Tag Archives: African American Teachers

Virginia science teacher Aline Black Hicks: She launched an important Civil Rights case

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Virginia science teacher Aline Black Hicks launched a important Civil Rights case.

Often times teachers are at the forefront of movements that benefit entire groups of people in our society. One of these teachers was educator Aline Black Hicks, a high school science teacher who launched an important civil rights court case about equal pay.

Aline was born in Norfolk, Virginia, on March 23, 1906. As a young girl, she attended Booker T. Washington High School in her home town. After her graduation, she earned her Bachelor’s degree from Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute. The school is known today as Virginia State University. Aline earned her Master’s degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1935.

The neophyte educator inaugurated her career as a teacher when she accepted a position at her alma mater, Booker T. Washington, in 1924. She taught science and chemistry. As an African American, she earned only two-thirds the salary earned by a white teacher doing the same job. Although it was later determined to be a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, this was a common practice in that time.

In 1939, Aline filed a lawsuit against the Norfolk School Board, asking that they base teachers’ salaries on experience and education rather than race. She had the backing of the Norfolk Teachers Association, the Virginia State Teachers Association, and the NAACP. One of her attorneys was Thurgood Marshall, who later became an Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court. Unfortunately, Aline was fired in retaliation for her lawsuit. Once she was no longer employed by the school district, her case was dismissed. However, her lawyers took the case forward with another local teacher, Melvin O. Alston. Eventually the case went all the way to tour nation’s highest court, where the issue was eventually decided in favor of the African American plaintiffs.

In 1941, the Norfolk School board rehired Aline to teach at the school where she had formerly worked. From 1970 to 1973, she worked at Jacox Junior High School as an Instructional Development Specialist until she retired in 1973.

In 2008, Aline was named a Notable African Americans in Virginia History by the Library of Virginia. In 1971, she garnered the Norfolk “Backbone Award” by the Education Association for her contribution to financial, educational and social equality.

This chalkboard champion passed away in Norfolk on August 22, 1974. To read more about her, consult this article in Encyclopedia Virginia.

Science teacher Carl Warfield creates classroom zoo

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The students who enter the classroom of high school science teacher Carl Warfield find themselves in the middle of a zoo. The innovative educator has turned his room into a home for snakes, spiders, lizards, birds, and a plethora of other animals.

Carl currently teaches at East Kentwood High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He’s been teaching for 23 years. He says he started bringing live animals into his classroom about 20 years ago. It started with just two animals, but now there are dozens. Carl is proud of his zoo. “It’s the classroom I always wanted to have,” he confessed. “I did not envision this growing to this, but it was just a way to say, ‘Hey, science is alive,'” the innovative educator said.

“It is a unique, hand’s on experience for the kids,” Carl explained. “We are one of those programs that, you know, you may not be an athlete, you may not be a musician, you may not be an artist. But if you’ve got heart, and compassion, and animals are your thing, we’ve got something here for you,” he continued.

In addition to his status as a local celebrity of sorts, Carl’s efforts in the classroom have won him financial recognition. He and his colleague, Shannon Goodwin, garnered a $1,000 check from Grand Valley State University, College of Education, for developing a salmon restoration program they call the Groundswell Project. The project offers students the opportunity to grow salmon in the classroom. The salmon are later released into the river, where they then migrate to Lake Michigan.

To read more about Carl Warfield, see this online article entitled Classroom or Zoo?

Fannie Richards: A teacher who worked for social change

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Detroit’s Fannie Richards, a dedicated teacher who worked for positive social change.

For me, one of the best characteristics of teachers is their willingness, ability, and dedication towards bringing about positive social change. A wonderful example of this is Fannie Richards. She was a Michigan schoolteacher who worked to desegregate Detroit public schools.

Fannie Richards was born on October 1, 1840, in Fredericksberg, Virginia. Her parents were free African Americans. As a young child, Fannie’s family moved to Toronto, Canada, where Fannie was enrolled in school. When she grew up, Fannie traveled to Germany, where she worked with innovative educator Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel to develop the first kindergartens. When she completed this work, Fannie returned to the United States and settled in Detroit, Michigan.

Always eager to learn new skills, Fannie enrolled at the Teachers Training School in Detroit. After her graduation, she became passionate about educating the African-American community of Detroit. Even decades before the landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, Fannie was advocating desegregation in Detroit schools. In 1863, while the Civil War was still raging, she opened a private school for African-American children in Detroit. A few years later, the Detroit Public School system opened a school for Black children, and when Fannie learned the school board planned to open a second school, she applied for a teaching position. In 1869, she was hired to teach in Colored School #2, the first African American teacher to work in Detroit Public Schools.

