During Women’s History Month, we applaud Lucy Gamble Williams, who was the first African American teacher to be hired to work in public schools in Omaha, Nebraska. Photo credit: North Omaha History

Many talented women schoolteachers have been applauded during Women’s History Month for their historic firsts. One such teacher is Lucinda (Lucy) Gamble Williams, an elementary school teacher who was the first African American to be hired to work in Omaha public schools.

Lucy was born Lucinda Anneford Gamble on September 9, 1875, in Lincoln, Nebraska, the oldest of eight children of her parents, William and Evaline Gamble. The family moved to Omaha when she was five years old. As an elementary student, Lucy was first enrolled in the Old Dodge School, but later transferred to Pacific School. She graduated from Omaha Central High School in 1893.

Following her graduation from high school, Lucy enrolled in Omaha Normal School, a college which trained future teachers. She completed her two-year course of study there in 1895. “My teacher in the Normal school tried very hard to discourage me from going to the school as she said that I never would secure employment in the school system,” Lucy once recalled. But she must have been a very impressive candidate, because within three months of her graduation, Lucy was offered a position at her former elementary school, the Old Dodge School. With this appointment, Lucy became Omaha’s first African American school teacher. Later Lucy transferred to Cass School.

After six years of teaching, according to the custom of the day, Lucy resigned when she married the Reverend John Albert Williams, the son of a former slave who had escaped to Canada through the Underground Railroad. After the Civil War was won, John immigrated to the United States, landed in Nebraska, and became an activist for the African American community. The couple had one son they named Worthington, and two daughters, Catherine and Dorothy.

Even though she was no longer teaching, Lucy continued to serve her community. For ten years, she was the Chairperson of the the board of the Omaha’s Negro Old People’s Home, and she was a prominent member of the Omaha Colored Women’s Club. In addition, she also served on the board of the Omaha chapter of the NAACP.

Read a transcript of Lucy Gamble Williams’ personal history on file at the Library of Congress at this link: Lucy Gamble Williams.

Mary Kennedy Carter, pictured here at right, with three of her siblings.

Many talented educators are often passionate about social causes and work to make the world a better place. This is true of Mary Kennedy Carter, a social studies teacher from Ohio who became involved in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.

Mary was born on January 13, 1934, in Franklin, Ohio, the youngest of six children. Her father was a barber and her mother was a teacher. In her home, a great deal of emphasis was placed on getting a good education, and the Kennedy children were taught to take pride in their African heritage. As a child, Mary made friends with both Black and White children, although she was raised in a segregated community and was subjected to blatant racism. Mary felt the sting of prejudice first-hand. When she graduated from high school, she qualified to be the valedictorian of her class, but was not given the honor because of this bigotry.

The sting didn’t keep her down, however. Mary enrolled at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Once she earned her Bachelor’s in Elementary Education and History, she taught for several years in predominantly Polish elementary schools in Dayton, Ohio, and in San Diego, California.

In 1963, Mary was granted a teacher’s fellowship from Teachers for East Africa, an organization affiliated with Columbia University in New York City, where she had earned her Master’s in Curriculum and Teaching. This fellowship allowed her to travel to Lira, Uganda, to become a trainer of educators at Canon Lawrence Teachers College. In Uganda she came into contact with African people of power: presidents, diplomats, and officials of many African countries. She also supervised Peace Corps student teachers and served as an assistant to the director of teacher preparation in the East Africa Orientation Program. At the end of her fellowship, this remarkable educator was asked to stay in Uganda; however, she declined and returned to the United States.

Once she returned home, Mary moved to New York City to work as an editor and writer for the textbook publishers McGraw-Hill. There she met her husband, Donald Carter. Mary left McGraw-Hill when offered the opportunity to create the Black History program for the Roosevelt School District in Long Island, New York. While there, she arranged many prominent speakers to address high school students, including Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play Major League Baseball, and Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcom X. In time, Mary went on to teach in Rockville Center Schools in Long Island, where she established popular after-school youth clubs that promoted diversity, multiculturalism, and anti-violence.

After retiring from Roosevelt Schools, Mary became a field supervisor and adjunct professor at Hofstra University, where she worked closely with student teachers. She also worked with the New York State Council for the Social Studies as part of a team that developed and field-tested an anti-racism curriculum entitled New York and Slavery: Complicity and Resistance. In 2005, the curriculum won the Program of Excellence Award from the National Council for the Social Studies.

In her later years, Mary Kennedy Carter was a member of the New York State Amistad Commission, an organization established by the state legislature to research the best way issues of race could be taught in America’s social studies classrooms. Near the end of her career, Mary became a full professor at Hofstra University where she supervised student teachers, conducted workshops, and taught social studies methods and educational issues classes. Most of her students were white and were raised in largely white suburban communities, so a major focus of her courses involved helping them to recognize the importance of diversity. “All students need to know the history of Africa and Egypt and the contributions they have made to world history,” Mary once expressed. “This is not just something to be taught to Black children. They also all need to understand that many White people played important roles in the struggles for minority rights,” she said.

Mary Kennedy Carter was also a noteworthy author. In 1970 she published On to Freedom, a 55-page narrative about a slave family planning to escape to freedom. In addition, she  contributed articles to of Race, Class, and Gender in the United States: An Integrated Study.

This amazing Chalkboard Champion and Civil Rights activist passed away on December 14, 2010. She was 76 years old.