Tag Archives: Civil Rights Activists

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.

Marva Collins: From One-Room School House to Innovative Educator

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Many talented educators come from humble backgrounds, yet manage to make the most of their modest beginnings. Such is the case with Marva Collins, a Chicago educator who earned national recognition for her innovative teaching methods.

Marva Delores Knight was born August 31, 1936, in Monroeville, Alabama, the first of two daughters born to businessman Henry and Bessie (Nettles) Knight. Raised in the heart of the segregated South, Marva attended a one-room school house and learned first-hand about the substandard educational opportunities offered to African American students. Nevertheless, her father expected her to study hard and succeed.

As a young woman, Marva attended Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia. After college, she taught school for two years. In 1959, the young woman moved to Chicago, Illinois, where she met and married draftsman Clarence Collins. The couple had three children. For the next 14 years, while raising her family, Marva worked as a substitute teacher in the Chicago School District.

Marva became concerned with youngsters she believed were not being served well by the school system, so in 1975 she withdrew $5,000 from her retirement account and founded a private school on the second floor of her home in the Chicago neighborhood of Garfield Park. Thus was born the Westside Preparatory School. Only a few students enrolled, but the dedicated educator resolved that her school would be open to any student who was not succeeding in the larger school systems, particularly low-income children, and those who’d been diagnosed with irremediable learning disabilities. At the end of the first year of the school’s operation, every student enrolled in Westside Prep earned test scores significantly higher than they had scored in previous years.

Marva’s methods became known as the Collins Method. Her program centered on phonics, math, reading, Language Arts, and the classics. She was also a big believer in the Socratic Method, which emphasizes learning through asking questions and engaging in dialogue with peers. “The essence of teaching is to make learning contagious, to have one idea spark another,” Marva once said.

The talented educator and her innovative school quickly became a national story, featured in stories in the magazines Time and Newsweek and in television news programs 60 Minutes and Good Morning America. In 1982, the story of Marva’s life and school were the subjects of a television movie starring powerhouse actors Cicely Tyson and Morgan Freeman.

For her pioneering teaching methods, Marva was honored with the Watson Washburn Award from the Reading Reform Foundation (1978), the Jefferson Award for Public Service (1981) and the Humanitarian Award for Excellence. Marva also received the first Lifetime Achievement Award from the Monroe County Heritage Association during Black History Month (1994). In addition, she was awarded honorary doctorates from Amherst, Dartmouth, and Notre Dame. President George W. Bush honored the chalkboard champion with the National Humanities Medal (2004). To read more about this amazing teacher, click on the link for www.biography.com or the link For the Kids’ Sake.

Marva Collins died of natural causes on June 24, 2015, in Beaufort County, South Carolina. She was 78 years old.

Chalkboard Champion Ruth Clausen was also an honored conservationist

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There are many examples of fine educators who have made significant achievements in the political realm. One such educator was Ruth Chickering Clausen, an English teacher from Wisconsin who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to serve in the US Department of Energy. Ruth was born in 1922 in Bruce, Rusk County, Wisconsin. After her 1938 graduation from high school in Eau Clair at the age of 15, Ruth enrolled at the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire. She graduated in 1945 with a degree in secondary education. At about that time, Ruth married her husband, Donald Clusen, a teacher at the state reformatory. The couple settled in Green Bay, and Ruth accepted a teaching position as an instructor of English and speech. In Green Bay, Ruth joined the League of Women Voters, serving as their environmental chairperson for eight years. She served as the League’s national president from 1974-1978. During this time, Ruth organized the first voter-sponsored presidential debates between candidates Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, the first nationally televised presidential debates since 1960. Her performance during these debates made Ruth so recognizable that she was once spoofed by Lily Tomlin in an episode of Saturday Night Live. Following the election, President Carter appointed Ruth the Assistant Secretary of Energy for the Environment in the US Department of Energy. During this time, she ensured the passage of the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act. From 1978-1981, Ruth was selected to be a member of the US delegation to the first United Nations Conference on Women in Mexico City. After leaving government service, Ruth returned to the field of education, serving on the Board of Regents for the University of Wisconsin from 1983-1992. For her impressive achievements, Ruth was named Woman of the Year by the Ladies Home Journal in 1977. In 1978, she was honored as the International Conservationist of the Year by the National Wildlife Federation. She has also been inducted into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame in 2001. This chalkboard champion passed away on March 14, 2005, in Bellevue, Wisconsin, from complications from Alzheimer’s. She was 82 years old. She is interred in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

Teacher, feminist, and environmental activist Ruth Chickering Clusen

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Clusen_9Throughout our history, many accomplished educators have also distinguished themselves as civic leaders and political activists. Such is certainly the case with Ruth Chickering Clusen, a high school teacher who also served as the president of the League of Women Voters and as an assistant secretary in the US Energy Department.

Ruth Chickering was born in 1922 in the little town of Bruce, Rusk County, Wisconsin. Upon her high school graduation from Eau Claire, she enrolled at the University of Wisconsin, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in secondary education. Even before graduating from college, Ruth was working as a teacher. She spent her first two years teaching on the Blackfoot Indian Reservation in Montana, and she taught in public schools in the Green Bay area from 1947 to 1958.

Ruth met her future husband, Donald Clusen, when he was interviewed by her father for a teaching position at the old Wisconsin School for Boys in Waukesha County.They married a few years later, and settled with their two daughters in Green Bay, where Donald had accepted a position as a teacher at the state reformatory.

Ruth served as the president of the League of Woman Voters. She served in this capacity from 1974 to 1978. During those years, Ruth worked to bring environmental issues to national attention. She was especially concerned with water purity, particularly the condition of Green Bay, where water pollution was pervasive. Ruth also campaigned for women’s rights, working tirelessly but unsuccessfully to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. During the election year, she moderated debates between candidates Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford.

Once Carter was elected president, he appointed Ruth Assistant Secretary of Energy, a position she held from 1978 to 1981. There she worked to reduced fossil fuel consumption at the Energy Department. For her efforts, Ruth was inducted into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame in 2001.

After leaving the Energy Department, Ruth returned to her roots as an educator. She became a member of the Board of Regents for the University of Wisconsin, where she worked from 1983 to 1992.

This chalkboard champion passed away March 14, 2005, in Bellevue, Wisconsin, from complications due to Alzheimer’s Disease. She was 82 years old.