To Fannie’s delight, in 1871, the Michigan State Supreme Court ordered the integration of Michigan schools. That same year, the school board transferred Fannie to the newly desegregated Everett Elementary School. She taught there for 44 years. Fannie was known for her devotion to the children, using modern pedagogic methods, and maintaining a high standard of scholarship.

Fannie Richards retired in 1922 after more than fifty years as an educator. This chalkboard champion passed away on February 13, 1922, at the age of 81. She is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit.

To learn more about Fannie, click on this link to the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame.

Original works by choir teacher Sheena Graham performed at the Obama White House

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Original works by choir teacher Sheena Graham from Bridgeport, Connecticut, performed at the Obama White House.

Our nation is fortunate to have many fine educators for the performing arts. One of them is Sheena Graham, a high school choir teacher from Bridgeport, Connecticut. Her original musical compositions have been featured at the Obama White House!

Sheena teaches at Warren Harding High School in Bridgeport. She inaugurated her career as an educator in 1983. In a career that has spanned more than 36 years, Sheena has taught Black History Chorale, peer leadership, theater, piano, and performing arts. She has also served as an adviser for her school’s poetry club, coached cheerleading, softball, and drill team, and instructed a dance troupe.

In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Sheena leads workshops in music literacy, creates teaching tools for colleagues, and works as an accompanist for local choirs. She also teaches free piano and drama classes at the Hall Neighborhood House Academy of Music and Fine Arts.

Prior to her work as an educator, she wrote original musicals which earned national recognition. Two of her compositions were presented at the White House: “My Destiny” in 2014 and “It’s Not How You Start” in 2016. Her composition “We Can if We Believe” was performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, in 2018. The topics of her musicals include dealing with teen years, coping with tragedy, and not allowing negative life circumstances to define a person’s destiny.

Sheena says her determination to become a choir teacher stemmed from childhood events. She was born with a speech impediment. As a result, she told one interviewer, she did not interact well with others. In fourth grade, an aunt signed her up for music lessons, thinking it might help. “It gave me a whole new world where I could feel safe and comfortable,” Sheena revealed. “I was more social.” As a teacher, Sheena has spent her entire career trying to ensure her students feel that same sense of safety, community, and kindness in her classroom.

For her work as an educator, Sheena has earned many accolades. She was featured in the book, “Notable Valley African Americans.” She received the Beard Excellence in Teaching Award, the Choral Director of Distinction Award, the National Association of Negro Business Professional Women Teacher of the Year Award, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Teacher of the Year Award. She was also named the 1995 Bridgeport Public Schools Teacher of the Year and 2019 Connecticut Teacher of the Year.

Sheena earned her Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Western Connecticut State University. She earned her Master’s degree in Education from St. Joseph’s College.

To learn more about this chalkboard champion, click on this link from the Connecticut Post: CCSSO.

Chalkboard champion Bessie Burke: First Black principal hired in Los Angeles

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Chalkboard champion Bessie Burke, the first African American principal hired in the Los Angeles Public School System.

In American history, there are many examples of fine educators who were also pioneers. One of these was Bessie Burke, who was the first African American principal hired in the Los Angeles Public School System.

Bessie was born on March 19, 1891, in Los Angeles. Just a few years earlier, in 1887, her parents had left their farms and teaching jobs in Kansas to migrate west. They settled in what is now known as North Hollywood.

As a young girl, Bessie attended Berendo Elementary School in LA. From Berendo Bessie went to Polytechnic High School in Pasadena.

After her high school graduation, Bessie enrolled in courses at Los Angeles State Normal School. The institution is now associated with the University of California at Los Angeles. The young scholar graduated seventh in a class of 800. Bessie earned her teaching credential in 1911. Her first teaching assignment was at Holmes Avenue School. In 1918, she was promoted and served as the first black principal in the Los Angeles school system. In all, she devoted 20 years to the Holmes Avenue School.

From Holmes, Bessie transferred to Nevin Avenue School, in 1938. The school featured a racially mixed student body. When she accepted this position, Bessie became one of the first Black principals in the state to head a racially integrated student body. Bessie retired in 1955. She is still remembered in the area as a distinguished humanitarian and well-respected educator and administrator.

In addition to her responsibilities at the school, Bessie served in several civic organizations, including the NAACP, the YWCA, the Native California Club, and the Women’s Political Study Club. She was also a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

This amazing educator passed away in 1968 at the age of 68. She is interred at Angeles Rosedale Cemetery. To learn more about Bessie, click on this link from the US National Park Service: Bessie Burke.