Charlotte Stephens, pictured above, was the first African American teacher in Little Rock, Arkansas. 

Many fine educators are notable for their “firsts.” One of these was trailblazer Charlotte Stephens, the first African American to teach school in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Charlotte was born into slavery in 1854 in Little Rock. After the end of the Civil War, in 1869, she inaugurated her career as an educator when she became a substitute for her own teacher, who had fallen ill near the end of the school year. Charlotte was only 15 years old at the time.  At the end of her first full year of teaching, Charlotte used her savings to travel to Ohio, where she completed courses in pedagogy at Oberlin College. There she studied Latin, geometry, the history of Rome, music, English, and the Bible. For three years she continued to perfect her craft, returning intermittently to Little Rock to teach and earn additional money to pay for her courses.

Charlotte’s career included 30 years as an elementary school teacher, 30 as a high school teacher, and 10 as a teacher librarian in both high school and junior college. In all, Charlotte’s career spanned an astonishing 70 years before her retirement at age 85 in 1939. Among her most notable students were African American composers Florence Price and William Grant Still.

This Chalkboard Champion passed away on December 17, 1951. In 1910, Stephens Elementary School in Little Rock was named in her honor. To read more about her, see this article published in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.