Tag Archives: African American Teachers

Felmon Motley: Teacher, Civil Rights activist, and stellar athlete

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Educator, veteran, Civil rights activist, and stellar athlete Felmon Motley.  Photo Credit: Find a Grave

Many excellent educators are also known for their careers as stellar athletes. One of these was Felmon Motley, a successful football player who was inducted into the Delaware Hall of Fame. He was also a veteran and an activist during the Civil Rights Movement.

Felmon was born on March 18, 1921, in Autaugaville, Alabama. He was raised in Anniston, where he attended Cobb High School. However, in his senior year, he moved to Dayton, Ohio, where he graduated from from Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School in 1940.

After his graduation in 1940, Felmon enrolled in Alabama A&M University, where he played for the Alabama A&M Bulldogs as both a lineman and a fullback. In 1942, Felmon transferred to Delaware State College, where he played for the school’s Hornets.

During World War II, Felmon served his country from 1943 to 1945, playing on a military service team at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. While on this team, he played in the 1945 Copper Bowl, scoring the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds of the game.

In 1946, Felmon returned to Delaware, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in 1947. He earned a Master’s degree from there in 1952. After earning his degrees, Felmon accepted a position as an industrial arts teacher at Seaford High. There he became the school’s first African American staff member. In all, his career as a teacher and guidance counselor spanned 37 years in public schools in Seaford, Dover, and Wilmington. He retired in 1984.

During the 1960’s, the former football player became an activist in the Civil Rights Movement, marching with Dr. Martin Luther King and the Rev. Jesse Jackson in Selma, Montgomery, and the 1963 March on Washington.

In addition to his responsibilities in the classroom, Felmon served was the President of the Delaware State Alumni Association from 1963 to 1967. He was a life member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, serving the organization at the national, district and local levels. He was also a 32nd degree Mason.

Football player Felmon Motley was inducted into the Delaware State University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1985. Photo Credit: Public Domain

For his lifelong achievements, Felmon was one of the first inductees into Delaware State University’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1985. He was also inducted into the State of Delaware Sports Hall of Fame in 1997 and was one of the first inductees the Delaware State University Alumni Hall of Fame.

This Chalkboard Champion, veteran, Civil rights activist, and stellar athlete passed away on Aug. 28, 2004, in Milford, Delaware. He was 83 years old. He is interred in Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Bear, Delaware.

Theresa Maughan named NJ’s 2022 Teacher of the Year

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High school Social Studies teacher Theresa Maughan has been named New Jersey’s 2022 Teacher of the Year.. Photo credit: New Jersey Education Association

I always enjoy sharing stories about exceptional educators who have earned accolades for their work. One of these is Theresa Maughan, a high school Social Studies teacher in East Orange, New Jersey. She has been named her state’s 2022 Teacher of the Year.

Theresa teaches at East Orange STEM Academy in East Orange, New Jersey. In a career that has spanned 40 years, she has spent the last 34 of them at East Orange. “I love everything about my job,” expresses Theresa. “Every day is fresh and different, and I really enjoy giving my students an opportunity to become the best version of themselves,” she says.

The honored educator immigrated from Belize when she was only five years old. When her family was threatened with deportation, her social studies teacher dedication herself to helping her family stay in their adopted country. “My father had an issue with his visa that threatened our immediate family’s status in the US,” recalls Theresa. “My teacher, Mrs. Roman, launched a letter-writing campaign and arranged for coverage in the Jersey Journal about our situation. The school community rallied around us and we were able to go through the naturalization process, eventually becoming American citizens,” she continues. This effort, says Theresa, is what led her to recognize the immense impact educators have on their students’ lives and inspired her to pursue a career in education.

When she grew up, Theresa earned her Bachelor’s degree in History and Education from Rutgers University. She earned her Master’s degree in Administration and Supervision from New Jersey City University. She is also working on her second Master’s degree, in American History, from Pace University.

In addition to her responsibilities in the classroom, Theresa writes curriculum, and she has developed and presented interdisciplinary professional development workshops for her school district. She has mentored new teachers and pre-service teachers. Furthermore, she has attended the New Jersey Amistad Commission’s Summer Teacher Institute for more than a decade, and she serves as an Amistad Scholar.

Besides her honors as New Jersey’s Teacher of the Year, Theresa has been named 2021 Essex County Teacher of the Year, and she was a nominee for the National History Day Patricia Behring Award the same year.

To read more about Theresa Maughan, see this article published by the New Jersey Education Association.

Daphne Fulson named Virginia’s 2022 Teacher of the Year

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Elementary school teacher Daphne Fulson named Virginia’s 2022 Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Coastal Virginia Mag

I always enjoy sharing stories about exceptional educators who have earned accolades for their work in the classroom. One of these is Daphne Fulson, an elementary school teacher from Virginia who has been named her state’s 2022 Teacher of the Year.

Daphne teaches bilingual second-grade at Portlock Primary School in Chesapeake, Virginia. In a career that has spanned 12 years, she has spent the last six of them in Chesapeake. Daphne genuinely enjoys her work with young people. “Teaching brings beauty and joy to the world,” she asserts. And she has a wonderful reputation among her colleagues. Leslie Russell, Principal of Portlock Primary School, describes Da[hne as a “caring, inspiring, and compassionate educator who has a natural gift for touching the lives of her students.”

