Tag Archives: African American Teachers

On Veterans’ Day, We Honor Our Chalkboard Champions Who Are Also Veterans

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When celebrating our nation’s veterans today, I like to remember that many of them are also Chalkboard Champions.

cameronface[1][1]I think about Henry Alvin Cameron, an African American schoolteacher who served as an officer in the United States Army during World War I. Henry taught science and coached basketball at Pearl High School in Nashville, Tennessee. At the age of 45, well past the usual age of enlistment, Henry answered the call for African Americans to serve as officers in all-black regiments that were deployed to Europe. Henry served in France and, tragically, was killed in the Battle of the Argonne Forest just days before the war ended. Henry Cameron is pictured here at right.

And then there is Braulio Alonso. Braulio began his teaching career as an instructor of physics and chemistry courses at Henry 0002910439-01-1_06-07-2010[1]B. Plant High School in Tampa, Florida, but when World War II erupted in 1941, he became part of the United States Army. He was immediately sent to officer candidate school, and later he became part of the 85th Infantry Division in North Africa. The teacher-soldier was promoted to Battery Commander for the 328th Artillery Battalion, taking an active part in the Italian campaign. He was among the first Allied soldiers to liberate Rome. By the time he was discharged from the service, Braulio had earned a Bronze Star with Cluster and a Purple Heart. This distinguished veteran is pictured here at left.

Another Chalkboard Champion is veteran LouAnne Johnson, an educator, author, journalist, and former servicewoman in the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marines. LouAnne is best known for her book My Posse Don’t Do Homework, which was adapted as the film $R05470FDangerous Minds  starring Michelle Pfeiffer in 1995, and a television series starring Annie Potts in 1996.  LouAnne enlisted in the Navy in 1971, and served at Clark Air Base in the Philippines. She served nine years on active duty, achieving the rank of Petty Officer First Class. She later transferred to the U.S. Marine Corps, where she rose to the rank of Second Lieutenant. Throughout her military service, LouAnne earned the Navy  Commendation Medal and the Air Force Achievement Award for her work as a  journalist and ​radio-television broadcaster.

After her years of service in the military, LouAnne became an educator at Carlmont High School in Belmont, California, where she began teaching reading  and writing to non-English speakers as an intern.  Two years later, she was appointed department chair of a special program for  at-risk teens. During the government evaluation of ten similar pilot programs,  LouAnne’s group was rated first in academic achievement, increased self-esteem,  and student retention. Since then, LouAnne has taught English, adult basic  education, developmental reading, and writing at high schools and colleges. LouAnne is pictured here at right.

These are but three examples of remarkable Americans who have given years of devoted service to our country in our military, and who have also given years of dedicated service to our kids as fine teachers. We thank them for all their service!

Carter Godwin Woodson: The Chalkboard Champion That Originated Black History Month

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$R6HLTM7Carter Godwin Woodson is often credited with originating annual Black History Month celebrations. He is also recognized as the first African American of slave parents to earn a Ph.D. in History. To be sure, these are noteworthy accomplishments. But there is so much more to this brilliant man’s life story than is usually publicized. Did you know that Carter was required much of his childhood to work on the family farm rather than attend school? As a child he taught himself to read using the Bible and local newspapers. He didn’t finish high school until he was 20 years old. Were you aware that he once worked as a coal miner in Fayette County, West Virginia, and then later went back there to teach school to black coal miner’s children, offering them a model for using education to get out of the mines? 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? All these biographical details and more can be found in the book Chalkboard Champions.

Charlotte Forten Grimke: She Taught Emancipated Slaves

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One ofcgrimke[1] the most heroic teachers I have ever heard of is an African American woman named Charlotte Forten Grimke. This amazing woman, who was born a free black in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on August 17, 1837, became a teacher of newly emancipated slaves in Port Royal, South Carolina, during the Civil War. After the Union Army pushed through the area, freeing the slaves as they went along, the U.S. government recognized that these newest American citizens desperately needed assistance in basic literacy skills and vocational training on how to take care of themselves. Charlotte agreed to travel to the South, despite the high risk to her own personal freedom and her rather delicate health. While the war raged on around them, she set up a school and diligently held classes for students who ranged in age from kinders to grandparents. When the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, an all-black regiment, suffered high casualties in battle at Fort Wagner on July18, 1863, Charlotte left her classroom with a substitute teacher and went to the soldiers’ aid as a nurse and letter writer at the nearby hospital where the injured had been taken.

