Tag Archives: African American Teachers

Mercedes Munoz: Oregon’s 2019 State Teacher of the Year

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High School special education teacher Mercedes Munoz has been named Oregon’s 2019 State Teacher of the Year. (Photo credit: Oregon Public Broadcasting)

I enjoy sharing stories about educators who have been recognized for their dedication and hard work in the classroom. One of these is Mercedes Munoz, a high school special education teacher who was named Oregon’s 2019 State Teacher of the Year.

Mercedes says some of her students have come from a rough place, and grounding them in education is her primary goal. “To be an anchor in someone’s life, and to tell them that they can make it, and there are other moments to look forward to, that is a special joy that I get in teaching,” she declares.

The honored educator speaks from personal experience. As a teenager, she only needed a few more credits to graduate when she decided to drop out of Portland’s Benson High School. She was one of those kids, she conceded, who needed just a bit of encouragement to stay in school.

Eventually Mercedes did go back to school. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in English/Language Arts from Portland State University in 2011. She earned her Master’s degree in Special Education and Teaching from the same university in 2013.

Once she graduated, Mercedes was hired to teach at Franklin High School in Portland. There she has been instrumental in the development and implementation of the special education “push-in model.” The model features close collaboration between the special education teacher and the general education teacher to maximize the student’s inclusion in general education classes. In addition to this work, Mercedes is a member of her school’s Equity Team, the Safety Committee, and the Poetry Slam Committee. She is also highly involved in the recruitment of historically under-served students in Franklin’s Advanced Placement Program.

To read more about this amazing educator, see this article published by Oregon Public Broadcasting.

NYC teacher Jeffrey Alston succumbs to coronavirus

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Coronavirus claims the life of beloved math and technology teacher Jeffrey Alston of New York City. (Photo credit: New York State United Teachers)

With great sadness, I must report that coronavirus has claimed the life of yet another beloved educator. He is Jeffrey Alston, a teacher at Juan Morel Campos School of the Arts in New York City. Jeffrey passed away on April 12, 2020. He was only 56 years old.

For the past 15 years, Jeffrey taught math and technology at Juan Morel Campos School of the Arts in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The dedicated educator truly enriched his school community. He wrote grant proposals that led to the creation of the school’s computer lab 13 years ago. More recently, he was able to successfully advocate for an upgrade to the lab.

Jeffrey was also known for his wonderful sense of humor and his willingness to lend an ear. “He often chose not to give advice but to guide you to your decisions,” remembers colleague Keith Miller. “I am a better man and teacher for having known Jeff. His best quality was his ability to let you know he was there and he was listening; you knew he cared. That sense remains.” Colleage Camille Stephens agrees. “Alston was not just a teacher. He was a mentor, father figure, and motivator that brought calm and peace to students who were going through turbulent times,” she recalls.

To read more about this beloved educator, see his obituary at the New York State United Teachers.

We remember three dedicated teachers lost on 9/11

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The poignant stories of heroic classroom teachers who took care of their students during the attacks on September 11, 2001, are amazing, touching, and inspirational. But one of the most heart-wrenching of all is the story of three teachers aboard Flight 77, the plane that crashed into the Pentagon, killing 64 souls aboard and 125 souls on the ground.

Sarah Clark, Hilda E. Taylor, and James Debeuneure were teachers from Washington, DC. The three were selected by the National Geographic Society to escort a group of  elementary students on a field trip to Southern California. This field trip, known as the Sustainable Seas Expedition, gave underprivileged urban students the opportunity to  spend time at the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, where they would work as junior marine biologists and study oceanic life. Tragically, the lives of all three exemplary educators came to a swift end on September 11, 2001, when the plane carrying the students and teachers was hijacked by five extremists and crashed into the Pentagon.

Sarah Clark

Teacher Sarah Clark

“Sarah Clark was the teacher every kid wanted for sixth grade — just strict enough that the classroom never fell into free-for-all, just cool enough so that class time was never too predictable,” remembered Sarah’s former student Carla Garnett. The beloved teacher was described by former student Sharon Pendana as “patient, kind, and deeply skilled at finding the workable paths between curricula and individual student understanding.” Sarah was a sixth-grade teacher at Backus Middle School in Washington, DC. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Winston-Salem State University, and her Master’s degree in Urban Learning from George Washington University. She was 65 years years old.

