High school English teacher and Pulitzer Prize winning author Frank McCourt.
Many people have heard of Frank McCourt, the author of the blockbuster Angela’s Ashes. But did you know that Frank was a high school English teacher in New York?
Frank McCourt was born in Brooklyn, New York, on August 19, 1930. His parents were immigrants from Ireland. They came to America to escape the poverty, hoping to make a success of their lives. But when the Depression hit, the McCourt family returned to Limerick, Ireland, where they sank even further into poverty. Frank was forced to quit school at 13 to work a series of odd-jobs (and engage in some petty crime) to help feed his family. At 19, Frank was able to return to the United States on his own.
In 1951, he was drafted by the US Army to serve in the Korean Conflict. He was stationed in Germany for two years, where he worked first training dogs and then as a company clerk. Once he was discharged from the military, Frank returned to New York City, where he was employed at a series of low-paying jobs. He worked on the docks, in warehouses, in a grocery store, and in a bank.
As a veteran, Frank was eligible for benefits provided by the GI Bill. He used these benefits to enroll at New York University. There he earned his Bachelor’s degree in English in 1957. He completed the requirements for his Master’s at Brooklyn College in 1967, and he later completed some post-graduate courses at Trinity College in Dublin.
Following his college graduation, Frank accepted a teaching position at McKee Vocational and Technical High School in Manhattan. His students were teenage mechanics, beauticians, taxi drivers, and gang members. They were a tough crowd. They let him know right away they weren’t interested in Shakespeare. In fact, they didn’t want to be in school at all. Frank once recalled that one of his students threw a baloney sandwich at him in class one day. But the teacher who was saw his boyhood self in his students knew exactly how to respond. He picked up the sandwich, ate it, and told the class it was delicious. The stunt won over the recalcitrant kids.
Over his 30-year career, Frank taught at several other schools in New York City, including Ralph R. McKee High School in Staten Island, Stuyvesant High School, Seward Park High School, Washington Irving High School, and the High School of Fashion Industries. During these years, the veteran teacher told his students stories of his impoverished childhood in Ireland. He wanted the kids to know that education was the ticket out of poverty.
Frank eventually published these childhood stories in his memoir Angela’s Ashes (2006). The volume won much acclaim, including a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Critics Circle Award, and an LA Times Book Award. Frank also garnered the prestigious Ellis Island Family Heritage Award for Exemplary Service in the Field of the Arts (2006). The same year he was honored with the United Federation of Teachers John Dewey Award for Excellence in Education.
Sadly, this amazing educator suffered from cancer and meningitis and passed away on July 19, 2009. He was 79 years old. He is buried in Great Oak Cemetery in Roxbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut. To learn more about him, read this obituary published in 2009 by the Guardian.
