Tag Archives: African American Teachers

Celebrating Black History Month: Teacher Lucy Addison

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Lucy Addison of Virginia: For her many contributions to education this amazing woman has been honored as one of Virginia’s Women in History.

There have been many fine African American educators in American history. One of these is Lucy Addison, a teacher and principal from Roanoke, Virginia. For her many contributions to education, this amazing woman has been honored as one of Virginia’s Women in History.

Lucy was born the daughter of slaves in Upperville, Fauquier County, Virginia, on Dec. 8, 1861. Once her family was emancipated, Lucy’s father purchased land and established a farm. Lucy enrolled in the local school.

As a young woman, Lucy attended the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia. The Institute was a private school with a reputation for offering a faculty of exceptionally talented Black educators. Lucy earned her teaching degree there in 1882. She took additional courses at Howard University, Hampton University, and the University of Pennsylvania, even though it was difficult for her to come up with the tuition money to pay for the classes.

In spite of racial prejudice, inadequate facilities, and barriers to her advancement, Lucy dedicated her life to a career in education. After she graduated, Lucy returned to her home state of Virginia where she accepted a position in Loudoun County. In 1886, she relocated to Roanoke to teach at the First Ward Colored School.

In 1917, Lucy accepted a position as the principal for the Harrison School. One of her students there remembered that she was prim and proper in appearance, but fair and approachable. The Harrison School was accredited to teach up to grade eight, but under Lucy’s direction, high school level courses were introduced into the curriculum. By 1924, the school had earned accreditation as a high school. The facility became the first school in Roanoke to offer a high school diploma to African Americans.

Lucy retired in 1927 and moved to Washington, DC. She passed away on Nov. 13, 1937, of chronic nephritis. She is interred in National Harmony Memorial Park in Landover, Maryland.

To read more about this Chalkboard Champion, see this link to Encyclopedia Virginia.

Black History Month originated by educator Carter Godwin Woodson

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Carter Godwin Woodson

Black History Month originated by educator Carter Godwin Woodson.

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 our society. But did you know that Black History Month, itself, was the brainchild of a brilliant American teacher?

Educator 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 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.

Anna Julia Cooper: Teacher, abolitionist, activist, suffragist

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Anna Julia Cooper: Teacher, abolitionist, activist, and suffragist.

There are many talented educators who have dedicated themselves to social causes. One of these was Anna Julia Cooper, an African American teacher who was also an abolitionist, activist, and suffragist.

Anna was born into slavery in Raleigh, North Carolina, circa 1858. As a young child, she developed an intense love of learning. She decided she wanted to become a teacher. In 1868, Anna garnered a scholarship to St. Augustine’s Normal School and Collegiate Institute. The school, now known as St. Augustine’s College, was founded by the local Episcopal Diocese to train teachers to educate former slaves and their families. During her years at St. Augustine’s, Anna earned a reputation as a bright and ambitious student.

In 1879, Anna enrolled at Oberlin College in Ohio. There she earned her degree in Mathematics in 1884. She was one of the first African American women to earn a degree at the school. After her graduation, Anna returned to Raleigh where she taught math, Greek, and Latin at St. Augustine’s. In 1887, she moved  to Washington, DC, to teach math  and science at the Preparatory High School for Colored Youth. Later the school was known as the M Street School, and today the institution is called Dunbar High School. The school is the largest and most prestigious public high school for African Americans in the country.

A lifelong learner, Anna studied French literature and history for several years before enrolling at Columbia University in 1914. There she pursued her Ph.D. At the time, she was also teaching full time. In 1924, Anna continued her studies at the University of Paris at the Sorbonne in France. In 1925 she successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, which explored the attitudes of the French people toward slavery during the late 18th century in France and Haiti. With this accomplishment, she was only the fourth African American woman in the US to earn a doctorate and the first Black woman from any country to do so at the Sorbonne.

To learn more about this amazing educator, click on this link for Rutgers.

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?