In addition to teaching at Portlock, Daphne has worked as an  instructor of English as a Foreign Language at Via Lingua in Peru.  And every summer, Daphne works as a facilitator of content and pedagogy for Teach For America. In this role, her priority is to facilitate an environment where culturally responsive practices are used to deliver anti-racist, high rigor, instruction that promotes moral values, self-confidence, and self-esteem in students, guiding them to collaborate, communicate, think critically, and act independently as productive, problem-solving citizens of society.

In 2013, Daphne earned her Bachelor’s degree from Old Dominion University (ODU) with a double major in communications and Spanish Education, and a double minor in Social Welfare and English. In 2022, she earned her Master’s degree in Educational Leadership with a concentration in administration and supervision, also from ODU. In addition, Daphne has completed courses at La Universidad Veritas in Costa Rica, where she served as an international global ambassador.

In addition to her recognition as Virginia’s Teacher of the Year, Daphne has earned many other honors. She garnered the Sue Lehmann Teaching and Learning Fellowship for the Rio Grande Valley Texas region in 2015, and the Good to Transformational Teaching Fellowship in McAllen, Texas, in 2017. She was also named the recipient of the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award in 2017.

English teacher Brittney Miller also serves in the Nevada State Assembly

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Middle School English teacher Brittney Miller also serves her community in the Nevada State Assembly. Photo Credit: Brittney Miller

Many talented classroom teachers also serve as successful politicians. One of these is Brittney Marie Miller, a middle school English teacher who currently serves in the Nevada State Assembly.

Brittney was born in 1974 in Detroit, Michigan. Her father, a former Marine who served in Viet Nam, was a police sergeant in Detroit. Her mother, a former civilian employee for the US Army Tank Arsenal, was a registered nurse.

Brittney earned her Bachelor’s degree in 1996 in Criminal Justice from Saginaw Valley State University located in University Center, Michigan. In 1999 she earned her first Master’s degree, in Public Administration from Oakland University located in the cities of Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills, Michigan. In 2011 she earned her second degree, in Teaching from Sierra Nevada College, Incline Village, Nevada.

For several years after earning her degrees, Brittney channeled her considerable energy in prisoner re-entry programs, training programs, and employment services. But for the past 11 years, she has been teaching Language Arts at Canarelli Middle School in the Clark County School District in Nevada. “After years developing programs in public schools, work force development, and prisoner re-entry, I knew that becoming a teacher was one more way I could serve,” Brittney once said. “Indeed, I reduced my salary by over a third when I became a teacher, but that’s how passionate and devoted I am to service. I believe strongly in education. To build a future, we must invest in our children first,” she added.

In 2017, Brittney was elected to represent District 5 in the Nevada State Assembly, where she still serves. She succeeded Republican Assemblyman Erv Nelson who resigned from his post to run for the Nevada State Senate. As a representative, Brittney is a member of four committees: Education; Corrections, Parole, and Probation; Health and Human Services; and Judiciary.

To learn more about this accomplished Chalkboard Champion, check out this interview by Nevada Public Radio or her website at Miller4ThePeople.

NY dance teacher Persephone DaCosta earns coveted FLAG Award

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Dance teacher Persephone DaCosta started a girls’ empowerment club at her New York City public school that was so successful it was transformed into an academic class. The enterprise has earned her a coveted FLAG Foundation Award. Photo Credit: PATCH

I always enjoy sharing stories about creative educators who have earned accolades for their work with students. One of these is Persephone DaCosta, a dance teacher from New York who has earned a coveted FLAG Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence.

Persephone teaches traditional, West African, and Africa-Caribbean dance at Khalil Gibran International Academy, a public school located in Boerum Hill in Brooklyn, New York. The school offers a multicultural curriculum and intensive Arabic language instruction. There she inaugurated a young women’s empowerment circle she called ROSE, an acronym for Respectful Outstanding Sisters of Excellence. As part of the program, high school students gathered after school to talk about sisterhood and leadership. Before long, Persephone noticed the positive impact of the program on her students. Their attendance improved, they were getting better grades, and they were behaving better. Inspired by the students’ progress, Persephone transformed ROSE into an academic class that focuses on leadership and mentorship. In this course, students plan school-wide events, visit college campuses, and learn about mental wellness.

Of Trinidadian descent, Persephone began her dance training at the age of 6. She has studied ballet, tap, jazz, and traditional African dance. She graduated from Stony Brook University, where she studied dance, anthropology, and “Community Development through the Arts.”

The FLAG Award “is meant to identify teachers, recognize them for the incredible things they are doing in and out of the classroom, and award them for all of their efforts,” explains FLAG co-president Risa Daniels. “These are teachers who are having an impact beyond the classroom and doing things that are having long lasting, ripple effects on their schools,” she continued. As a winner of the FLAG award, Persephone will receive $25,000 and Khalil Gibran International Academy will receive a $10,000 grant to spend on their arts education program. Persephone intends to use the grant to renovate her sparsely-equipped dance studio.