Tag Archives: African American Teachers

Roanoke’s Lucy Addison: From Slavery to Honor as a Virginia State Woman in History

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There are many examples of African American educators who have made an indelible mark on their communities through their tireless and selfless work in schools. One such amazing teacher is Lucy Addison, a public school teacher from Roanoke, Virginia.

Lucy was born the daughter of slaves in Upperville, Fauquier County, Virginia, on December 8, 1861. After her parents were emancipated by the Civil War, her father purchased a farm where he raised his family. As a young girl, Lucy attended the Institute for Colored Youth, a private school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that boasted an entirely African American faculty. She graduated with her teaching degree in 1882.

Lucy began her teaching career in Loudoun County, Virginia. In 1886, she transferred to First Ward Colored School in Roanoke, Virginia. The following year, the principal of the school passed away, and for the next year Lucy served as the interim director. She continued in this role until 1888, when a new school was built and a male principal hired. Lucy then served as both a teacher and an assistant principal for the school in the decade that followed. Miss Addison, as she was known, was prim and proper in appearance, but all considered her fair and approachable. 

In 1918, the veteran teacher was named the principal of the newly-built Harrison School, which at that time offered classes only through the eighth grade. In those years, Roanoke’s African American students were not able to earn a high school diploma. By gradually introducing new coursework, Lucy eventually created a full high-school curriculum. The State Board of Education recognized her tireless efforts in 1924 by accrediting the Harrison School as a secondary school.

Lucy retired from the teaching profession in 1927 and moved to Washington, DC. In January, 1928, the Roanoke City School Board announced that a new high school for African Americans would be named in the former educator’s honor. On April 19, 1929, Lucy attended the formal opening of Lucy Addison High School, the first public building named for one of Roanoke’s own citizens. Lucy passed away from chronic nephritis on November 13, 1937, in Washington, DC. She was 75 years old. In 2011, this remarkable educator was honored by the Library of Virginia as one of the state’s Women in History.

To read more about Lucy Addison, see Virginia Women in History or Encyclopedia Virginia.

Clara Belle Williams: First in the Hearts of New Mexico State University

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Many African American teachers are distinguished for their firsts. One of these is Clara Belle Williams, a beloved New Mexico educator who was the first Black student to graduate from New Mexico State University (NMSU).

Clara Belle Drisdale was born in Plum, Texas, in October 29, 1885. As a young woman, she attended Prairie View Normal and Independent College in Prairie View, Texas. The institution is now known as Prairie View A & M University. A brilliant and diligent student, Clara Belle was named valedictorian of her graduating class in 1908.

After her graduation from college, Clara Belle accepted a teaching position at Booker T. Washington Elementary School in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where she taught for more than 20 years. During this time, Las Cruces public schools were segregated. While teaching in 1928, she enrolled in summer school courses at the New Mexico College of Agriculture & Mechanic Arts (NMCA&MA). Shamefully, many of her professors would not allow her inside the classroom because she was Black. But that didn’t stop the intrepid teacher. She took notes from the hallway, while standing up. Clara Belle finally earned her Bachelor’s Degree in English from NMCA&MA in 1937. She was 51 years old at the time. Always a lifelong learner, Clara Belle continued her education well beyond her graduation date, taking graduate level classes into the 1950’s.

In 1917, Clara Belle married Jasper Williams. The union produced three sons: Jasper, James, and Charles. When her sons were grown, all three of them attended college and graduated with medical degrees.

During her lifetime, Clara Belle Williams was awarded many honors.  In 1961, New Mexico State University  named Williams Street on the main campus in her honor. Additionally, NMSU conferred an an honorary doctorate upon her in 1980. The university named Sunday, February 13, 200t, Clara Belle Williams Day. Included in the festivities was the renaming of the NMSU English Building as Clara Belle Williams Hall.

This remarkable educator passed away at the age of 108 on July 3, 1994, in Chicago, Illinois. She was interred at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. To learn more about Clara Belle, click on this link: New Mexico State University Library.

Teacher Pernella Mae Anderson: Collector of African American Slave Narratives and Folklore

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Many talented classroom teachers become known for accomplishments outside of the classroom. One such teacher is Pernella Mae Anderson, an elementary teacher who worked in Arkansas and Michigan who was also an important collector of African American folklore.

