America celebrates Juneteenth!

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For the African American community, June 19 marks the annual observance of an important holiday: Juneteenth. Many teachers are aware of the significance of this event, and, if school for them is still in session, they may be planning an observance of the occasion with their students.

Juneteenth marks the 1865 arrival of Federal troops under the command of US General Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas. Their military mission was to take control of the state following the Civil War, and to ensure that all enslaved people living there had been freed. Until that day, 250,000 enslaved people in Texas were unaware that slavery had been declared officially ended. The troops’ arrival came a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

The year following Granger’s arrival, freedmen in Texas organized the first of what became the annual celebration of “Jubilee Day” on June 19. In the decades since, Juneteenth commemorations featured music, barbecues, prayer services, and other holiday activities. As Black people migrated from Texas to other parts of the country, the tradition of celebrating Juneteenth spread.

Juneteenth is considered the longest-running African American holiday in US history. In 1979, Texas became the first state to declare Juneteenth an official holiday. Efforts to make the celebration a national holiday have, so far, stalled in Congress, but as of this year, 47 states recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday.

Tennessee teacher John Scopes: Convicted for teaching evolution

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High school science teacher John Scopes was convicted in 1925  for teaching the theory of human evolution in his Tennessee classroom. His story was fictionalized in the movie Inherit the Wind in 1960. Photo credit: University of Missouri, Kansas City, School of Law.

Recently I had the opportunity to view the film Inherit the Wind, a fictionalized treatment of the famed Scopes Trial of 1925 written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee. The play was written in 1955, and the movie was released in 1960. The story centers around real-life high school science teacher John Scopes and his conviction for teaching the theory of human evolution in his Dayton, Tennessee, classroom.

In 1925, it was unlawful to teach human evolution in a Tennessee public school, which had been outlawed by the state’s Butler Act. To test the validity of the legislation, John Scopes allowed himself to be used as the test case. He was 24 years old at the time, had earned his Bachelor’s degree in Science from the University of Kentucky in 1924, and was a very popular general science teacher and football coach in his community.

The court case, which was viewed as a contest between religion and science, garnered national attention. The prosecutor was famed politician William Jennings Bryan, who was a former Secretary of State and three-time presidential candidate. The defense attorney was  accomplished lawyer and orator Clarence Darrow. John, who did not deny he taught evolution in his classes but who asserted that teaching scientific theory was not illegal, was found guilty of the charges. However, the verdict was later overturned on a technicality.

The Scopes trial didn’t bring the debate over the teaching of evolution to an end, but it did represent a setback for the anti-evolution coalition. Of the 15 states with anti-evolution legislation pending in 1925, only two states (Arkansas and Mississippi) enacted laws that prohibited or restricted the teaching of Darwin’s theory.

When the trial was over, John Scopes was invited to attend graduate school at the prestigious University of Chicago. A sort of Go-Fund-Me page of that period was organized to pay for his education. Later he accepted a position as a commercial geologist at United Gas in Shreveport, Louisiana. At age 67, the former teacher published his memoirs under the title Center of the Storm.

To learn more about this Chalkboard Champion, see the biography published about him written by Professor Douglas O. Linder of the University of Missouri, Kansas City, School of Law.

Innovative educator Mary Catherine Swanson: Founder of AVID

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Innovative educator Mary Catherine Swanson developed the AVID program to help minority students develop the skills necessary to succeed in college. Today, the program is employed globally in at least 16 countries. Photo Credit: www.avid.org

Back in 1980, Clairemont High School in San Diego, California, suddenly faced a court-ordered integration order. Teachers at the predominantly white, suburban, middle-class school knew that their incoming minority students would need extensive remediation. As Clairemont’s staff scrambled for ways to meet the needs of these students, one innovative staff member came up with a groundbreaking idea. That staff member was English teacher Mary Catherine Swanson.

Mary Catherine believed strongly that with appropriate academic tools and support, minority and other under-represented students could succeed in a rigorous academic atmosphere just as well as their Clairemont classmates. To meet their needs, she developed an innovative instructional program called Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID). The program trained students in strategies for note-taking and test-taking, offered peer mentoring and tutoring, and sponsored cultural field trips.

Mary Catherine’s efforts produced astonishing results. Since the program’s inception, over 400,000 students have participated in the training. The program is so successful that today over 7,000 high schools in 47 states and 16 countries around the world have implemented it. Statistics show that of those students enrolled in AVID, 95% go on to enroll in a four-year college, and 85% of them graduate. To learn more about the AVID program, go to www.avid.org.

The overwhelming success of Mary Catherine’s work has earned her many honors. Among them are an A+ Award for Reaching the Goals of America 2000 from the US Department of Education; the EXCEL Award for Excellence in Teaching; and the Salute to Excellence from the American Association for Higher Education. She has also been recognized with the UC San Diego Remarkable Leader in Education Award and the Distinguished Achievement Award by the UC Davis Cal Aggie Alumni Association. She has also been recognized with honorary doctorates from UC San Diego and the University of LaVerne. Both CNN and Time Magazine named her America’s Best Teacher in 2001, and she was one of three 2001 recipients of the Harold W. McGraw, Jr., Prize in Education. Furthermore, Mary Catherine’s contribution to American education has been recognized by Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews, who wrote, “I don’t know any single person in the country who has done more for our school children than AVID founder Mary Catherine Swanson.”

Mary Catherine Swanson retired in 2006, but she will always be known as a genuine Chalkboard Champion.

WI Physical Ed teacher Ellen Tronnier once played in All-American Girls Baseball League

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Wisconsin physical education teacher Ellen Tronnier played as an outfielder in the All-American girls Professional Baseball League during World War II. Photo Credit: AAGPBL

Many excellent teachers have also earned fame as talented athletes. One of these was Ellen Tronnier, a Wisconsin physical education teacher who once played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during World War II. Those who are familiar with the 1992 movie A League of their Own starring Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, and Madonna know very well about this unique group of women athletes.

Ellen, who played as an outfielder, was 5’6″ and 135 pounds. She batted and threw right-handed. After making it through two grueling try-outs, she earned a position in the league playing on a team called the South Bend Blue Sox. Having been born in Cudahy, Wisconsin, on June 28, 1927, she was only 15 years old at the time.

After only one season on the team, Ellen decided to pursue her education. She left the league and enrolled at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. After she completed her degree there, she taught physical education in the Milwaukee Public School District. She taught at both South Division High School and Sholes Middle School. Her career as a teacher spanned a total of 33 years. During these years, which included the 1970s, Ellen opened a baseball school for girls sponsored by the Milwaukee Recreation Department.

While she was still teaching, Ellen, played club softball for 27 years, competing in numerous tournaments. She was an accomplished fast pitch softball player, and the teams she played with won several league, state, and regional championships. In 1956, her club won three National Invitational Tournaments.

When the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum opened in Cooperstown, New York, an entire section of exhibits was dedicated to the All-Girls League. Ellen was recognized as one of the 560 women who had, at one time or another, played in the league. In 1990, Ellen was inducted into the Wisconsin Softball Association Hall of Fame. Even throughout her retirement, the former teacher remained active, encouraging young women to engage in competitive sports while she signed baseball cards and reminisced about the days when she payed baseball.

Sadly, Ellen Tronnier passed away on May 21, 2015, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was 87 years old. She was interred at Arlington Park Cemetery in Greenfield, Wisconsin.