Tag Archives: Civil Rights Activists

Jeanne Manford: The teacher with a social agenda

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Elementary school teacher Jeanne Manford gained notoriety when she marched next to her son, Morty Manford, in a 1972 gay rights parade in New York. Later she founded PFLAG, which earned her a Presidential Citizens Medal in 2012. Photo credit: SFGATE.

Many American schoolteachers have worked diligently on social causes near and dear to their own heart. One of these was Jeanne Manford, a New York elementary school teacher who worked diligently to advance the acceptance of gay and lesbian people in this country.

Jeanne was born on December 4, 1930 in Flushing, Queens, New York. After earning her Bachelor’s degree from Queens College in the late 1930’s, Jeanne accepted a position as a teacher at PS 32 in Queens. She taught fourth, fifth, and sixth grade there for 26 years.

Following a vicious attack in 1972 on her gay son, Morty, Jeanne and her husband, Jules, founded a local support group for parents of gays and lesbians. “She never thought twice about it. She fought for him,” recalled Jeanne’s daughter, Suzanne Swan. “This was a 5-foot-2, thin, blond woman who had a spine of steel. She just did what she knew to be right,” Swan continued.

Over time, the group Jeanne founded grew into the international organization known as Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, or PFLAG. It now boasts more than 350 chapters and more than 200,000 members and supporters in the United States.

Jeanne’s work on this social cause was so appreciated that she was named the Grand Marshal of New York City’s Gay Pride March in June, 1991. She was also the Grand Marshal of the first Pride Parade held in Queens, New York in 1993. President Barack Obama honored the Chalkboard Champion with a Presidential Citizens Medal in 2012.

After nearly three decades in the classroom, Jeanne retired in 1990 at the age of 70. She passed away on January 8, 2013, in Daly City, California at the age of 92.

Idaho teacher, politician, and LGBTQ activist Nicole LeFavour

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Idaho teacher, politician, and LGBTQ activist Nicole LeFavour has served in both her state’s House of Representatives and State Senate. Photo credit: Creative Commons.

Often talented classroom teachers also distinguish themselves as skillful politicians. One of these is Nicole LeFavour, an elementary school teacher and LGBTQ rights activist from Boise, Idaho, who has also served in both her state’s House of Representatives and State Senate.

Nicole was born on Feb. 8, 1964, in Colorado. She was raised in Custer County, Idaho, and as an adult established herself in Boise in 1990. Nicole earned her Bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science from UC Berkeley in 1987. She also attended San Francisco State University, where she graduated in 1988. She earned her Master’s degree in Fine Arts in Writing from the University of Montana, Missoula, in 1990. In addition, in 2010, Nicole completed a course of study from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, where she attended as the LGBTQ Leadership Fellow.

Nicole is certified to teach English, Art, Life Science, and Social Science. She inaugurated her career as an educator when she accepted a position as a fifth and sixth grade teacher at the Boise River School, where she taught in 1991. In 1996, she was working as an eighth grade teacher at Fort Boise Middle High School. Nicole has also worked as an instructor of Freshman Composition at the University of Montana from 1989 to 1990. She has taught writing to young adults and at-risk youth at The Cabin Literary Center for more than two decades, and for the past 12 years she has taught at the Writers at Harriman program.

After she left the classroom, this exemplary educator was elected on the Democratic ticket to the Idaho House of Representatives, where she represented District 19 from 2004 to 2008. While there, she served on the Committees for Environment, Energy, and Technology; Judiciary; and Revenue and Taxation. She left the House to represent District 19 in the Idaho State Senate in 2008, and served there until 2012. There she served on the Senate Committees for Education; Health and Welfare; Commerce; and Judiciary and Rules. Nicole was the first openly gay member of the Idaho legislature, and she has been an untiring activist for gay rights.

For her work as a legislator, Nicole has earned many accolades. In 2008, she was named Legislator of the Year by the Idaho State Planning Council on Mental Health. In 2001, she garnered the Women Making History Award from Boise State University Women’s Center. That same year, she earned a United Nations Human Rights Day Award by the Idaho Voices of Faith for Human Rights.

To learn more about Nicole LeFavour, see her website at http://www.4idaho.org/.

Former teacher Dolores Huerta: A formidable civil rights leader

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Former elementary school teacher and formidable civil rights leader Dolores Huerta worked tirelessly to secure better working conditions for migrant farm workers in the 1960’s. Photo credit: Public Domain.

Like many people I have heard of formidable civil rights leader Dolores Huerta. She worked tirelessly to secure better working conditions for migrant farm workers in the 1960’s. But did you know she was also once a teacher?

Dolores was born in Dawson, New Mexico, on April 10, 1930. In fact, she just celebrated her 91st birthday earlier this week. Raised in Stockton, California, Dolores graduated in 1955 with an AA and her teaching credentials from the College of the Pacific. After her college graduation, she accepted a teaching position in a rural Stockton elementary school. She had been teaching for only a short time when she realized she wanted to devote her vast energy to migrant farm workers and their families. “I couldn’t stand seeing farm worker children come to class hungry and in need of shoes,” she once explained. “I thought I could do more by organizing their parents than by trying to teach their hungry children.”