Pernella Mae Center Anderson was born April 12, 1903 in Camden, Ouachita County, Arkansas. She was the youngest of ten children born to Willis and Sallie (Washington) Center. Her father was a carpenter and her mother was a housewife. When Pernella was only two years old, her mother died, and two years later her father remarried.

When Pernella grew up, she married Theodore Haynie, Jr., (circa 1920) and the union produced three children. Between 1922-1924, the young mother attended Arkansas Baptist College, where she earned a liberal arts degree. Evidently, Pernella divorced Theodore and, on April 21, 1931, she married her second husband, William W. Anderson.

In 1935, the Pernella accepted a teaching position in Lockesburg in Sevier County, Arkansas. The following year, she went to work for the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP), an organization associated with the New Deal-era Works Progress Administration (WPA). Pernella’s work included collecting oral histories, some of which were published in the seventeen-volume Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves (1941). Additionally, she collected the folk stories of Black residents ranging in age from 19 to 92. Pernella was one of only two African Americans hired to do this work.

A lifelong learner, Pernella went back to school in 1944 to earn her teaching certificate, and then she completed the requirements for her Bachelor’s in Education from Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana. From 1953-1955, Pernella taught school at Carver Elementary School in El Dorado in Arkansas’ Union County. In 1955, Pernella moved to Detroit, Michigan, and taught in Detroit public schools until the conclusion of her career.

This talented teacher and folklorist passed away on March 5, 1980, in Detroit. She is interred in Westlawn Cemetery in the town of Wayne, Wayne County, Michigan.

You can read more about this remarkable educator at this link: Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. To learn more about the Federal Writers’ Project, click on this link: FWP at the Library of Congress.

Meet Memphis Teacher Michael Scruggs: “You have everything it takes to be #1”

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Meet high school social studies teacher Michael Scruggs from Memphis, Tennessee. He is such an inspiration to his students! Every day he begins his classes with a motivational mantra such as, “You have everything it takes to be #1.”

This passionate chalkboard champion was featured last June in an episode of the Ellen DeGeneres Show. View the video below to see him in action, and to meet one of his former students.

 

 

Kentucky’s Lyman T. Johnson: Educator and Civil Rights Activist

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I am always eager to share stories about passionate teachers who have dedicated their talent and influence to compelling social causes. One of these is Lyman Tefft Johnson, a high school teacher who worked towards racial justice during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s.

Lyman was born on June 12, 1906, in Columbia, Tennessee, the eighth of nine children born to Robert and Mary (Dew) Johnson. He was the grandson of former slaves.

In 1926, at the age of 20, Lyman earned  his high diploma from the preparatory division of Knoxville College, a historically black institution in Knoxville, Tennessee. In 1930, Lyman earned his bachelor’s degree in Greek from Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia, and the following year he completed the requirements for his master’s degree in history from the University of Michigan in Detroit, Michigan.

Once he completed his education, Lyman accepted a position as a teacher of history, economy, and mathematics at Central High School in Louisville, Kentucky. Lyman had already been teaching for 16 years when he won a legal case to integrate the University of Kentucky in 1949, a full five years before the US Supreme Court made its famous 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education ruling that outlawed segregation in public schools.

Lyman taught at Central High until 1966, then spent seven years working in the Jefferson County Public Schools as an assistant principal. During these years, he continued his civil rights work, leading efforts to integrate local neighborhoods, swimming pools, schools, and restaurants. He was also a major force behind a fight for equal pay for his both black and white teachers in his district. In addition, Lyman headed the Louisville Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for six years.

In all, Lyman devoted 34 years of his life as an educator. For his work as a teacher and civil rights activist, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Kentucky (1979), the Governor’s Distinguished Service Medallion for Volunteerism (1995), and the City of Louisville’s first Freedom Award (1988). Also, a Louisville school was renamed in his honor. In 1980, Parkland Junior High School was designated Lyman T. Johnson Middle School. This amazing chalkboard champion passed away on October 3, 1997. He was 91 years old.

To learn more about this amazing teacher and civil rights activist, click on Lyman T. Johnson Obituary. You might also want to read a biography of him written by Professor Emeritus Wade Hall of Bellarmine University entitled The Rest of the Dream: The Black Odyssey of Lyman T. Johnson.