives. He served in that body from 1978 to 1994, a total of 16 years. In this position, he supported many bills for improved education, including a state Basic Education Plan and a statewide curriculum which was adopted in the 1980s. In addition, the former teacher supported a mandatory seatbelt law and statewide watershed protection.

Teacher, politician, and veteran Aaron Fussell passed away on July 7, 2014, in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was 91 years old.

Celebrating the Day of the Dead!

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Today, all throughout the American Southwest and elsewhere, our Mexican American students are celebrating 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!

Photo credit: School Arts Room

Teacher Gertrude Chandler Warner authored The Boxcar Children Mysteries

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Gertrude Chandler Warner of Connecticut was an elementary school teacher who became famous for writing The Boxcar Children Mysteries. Photo credit: Gertrude Warner Museum

There are many talented classroom teachers who have also made a name for themselves as popular authors. One of these is Gertrude Chandler Warner of Connecticut, an elementary school teacher who became famous for writing the children’s stories known as The Boxcar Children Mysteries.

Gertrude was born on April 16, 1890, in Putnam, Connecticut. She decided at a very young age that she wanted to be an author. From the age of five, she wrote stories for her grandfather, and each Christmas she gifted one of these stories to him. As a youngster, Gertrude suffered from frequent illnesses, and for this reason she never finished high school. In her sophomore year, she completed her secondary education with the assistance of a tutor.

In 1918, when World War I was in full swing, Gertrude was hired to teach first grade, primarily because many men teachers were being called to serve in the military. The position served to be a good fit for Gertrude, who continued to teach until 1950. During these years, she spent her summers completing education courses at Yale University.

All her life, Gertrude was a nature-lover. As a child, she developed butterfly and moth collections, pressed wild flowers, learned about the birds in her area, and tended a garden. She incorporated these interests in her classroom lessons, and she also developed nature themes in her books.

In 1924, while convalescing at home from a lengthy illness, Gertrude developed the idea for a children’s book. This is how she came to write the first installment of The Boxcar Children. The story was published by Rand McNally and Company in 1924. Not only did Gertrude write the original story, but she also wrote the next 18 books in the series.

After her retirement from the classroom, Gertrude became a volunteer for the American Red Cross, the Connecticut Cancer Society, and other community service organizations. This talented educator and author passed away on August, 20, 1979, at the age of 89. She is interred at Grove Street Cemetery in her home town of Putnam, Connecticut.

To learn more about Gertrude Chandler Warner, click on this link to The Boxcar Children Museum.

Educator Gladys Kamakuokalani Brandt advanced social causes

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Educator Gladys Kamakuokalani Brandt worked tirelessly to advance social causes, especially the knowledge of Hawaiian students about their own culture. Photo Credit: Kamehaha Schools

Many hardworking educators dedicate themselves to social causes of importance in addition to their classroom responsibilities. One of these is this beautiful lady, Gladys Kamakuokalani Brandt, a Native Hawaiian teacher, who worked tirelessly towards increasing the knowledge of Native Hawaiian students about their own culture.

Gladys is old enough to have attended the funeral services in 1917 of Queen Liliuokalani, the last reining monarch of Hawaii, and still young enough to witness the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 which brought the United States into World War II.

When Gladys began her career as a teacher, she worked in public schools in Hawaii. Eventually she became an instructor at the prestigious Kamehameha Schools, a private institution set up to educate Native Hawaiian students.

As a youngster, Gladys was led to feel deeply ashamed of her Hawaiian heritage, so much so that she rubbed her face with lemon juice to lighten her complexion. By the time she became the Principal of Kamehameha Schools, however, she had resolved to fight tirelessly for the inclusion of courses to preserve Native Hawaiian culture. She supported instruction in Hawaiian language, song, and the controversial standing hula dance which had been forbidden by the school’s trustees. The story of her work is truly an inspirational one.

Equally inspirational is the story of the dedication and sacrifice of Hawaii’s teachers in the days and weeks following the bombing of Pear Harbor. From serving as ambulance drivers, setting up shelters for survivors, teaching their students how to use gas masks, taking their students into the sugar cane fields to harvest the crops, and re-establishing some semblance of order for their students when school resumed, their deeds are truly remarkable.

You can read about Gladys and her fellow Hawaiian teachers in my book, Chalkboard Champions:  Twelve Remarkable Teachers Who Educated America’s Disenfranchised Students.