Roberta Flack: Public School Teacher and Grammy Award Winning Music icon

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imagesMany people have heard of the Grammy Award-winning songwriter and singer Roberta Flack, whose best-known songs are “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” and “Where Is the Love?” But did you know that this famous jazz, folk, and R&B icon was once a public school teacher?

Roberta Cleopatra Flack was born February 10, 1937, in Black Mountain, North Carolina, although she was raised in Arlington, Virginia. Her mother was a church organist, so Roberta grew up in a musical household. At the age of nine, Roberta began to study classical piano, and by the time she was fifteen, she had won a music scholarship to Howard University. She completed her undergraduate work and her student teaching as the first African American student teacher at an all-white school near Chevy Chase, Maryland. Then Roberta accepted a position teaching music and English in Farmville, North Carolina, a gig which paid her only $2,800 per year. She also taught junior high school in Washington, DC, and at the same time she took side jobs as a night club singer. It was there that she was discovered and signed to a contract for Atlanta Records. The rest, as they say, is music business history.

In recent years, Roberta’s contribution to education came when she founded an after-school music program entitled “The Roberta Flack School of Music” to provide free music education to underprivileged students in the Bronx, New York City. 

Roberta Flack: Truly a Chalkboard Champion.

Hail to Carter Godwin Woodson: The Founder of Black History Month

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dr-carter-g-woodsonCarter Godwin Woodson is often credited with originating annual Black History Month celebrations. He is also recognized as the first African American of slave parents to earn a Ph.D. in History. To be sure, these are noteworthy accomplishments. But there is so much more to this brilliant man’s life story than is usually publicized. Did you know that Carter was required much of his childhood to work on the family farm rather than attend school? As a child he taught himself to read using the Bible and local newspapers. He didn’t finish high school until he was 20 years old. Were you aware that he once worked as a coal miner in Fayette County, West Virginia, and then later went back there to teach school to black coal miner’s children, offering them a model for using education to get out of the mines? Did you know that Carter taught school in the Philippines, and then became the supervisor of schools, which included duties as a trainer of teachers, there? All these biographical details and more about this fascinating historical figure can be found in my book Chalkboard Champions.

Terry Marzell’s book Chalkboard Champions mentioned on Asian American Journal

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I am always gratified when I discover that others are supportive of my efforts to honor remarkable teachers, so I was excited to learn that my first book, Chalkboard Champions, was recently mentioned on the website for Asian American Journal. A chapter of my book explores the life and work of Japanese-America educator Mary Tsukamoto, an elementary school teacher from northern California who was incarcerated in a Japanese-American internment camp during WWII. Her life story highlights a shameful episode in American history, but the good that comes out of her family’s misfortune truly inspires the reader.

You can check out the mention on the website at this link: Asian American Journal. Enjoy!

Japanese American Journal