Tag Archives: African American Teachers

Tuskegee Airman LeRoy Battle: Educator, musician, veteran

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High school music teacher and Tuskegee Airman LeRoy Battle authored an autobiography entitled Easier Said, published in 1995. Photo Credit: Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.

As a part of our national celebration of Black History Month, I would like to share the story of LeRoy Battle, a high school music teacher who was also a heroic Tuskegee Airman.

LeRoy was born Dec. 31, 1921, in the Harlem section of New York City, New York. His father owned a candy store, and his mother worked as a beautician and cook. While a youngster, LeRoy expressed an avid interest in music. He was able to take music lessons through both the Boy Scouts and the YMCA, where it was obvious he was a natural. By the time he was in the seventh grade, young LeRoy owned his own drum set. After years of learning and practice, the youthful musician was proficient enough to give music lessons as a private tutor.

As a teenager, LeRoy attended Alexander Hamilton High School in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. There he played drums in the marching band and the school orchestra. He also performed in New York’s All-City Orchestra, the Harold Cabbell Orchestra, and the Al Bounds Orchestra. By the time LeRoy was a senior, he played with legendary singer Billie Holiday at the Three Deuces Jazz Club. He also worked with Pearl Bailey. After his graduation, the youthful musician joined a traveling band and went on the road.

Educator LeRoy Battle shown during World War II, when he served in the prestigious Tuskegee Airman group. Photo Credit: Capital Gazette

During WWII, Leroy was drafted. He served in the United States Army Air Corps from 1945 to 1947. Once he earned his silver wings and bars, LeRoy volunteered to join the Tuskegee Airmen. “I can’t say that I ever had any previous aspirations to be a pilot,” he once confessed. “But it sounded like a much better opportunity than anything else that was likely to come along.”  After completing the Tuskegee program at Tuskegee University, gunnery training at Tyndall Field, and bombardier training at Midland Air Force Base, LeRoy joined the 616th Squadron of the 477th Bombardment Group stationed at Freeman Army Air Force Base. For his heroism during WWII, LeRoy garnered the Congressional Gold Medal.

When the war ended, the former pilot continued his studies in music. He returned to New York City and enrolled at the Juilliard School of Music.Then Morgan State University, a historically Black college located in Baltimore, Maryland. There he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Musical Education. He also earned a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Maryland, College Park.

In 1950, LeRoy accepted a position as a music teacher at Douglass High School in Washington, DC. That year he established a stage band for his students. Over the next eight years, The Douglass High School Band placed garnered first place in 14 competitions. In 1958, the students became the first African American band featured in the prestigious yearbook First Chair of America. Jet Magazine also printed a spread on the outstanding young musicians. Before LeRoy retired in 1978, he also served as a guidance counselor and assistant principal. For 17 of those years, he also served as a drummer in the Washington Redskins Marching Band.

Post-retirement, LeRoy continued to make music. From 1992 to 1996 he did session work with jazz musicians Eva Cassidy and Chuck Brown.In addition, he worked as a motivational speaker for the Tuskegee Airmen’s Speaker’s Bureau. And, as if all that wasn’t enough, he authored an autobiography entitled Easier Said, published in 1995.

Sadly, LeRoy passed away on March 28, 2015, in Harwood, Maryland. He was 93 years old. To read more about this remarkable Chalkboard Champion, see his obituary published in the Capital Gazette.

LA teacher and coach Brittany Bonnaffons named her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year

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Louisiana math teacher and track coach Brittany Bonnaffons has been named her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year. Photo Credit: Louisiana Life

I am always happy to share the story of an exceptional educator who has been honored for their work with students. One of these is Brittany Bonnaffons, a math teacher and coach from Luling, Louisiana. She has been named her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year.

Brittany is originally from Midland, Texas. She moved to the New Orleans area as a junior in high school. Once she graduated from high school, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Louisiana Scholars’ College at Northwestern State University. She earned her Master’s degree in Business Administration from Louisiana State University. She earned a second Master’s degree, in Exercise Science, from the University of Louisiana Monroe. She earned a third Master’s degree in Education from Northwestern University.

Brittany currently teaches Algebra to ninth graders at Hahnville High School in Luling. The students that are enrolled in her classes have low scores on their middle school standardized tests, but because of her intervention, 63% of the students who were not on track to pass the LEAP and 93% of her remaining learners pass the Algebra 1 LEAP 2025.

This Chalkboard Champion’s career as an educator has spanned 12 years so far. But Brittany didn’t originally choose teaching as her profession. She was successfully working in corporate America when she started volunteering as a track and field coach at Hahnville High School in 2018. When her husband noticed her passion for working with the young people, he suggested she go into teaching.

Brittany still serves as the Head Coach for her school’s track team. During her tenure, the team has captured four district championships and has taken regional runner-up honors twice. Among her athletes, there have been more than 50 individual district medalists, more than 30 individual regional medalists, and more than 10 state medalists.

 

During Black History Month, we celebrate educator Mary McLeod Bethune

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In honor of Black History Month, we celebrate one of America’s most illustrious educators, Mary McLeod Bethune. Photo Credit: National Park Service

In celebration of Black History Month, I would like to shine a spotlight today on one of our country’s most illustrious African American teachers. She is Mary McLeod Bethune.

