Teacher Mary Tsukamoto was incarcerated in a US internment camp during WWII

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Mary Tsukamoto

Japanese American teacher Mary Tsukamoto was incarcerated in a US internment camp during WW II.

At the start of World War II, Mary Tsukamoto was living a quiet life as the wife of a strawberry farmer in a diminuitive Japanese-American community in Florin, Northern California. When Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Empire of Japan on December 7, 1941, “a day that will live in infamy,” Mary’s quiet life was suddenly turned upside-down.

Like 120,000 other persons of Japanese descent living on the West Coast, most of them American citizens, Mary was forced into a relocation camp by the US government because her loyalty to our country was questioned. Evicted from their home, Mary, her husband, their five-year-old daughter, her elderly in-laws, her teenaged brother and sisters, and other members of her family wound up in a camp in Jerome, Arkansas, where they were incarcerated until authorities were convinced this family of farmers posed no threat to national security.

While detained in the camp, Mary became part of a prisoner-organized effort to provide meaningful educational opportunities for the imprisoned children. Mary taught speech courses for the high school students and English language classes for the elderly. Once she was released from the camp and the war was over, Mary returned to college, completed her degree, and became an elementary schoolteacher, one of the first certificated Japanese American teachers in the United States.

This intrepid teacher’s remarkable story is told in her autobiography, We the People, a volume which unfortunately is now out of print. However, with some effort, it can be found through second-hand book sellers or in some libraries (check WorldCat), and it is well worth the hunt. You can read also read her story in my first book, Chalkboard Champions, available through amazon.com.

Eulalia Bourne: The plucky Arizona teacher who was ahead of her time

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Eulalia Bourne

Eulalia Bourne, the plucky Arizona teacher who was ahead of her time.

I love to tell stories about plucky teachers, and in this blog post I’ll share a little bit about a really plucky teacher from the American Southwest: Eulalia Bourne. This daring educator, whose career spanned more than four decades, taught elementary school in rural areas, mining camps, and Indian reservations throughout Arizona during some of our country’s most challenging periods: World War I, the Depression, and World War II. This women’s libber was ahead of her time, becoming one of the very few women in her day to own and run her own cattle ranch.

Eulalia thought outside the box in many ways. Every year on the first day of school she would wear a new dress, usually blue to complement her eye color. Every school day after that, she wore jeans, Western-style shirts, cowboy boots, and Stetson hats to class. She was once fired for dancing the one-step, a new jazz dance, at a birthday party some of her students attended, because the clerk of the school board considered the dance indecent! She even learned to speak Spanish fluently and, when confronted with non-English-speaking students, taught her classes in Spanish, even though at the time it was against the law to do so.

Eulalia is probably best known for producing a little classroom newspaper entitled Little Cowpunchers which featured student writings, drawings, and news stories about classroom events. Today, these little newspapers are recognized as important historical documents of Southern Arizona ranching communities from 1932 to 1943.

Additionally, Eulalia published three critically-acclaimed books about her teaching and ranching experiences: Ranch Schoolteacher, Nine Months is a Year at Baboquivari School, and Woman in Levi’s. These volumes, although now out of print, can sometimes be purchased at used book stores and can sometimes be found at online sites featuring royalty-free works. These books are well-worth the search, particularly for those interested in Arizona history.

You can read more about about Eulalia’s intriguing life in a book entitled Skirting Traditions, published by  Arizona Press Women. You can also find a chapter about her in my first book about remarkable teachers, Chalkboard Champions.

Science teacher Greg Craven presents info about climate change

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Greg Craven

Science teacher Greg Craven discusses the topic of climate change with his high school students.

There are many examples of classroom teachers who have made a significant impact on American culture. Science teacher Greg Craven of Oregon is an excellent example of this.

Greg was raised in Silverton, Oregon. After his high school graduation, he attended the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, where he majored in computer science and Asian studies. Once he earned his degree, he accepted a position as a science teacher at Central High School in Independence, Polk County, Oregon, where he teaches physics and chemistry. This talented educator involves his students in using critical thinking skills to tackle questions about science.

