Tag Archives: African American Teachers

Hardworking, dedicated teacher Mazie Ann Fairfax graduated from Tuskegee University

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Elementary school teacher Mazie Ann Fairfax who earned her degree from Tuskegee University in Alabama. Photo Credit: The San Bernardino Sun

I always enjoy shining a spotlight on a hardworking and dedicated educator who has worked with students in our pubic schools. Today, I highlight Mazie Ann Fairfax, a popular elementary school teacher originally from Atlanta, Georgia.

Mazie was born in Atlanta on April 18, 1928. As a young girl, she attended Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. This was the church where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., served as a pastor from 1960 until his assassination in 1968. In fact, The church was the location of the funerals of both Dr. King and, in its later expanded sanctuary, the late Congressman John Lewis. This is also the church where current US Senator Raphael Warnock  has been pastor since 2005. The historic church building and expanded sanctuary building are located in the historic area designated as the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historical Park.

Once Mazie graduated from high school, she enrolled in Tuskegee University in Alabama. Tuskegee is a private, historically Black university located in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the Alabama Legislature. Dr. Booker T. Washington was the school’s first teacher and founding principal. The campus was designated as the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site by the National Park Service in 1974. It was there, during the struggles of the Civil Rights Movement, that Mazie earned her Bachelor’s degree.

She then relocated to California, where she earned her teaching credentials. In 1965, Mazie inaugurated her career as an educator when she accepted a position at Newman Elementary School in the Chino Unified School District. She remained in the classroom for 30 years.

Sadly, Mazie Ann Fairfax passed away at her home in Alt Loma, California, on her birthday in 2024. She was 96 years old.

 

Teacher Mary Jane Patterson: From slavery to classroom

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Mary Jane Patterson: From slavery to classroom. Photo Credit: Pubic Domain

Here is the story of a truly remarkable educator: Mary Jane Patterson. Mary Jane was born the daughter of slaves in Raleigh, North Carolina, on September 12, 1840. Her father, Henry Patterson, worked as a master mason. After Henry gained his freedom in 1852, he relocated his family north to Oberlin, Ohio.

Oberlin was a favored destination for free Blacks and fugitive slaves seeking an education because it boasted a college that was integrated and co-educational. When Mary Jane earned her Bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College in 1862, she became the first African-American woman to receive a degree from an established American college.

After earning her degree, Mary Jane taught for a short time in Chillicothe, Ohio, before moving to Philadelphia to work at the Institute for Colored Youth, a college preparatory school for African Americans. She taught there for five years. In 1869, the young teacher moved to Washington, DC, where she eventually became the principal of the Preparatory High School for Colored Youth. That school was later renamed M Street High School, and today the facility is called Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School.

Mary Jane was the first African-American high school principal in Washington, DC. She is still remembered today for her strong, forceful personality, and for increasing her school’s enrollment from fewer than 50 students to 172 students. During her tenure there, she also initiated high school commencements and a teacher-training department.

In addition to her accomplishments in the school, Mary Jane was a part of the Colored Woman’s League of Washington, DC, an organization committed to women’s rights. The group focused on training women to become kindergarten teachers, rescue work, and classes for industrial schools and homemaking.

This remarkable educator passed away September 24, 1894, at her home in Washington, DC. She was only 54 years old. Her home at 1532 15th Street, NW, is part of the Washington, DC’s historic walking tour.

To read more about the remarkable Mary Jane Patterson click on this link to BlackPast.

Middle school teacher Monica Galloway garners 2024 VFW honor

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It is always my pleasure to shine a spotlight on an outstanding classroom teacher who has also served in the United States Armed Forces. Today, I spotlight Monica Galloway, a middle school teacher in Laurel, Maryland. She has garnered a 2024 Smart/Maher National Citizenship Education Award from the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars).

Middle school teacher Monica Galloway, a US Army veteran, has garnered a 2024 Smart/Maher National Citizenship Education Award from the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). Photo credit: VFW

Monica, a United States Army veteran, works as a sixth grade math teacher at Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School in Laurel, Maryland. Her consideration for the award was sponsored by the J. Paul Duke Jr. Memorial VFW Post 9376 in Clinton, Maryland. Monica was selected for her dedication to increasing participation in her county’s Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC). Additionally, she has been lauded for establishing a program known as Immigrant Experiences, and instructional program to help promote diversity and build stronger, culturally responsive, supportive classrooms.