You can read her fascinating story in her own words through her very copious journals, The Journals of Charlotte Forten Grimke, or you can read a shorter chapter about her life in my book, Chalkboard Champions. Either way, the story is a good read.

Barbara Ann Goleman: Educational Innovator and Chalkboard Champion of the 1960’s

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golepic[1]The 1960’s were a politically turbulent time in American history, a time when many chalkboard champions made significant contributions toward our social evolution. One such amazing educator was Barbara Ann Goleman.

Barbara was born and raised in Florida. She attended Florida State University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in 1952 and her master’s degree in 1954.
She began her teaching career as an English literature instructor at Miami Jackson High school in 1954.

At the beginning of her career, the school’s student body was 90% white middle-class students. In 1963, in response to the 1954 Supreme Court ruling Brown vs. Board of Education which prohibited segregation in schools, Florida began to admit black students to white schools. By 1966, the student body at Miami Jackson High was 85% African American, predominantly from impoverished families. To respond to the needs of this new student population, Barbara helped develop innovative instructional programs and demonstrated a nurturing attitude toward students. For her efforts, she was recognized with the National Teacher of the Year Award in 1969. She was the first Southerner in eighteen years to be so honored. President Richard Nixon presented the award to Barbara in a White House ceremony.

In 1975, Barbara transferred to North Miami Beach Senior High School as a teacher and staff development specialist for internship programs. Ten years later, she became an administrator for Language Arts at the District Office.

This remarkable educator retired in 1990. Barbara Goleman High School, opened in 1995, was named in her honor. It was the first school in Miami-Dade County to be named after one of its teachers.

Janie Porter Barrett: The Chalkboard Champion of Wayward Girls

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$RYOR41AThroughout the history of our country, many gifted educators have worked tirelessly on behalf of disenfranchised populations. One such educator was Janie Porter Barrett, who worked as a teacher, welfare worker, and social reformer in Virginia during the first half of the twentieth century.

Janie Porter was born in 1865 in Athens, Georgia. Her mother, Julia, was a former slave, and her father is unknown. Julia supported herself as a live-in housekeeper and seamstress. Her employers, a progressive white family, educated little Janie along with their own children, providing her with excellent basic education.

When she came of age, Janie enrolled in courses at the Hampton Institute, a private black college in Virginia, to train as an elementary school teacher. While at Hampton, the young student became involved in volunteer work, completing many community service projects. Janie graduated from the Hampton Institute in 1885.

Following her college graduation, Janie accepted her first teaching assignment in a rural school in Dawson, Georgia, and then transferred to Lucy Craft Laney’s Haines Normal and Industrial Institute in Augusta,  Georgia. In addition, she taught night school classes in the Hampton Institute from 1896 to 1899.

In 1899, the young teacher married Harris Barrett, the bookkeeper and cashier employed by the Hampton Institute, and together they had four children. Soon after she married, Janie began holding a informal  day care and sewing classes in her home. Attendance at her classes grew rapidly. Eventually these classes transformed into a club that worked to improve both home and community life for its members. This club, known as the Locust Street Social Settlement, was the first settlement house established specifically for African Americans in the country.

In 1908, Janie expanded her efforts in service to her community. She was instrumental in the organization of the Virginia State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs. She also served as the organization’s first president. The Federation launched itself into a wide range of social services, including providing children alternatives to placements in orphanages, poorhouses, or jails. The Federation raised money to establish a residential industrial school for the large number of young African American girls that were being sent to jail. They also founded a rehabilitation center, the Industrial Home for Wayward Girls, for African American female juvenile delinquents. Under Janie’s direction, the school offered academic and vocational instruction, and developed a program that emphasized self-reliance and self-discipline. Also notable was the school’s visible rewards, counseling services, close attention to individual needs, and follow-up ministerial guidance. In the 1920s, the school was rated as one of the five best schools of its kind in the country, becoming a model for its type. For this remarkable work, Janie received the William E. Harmon Award for Distinguished Achievement Among Negroes in 1929.

This amazing chalkboard champion retired from public service in 1940. She died in Hampton, Virginia, in 1948. In 1950, Janie’s training school was renamed the Janie Porter Barrett School for Girls, which today is known as the Barrett Learning Center.