Mary was born on July 10, 1875, to former slaves in a log cabin on a plantation in Maysville, South Carolina. She was the only one of her parents’ 17 children to be born into freedom. When the Civil War was won, Mary’s mother worked for her former owner until she could buy the land on which the McLeod family grew cotton. By nine years of age, young Mary could pick 250 pounds of cotton a day.

Even as a youngster, Mary showed an unusual interest in books and reading. However, in those days it was rare for African Americans to receive an education. Nevertheless, a charitable organization interested in providing educational opportunities for Black children established a school near Mary’s home. Her parents could scrape together only enough money to pay the tuition for one of their children, and Mary was chosen. Later, the future educator earned a scholarship to attend the Scotia Seminary, a boarding school in North Carolina. She graduated from there in 1894. She also attended Dwight Moody’s Institute for Home and Foreign Missions in Chicago, Illinois. Her studies there spanned two years.

When she grew up, Mary retained her strong desire to extend educational opportunities to other African Americans. She became a teacher in South Carolina. While there, she married fellow teacher Albertus Bethune. In 1904 Mary founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls in Daytona Beach, Florida. Beginning with five students, she helped expand the school to more than 250 students over the next few years. Today, this school is known Bethune-Cookman University.

In her later years, Mary became a close friend of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and also a trusted adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt. In recognition of her outstanding abilities, the President made her a member of his unofficial “Black Cabinet.” He also appointed her the head of the National Youth Administration in 1936. In 1937 the indefatigable educator organized a conference on the Problems of the Negro and Negro Youth, and she fought tirelessly to end discrimination and lynching. In 1940, Mary became the Vice President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Persons (NAACP), a position she held for the rest of her life. In 1945, she was appointed by President Harry Truman to be the only woman of color present at the founding meeting of the United Nations.

This celebrated educator passed away peacefully on May 18, 1955. For all her accomplishments, Mary McLeod Bethune is truly a Chalkboard Champion. To read more about her, see this link at the website for the National Women’s History Museum.

Ashley Lockwood named the 2023 State Teacher of the Year for Delaware

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Elementary school teacher Ashley Lockwood named the 2023 Teacher of the year for the state of Delaware. Photo Credit: University of Delaware

It is always a pleasure to share the story of an exceptional educator who has earned honors for their work with young people. One such educator is Ashley Lockwood, an elementary teacher who has been named the 2023 Teacher of the Year for the state of Delaware. Ashley earned the honor in recognition for her superior ability to inspire students with a love of learning, her exemplary demonstration of professional traits, and her strong sense of dedication and devotion to teaching.

Not intending originally to become a teacher, Ashley earned her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Delaware. Once she discovered her love for the classroom, she earned her Master’s degree in Education from Wilmington University.

In 2013, Ashley inaugurated her career in Maryland teaching special education. She stayed in that position for three years. In 2016, she relocated to Lulu Ross Elementary School in Milford, Delaware. There she teaches fourth and fifth grade inclusion classes. Currently, she teaches the fifth grade Spanish immersion program.

One of Ashley’s favorite books to use in the classroom is The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi. The volume tells the story of a Korean girl who moves to the United States. The girl is embarrassed to tell her classmates her name because she’s afraid they will mispronounce it or make fun of her. Ashley says this book helps her show her students how important it is for everyone to create a welcoming environment in the class.

In her continued pursuit of inclusion, in 2020 Ashley founded an Ethnic Minority Affairs Committee for the Milford Education Association. The committee is dedicated to advocating for both students and staff members of color. As the Chair of the committee, she collaborates with colleagues to work towards finding solutions to issues that have to do with inequality.

In addition, Ashley is a member of the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League Young Professionals, and she serves as the Kent County Committee Chair. In this role, she develops community service programs for underserved communities. She is also a mentor for new teacher in her district, and she serves as a member of her school’s Positive Behavior Supports Committee.

To read more about Ashley Lockwood, see this article about her published by the University of Delaware.

Teacher Carter Godwin Woodson: The Father of Black History

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Carter Godwin Woodson, the American school teacher who created Black History Month, an annual celebration of the many outstanding contributions African Americans have made to our country. Photo credit: Public Domain

This February, educators all over the country are sharing Black History Month with their students. The observance is an annual celebration of the many important  contributions African Americans have made to American society. But did you know that Black History Month, itself, was the brainchild of a brilliant African American teacher?

Carter Godwin Woodson (1875-1950)  is credited with organizing and advocating annual Black History Month celebrations in American schools, starting in 1926. Certainly this is an admirable accomplishment in and of itself, but there is so much more to learn about this outstanding educator.

Did you know that, as a youngster, Carter was forced to work on the family farm rather than attend school? Nevertheless, he taught himself to read using the Bible and local newspapers. He didn’t finish high school until he was 20 years old. Did you know that he once worked as a coal miner in Fayette County, West Virginia, and then later went back there to teach school to the children of Black coal miners, serving as a personal role model for using education as a means to get out of the mines? And 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?

This Chalkboard Champion was one of the first to study African American history, to collect data, oral histories, and documents, and to publish his findings in a scholarly magazine he published, The Journal of Negro History. For these accomplishments, and many more, Carter Godwin Woodson has been called the “Father of Black History.”

To read more about this fascinating historical figure, check out the chapter I have written about him in my first book, Chalkboard Champions.