Hilda Taylor

Teacher Hilda E. Taylor

Sixth grade teacher Hilda  E.Taylor taught at Madeleine V. Leckie Elementary School located in Southwest Washington, DC. Hilda was a native of Sierra Leone, and came to the United States to further her education and to seek a better life for herself and her family. “She was very enthusiastic, very dedicated,” remembered Denise Sessoms, Assistant Principal. “She was always seeking new and creative learning experiences for her students. Parents looked forward to having their children in her room.” Hilda earned her Master’s degree from the University of the District of Columbia. She was 58 years old.

James Debeuneure

Teacher James Debeuneure

Educator James Debeuneure was a fifth-grade teacher at Ketcham Elementary School in Southeast Washington. James earned his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Sociology from Johnson C. Smith University in 1966. He was 45 years old when he decided he wanted to be a teacher, so he went back to college, earned his Master’s degree in Education, and inaugurated his career in the classroom. “He really loved teaching,” remembered his mother-in-law, Ruth Lea. “He would tell stories about children coming to school hungry or with weapons that he’d take off them. He was more a mentor and a friend to them than a teacher.” Ketcham Principal Romaine Thomas recalled that James often came to school early and stayed late to sponsor the student safety patrol, and that he worked tirelessly to find new material and fresh approaches for classroom assignments. “He was such a committed and dedicated teacher,” Principal Thomas said. James was 58 years old.

It must have been a comfort for the students who were also lost that day to be near their beloved teachers in their last moments. For losing their lives in the line of duty, these chalkboard heroes have had their names inscribed on the Memorial to Fallen Educators at the National Teachers Hall of Fame in Emporia, Kansas. You can read more about them at NTHF Fallen Educators.

Chalkboard Champion and Civil War heroine Charlotte Forten Grimke

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Here is a short video below by author and retired teacher Terry Lee Marzell. She describes a remarkable Civil War-era teacher, Charlotte Forten Grimke. This Chalkboard champion, born into a free Black family, went to the South to teach emancipated slaves, even though the Civil War was raging all around her. Watch to learn more:

Willa Brown Chappell: She taught Tuskegee Airmen how to fly

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Many exceptional teachers use their instructional expertise to work with students outside of the classroom. Willa Brown Chappell, the first African American woman licensed to fly in the United States, is an excellent example of this.

Willa was born January 22, 1906, in Glasgow, Kentucky. She earned her degree in education from Indiana State Teachers College in 1927. She also completed the requirements for an MBA from Northwestern University in 1937. Following her college graduation, Willa was employed as a high school teacher at Roosevelt High School in Gary, Indiana, and later as a social worker in Chicago.

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Willa Brown Chappell

Willa was always seeking challenges and adventures in her life, especially if they could be found outside the limited career fields normally open to African Americans at that time. She decided to learn to fly, studying with Cornelius R. Coffey, a certified flight instructor and expert aviation mechanic at a racially segregated airport in Chicago. Willa earned her private pilot’s license in 1938. Later, Willa and Cornelius married and founded the Coffey School of Aeronautics at Harlem Airport in Chicago, where together they trained black pilots and aviation mechanics. Willa conducted the classroom instruction and Cornelius conducted the in-flight practice.

In 1939, Willa, Cornelius, and their friend Enoch P. Waters founded the National Airmen’s Association of America. Their goal was to secure admission for Black aviation cadets into the US military. As the organization’s national secretary and the president of the Chicago branch, Willa became an activist for racial equality. She persistently lobbied the US Government for integration of Black pilots into the segregated Army Air Corps and the federal Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP), a system established by the Civil Aeronautics Authority just before the outbreak of World War II. The CPTP’s purpose was to provide a pool of civilian pilots for use during national emergencies. Willa was given the rank of an officer in this first integrated unit.

In 1948, when Congress finally voted to allow separate-but-equal participation of African Americans in civilian flight training programs, the Coffey School of Aeronautics was one of a select few private aviation schools selected for participation. Later, her flight school was selected by the US Army to provide Black trainees for the Air Corps pilot training program at the Tuskegee Institute. Willa was instrumental in training more than 200 students who went on to become Tuskegee pilots. Eventually, Willa Brown became the coordinator of war-training service for the Civil Aeronautics Authority and a member of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Women’s Advisory Board. She was the first Black female officer in the Civil Air Patrol and the first Black woman to hold a commercial pilot’s license in the United States.

This remarkable educator and pioneer aviatrix passed away on July 18, 1992. In 2010, Willa was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by the Indiana State University Alumni Association. She was inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame in her native Kentucky in 2003.

To find out more about this remarkable Chalkboard Champion, you can read a chapter about her in my book, Chalkboard Heroes, which is available on amazon.com and the website for Barnes and Noble.

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