In 2007, Greg created an instructional YouTube video that featured the subject of climate change. The ten-minute video, entitled The Most Terrifying Video You’ll Ever See, instantly went viral. To follow up, this chalkboard champion created 44 additional videos which further explored the topic. “My mission in this is to change the culture,” explained Greg, “so that a policymaker can’t turn around without somebody saying ‘Hey! What are you doing about climate change?’ We need significant changes in the basis of our modern society, which is cheap, easily accessible fossil fuels.” As a follow up to his videos, Greg published a book entitled What’s the Worst that Could Happen? A Rational Response to the Climate Change Debate in 2009.

For this work, Greg was named Featured Teacher by WIRED Science in 2007. In 2010, he was invited to address the American Geophysical Union, where he also served as a member of a panel discussion group that addressed the topic of climate change. He has also been named Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the Oregon Science Teach­­ers Association.

To learn more about Greg’s book, see What’s the Worst that Could Happen? on amazon. com. To view Greg’s 2007 YouTube video, see below:

William Horace Ash: Teacher and Virginia state lawmaker

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William Horace Ash

William Horace Ash, teacher and lawmaker, pictured here in the top row, second from the right.

Often individuals who are capable classroom teachers make effective legislators as well. One example of this is William Horace Ash, an African American teacher from Virginia who also served in his home state’s House of Delegates.

William Horace Ash was born on May 15, 1859, in Loudoun County, Virginia. As a young man, he attended Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, where he completed the requirements for his degree in 1882. For many years William worked in Nottoway County as a teacher at Ingleside Seminary at Burkeville, a school for African American girls sponsored by the Presbyterian church. In addition to his classroom duties, William became one of the founding members of the Teachers Reading Circle, a statewide organization that provided professional support and networking for African American educators.

While still a teacher, William became interested in politics. He studied law, and, in 1884, he was chosen to be the delegate from Nottoway County to the Virginia State Republican Party Convention. In 1887, he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, where he served during the 1887-1888 session. There he served as a member of the standing Committees on Propositions and Grievances and on Printing, but he was also deeply concerned with legislation that affected education. After his term expired, William returned to teaching when he accepted a position as a teacher of agriculture at Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute.

On May 29, 1889, William married fellow teacher Sallie B. Miller from Nottoway. The union produced  no children. By the beginning of 1904, William and his wife attempted to establish a school for African American boys modeled after Ingleside Seminary. Unfortunately, the venture fell through, and in September 1904, William accepted a position at Swift Memorial Institute in Rodgersville, Hawkins County, Tennessee. There he taught nine courses, including Latin and beekeeping.

In 1908, this amazing chalkboard champion developed kidney failure, and after an illness of six days, he passed away on February 14, 1908. For his work in the Virginia General Assembly during the Reconstruction Era, William was one of several African Americans recognized by the Martin Luther King Commission. To read more about William Horace Ash, see his entry in the Dictionary of Virginia Biography.

Illinois social studies teacher Victor Swanson runs for US Congress

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Victor Swanson

Illinois social studies teacher Victor Swanson runs for US Congress.

Today’s highly-charged political climate is offering many opportunities for accomplished educators to run for political office. One individual who is doing that is Victor Swanson, a high school social studies teacher from Illinois who is running for a seat in the US Congress. He hopes to be elected to the 14th Congressional District on the Democratic ticket, unseating Republican incumbent Randy Hultgren.

Victor earned his Bachelor’s degree in Social Science Secondary Education from Illinois State University. He earned his Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Northern Illinois University. In addition, he is a decorated veteran of the US Navy.

Victor’s career as a public school educator has spanned 18 years. He currently teaches at Glenbard East High School in Lombard, a suburb of Chicago. Victor believes his classroom experience has prepared him very well for public office. “I believe my ability to listen to multiple different perspectives has helped me. You want a representative who can talk to people and work with them to come up with the best possible solution to a problem,” he asserts.

When Victor first expressed an interest in running for Congress, he was told it would be nearly impossible to run a campaign because he has a full-time teaching job. The intrepid educator said that only increased his desire to run. “If we don’t have people in Congress who have real jobs and aren’t independently wealthy or have political connections, then we don’t have real representation,” he declares.

If elected, Victor wants to allocate more money to education. “We need to start spending our money on children and people instead of corporations and the military,” he declares. “The more we invest in our children, the greater our return on investment.”

To learn more about this amazing educator, see his candidate profile at the Daily Herald.