Each year, the VFW selects one elementary, one middle school, and one high school teacher to receive the Smart/Maher VFW National Citizenship Education Teacher award. The honor recognizes outstanding teachers for their exceptional commitment to teaching Americanism and patriotism to their students through promoting civic responsibility, flag etiquette, and patriotism in the classroom. The award was established in 1999 and named after former VFW National Commander John Smart and retired VFW Quartermaster General Larry Maher. Monica will be presented with a check for $1,000 which she can use for professional development and $1,000 for her school during the 125th VFW National Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, July 27-Aug. 1, 2024.

To read more, click on this link to VFW website.

Retired educator Lenton Malry served in the NM House of Reps

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Retired teacher and administrator Lenton Malry served his community as a member of the New Mexico House of Representatives. Photo Credit: History Makers

Many outstanding educators also serve their communities as politicians. One of these is Lenton Malry, a retired teacher and administrator from New Mexico who once served in his state’s House of Representatives.

Lenton was born on Sept 31, 1931, in Keithville, Louisiana, the son of farmers. In 1948, he graduated from Central Colored High School. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Education from Louisiana’s Grambling College in 1952. In 1957, Lenton earned his Master’s degree from Texas College in Tyler, Texas. In 1968, he completed the requirements for his PhD from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. In fact, he was the first African American to earn a PhD from that institution.

Lenton is also a US veteran. After he earned his Bachelor’s degree, he enlisted in the US Air Force, where he served in the Education Office at RAF West Drayton. The base is located in the London borough of Hillingdon, which served as the main center for military air traffic control in the United Kingdom at the time.

The former military man inaugurated his career as an elementary school educator at Douglas High School in Sherman, Texas. Later he worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at the Kinlichee School on the Navajo Nation reservation in Arizona, and later in the Gallup-McKinley County School District in New Mexico.

In 1962, Lenton moved to the secondary level when he accepted a position at Lincoln Junior High in Albuquerque. Two years later, he was named the principal of John Marshall Elementary School, and four years after that, he served at La Mesa Elementary School. From 1975 until his retirement in 1987, Lenton served as the Equal Opportunity Director for the Albuquerque School District. Interestingly, Lenton was the first African American man to teach in New Mexico, and the first to serve as a principal in the Albuquerque district.

Once he completed retired, Lenton decided to go into politics. He was elected on the Democratic ticket to the New Mexico House of Representatives. He served in that body from 1969 to 1979. While there, he advocated for better resources for public education and for universal kindergarten.

In 2016, Lenton became a published author, when his autobiography, Let’s Roll this Train, was released by the University of New Mexico Press. This volume earned him the Father Thomas Steele History Award from New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards in 2017.

This was not the only recognition Lenton earned.  He received the University of New Mexico’s Living Legend Award in 2007, and he was inducted into Grambling State University’s Hall of Fame in 2007.

Lenton Malry: A true Chalkboard Champion.

Oklahoma teacher and social activist Maude Brockway

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Oklahoma teacher and social activist Maude Brockway taught former enslaved people and Native Americans. Photo Credit: Public Domain

Often times, hardworking educators dedicate their energy and talent to the improvement of social conditions for others. Maude Brockway, an African American teacher from Oklahoma, is one of these. As a social activist, she taught former enslaved people and Native Americans.

Maude was born on February 28, 1876, in Clark County, Arkansas. She was raised in Curtis, where she attended the Arkadelphia Presbyterian Academy, an elementary and secondary school founded to educate the children for former enslaved people. The school was operated under the auspices of the Presbyterian Board of Missions for Freedmen. Later Maude enrolled at Arkansas Baptist College located in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Once she completed her education, Maude moved to Indian Territory in Oklahoma, where she worked as a teacher in Ardmore and Berwyn in the Chickasaw Nation. Later she opened a hat-making business. In 1910, Maude relocated to Oklahoma City, then still part of the Oklahoma Territory. There she became involved in an activist movement that furthered the interests of African American citizens in the city. She was particularly active in the Black Clubwomen’s Movement in her area. This movement took place throughout the United States, functioning under the founding philosophy that women had a moral duty and responsibility to transform public policy.

As part of her work as an activist, Maude founded the Oklahoma Training School for Women and Girls in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. This school was later known as the Drusilla Dunjee Houston Training School. Later she established the Brockway Community Center in Oklahoma City. The center offered training courses, well-baby clinics, a daycare center, and a women’s health center which included a birth control clinic.

Sadly, Maude Brockway succumbed to a heart attack on October 24, 1959, in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, while attending a the state convention of the Women’s Auxiliary of the state Baptist Convention. At the time, the Chalkboard Champion was 83 years old. To read more about her, see this link to The Black Dispatch.