After just one year, Dolores resigned from her teaching position, determined to launch a campaign that would fight the numerous economic injustices faced by migrant agricultural workers. Joining forces with the legendary labor leader Cesar Chavez, the intrepid educator helped organize a large-scale strike against the commercial grape growers of the San Joaquin Valley, an effort which raised national awareness of the abysmal treatment of America’s agricultural workers. She also negotiated contracts which led to their improved working conditions. The rest, as they say, is history.

Although there are several fairly good juvenile biographies of this extraordinary woman, there is no definitive adult biography about her. The closest thing to it is A Dolores Huerta Reader edited by Mario T. Garcia. This book includes an informative biographical introduction by the editor, articles and book excerpts written about her, her own writings and transcripts of her speeches, and an interview with Mario Garcia. You can find A Dolores Huerta Reader on amazon. I have also included a chapter about this remarkable teacher in my second book, entitled Chalkboard Heroes.

Educator, Civil Rights activist Ida B. Kinney honored by NAACP

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California educator Ida B. Kinney and other Civil Rights activists were honored by the NAACP with stamps issued by the US Postal Service. Photo credit: US Postal Service.

Throughout our country’s history, there are many examples of classroom teachers who have also worked tirelessly for the Civil Rights of African Americans. One of these is Ida B. Kinney, a 20th-century educator from Southern California, who was among those who were honored by the NAACP with special stamps issued by the US Postal Service.

Ida was born on May 25, 1904, in Lafayette County, Arkansas. She was raised by her grandparents, who were former slaves. In 1920, when Ida was only 16 years old, she moved to California, where she lived with her mother in Santa Monica. Following her graduation from Santa Monica High School, young Ida returned to Arkansas where she attended Philander Smith College. After one year, she returned to California, where she enrolled in the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). It was there she met and married Carl Minion. The couple settled in the San Fernando Valley in 1940, where Ida completed the requirements for her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology at San Fernando Valley State College. The institution is now known as Cal State Northridge.

Because she was an African American, Ida’s application for her teaching credential was denied. She sent a petition to then California Governor Pat Brown, who ordered a credential be issued to her. She received the coveted document within ten days. Ida inaugurated her career as an educator as a substitute in Kern County. Later she worked in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

In addition to her work in the classroom, Ida became dedicated to improving conditions for African Americans. She was influential in securing access to medical treatment for Black women which had been denied them by a hospital in Van Nuys. She inaugurated a local Head Start program for children. She also worked tirelessly to secure the rights for Black workers to join the union at Lockheed Aerospace. During the remainder of her life, she joined such Civil Rights giants as Medger Evers, Rosa Parks, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to participate in marches, protests, and other activist practices.

After her retirement from the classroom, Ida was appointed to the Commission on Aging for the County of Los Angeles. She served in this position for 12 years. She was also instrumental in establishing a senior center in Pacoima, California. The facility opened in 1971. In addition, Ida played a key role in creating the Pacoima Boys & Girls Club.

On her 100th birthday, Ida B. Kinney was honored with other Civil Rights activists for her work in securing rights for African Americans. When she passed away from natural causes in Lake View Terrace, California, on Jan. 1, 2009, she was 104 years old. To read more about this Chalkboard Champion, see this obituary published by the Los Angeles Times.

 

Fannie Motley made contributions to Civil Rights Movement

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Alabama’s Fannie Motley, an elementary school teacher, made important contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. Photo credit: Encyclopedia of alabama.

Many distinguished educators, both Black and White, made important contributions to the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960’s. One such educator was elementary school teacher Fannie Motley.

Fannie Ernestine Smith was born on January 25, 1927, in Perdue Hill, Alabama, a small town near Monroeville. As a young woman, she attended all-Black Selma Baptist University from 1944-1946. There she met her future husband, D.L. Motley, a ministerial student. Fannie interrupted her education in 1949 when the couple married and had two children.

Shortly after the 1954 Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education, Fannie overcame her strong fear of reprisals from the Ku Klux Klan and enrolled in previously all-White Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. Fannie was the only African American and, frequently, the only female in her classes. She graduated from Spring Hill with honors in 1956, the first African American to do so. This was her contribution to the Civil Rights Movement.

Fannie first taught second grade at A.F. Owens School in Mobile, Alabama, but in 1963 she relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio, when her husband was given a job as the pastor of Peace Baptist Church there. In the Cincinnati public school system Fannie taught for 24 years, returning to school to complete the requirements for her Master’s degree in Guidance Education from Xavier University in 1969.

Fannie’s alma mater, Spring Hill College, established a scholarship in her name to be awarded to an individual who advances diversity on campus. On May 9, 2004, Spring Hill conferred an honorary Ph.D. in Humanities on Fannie Smith Motley in recognition of her efforts to promote diversity.

This Chalkboard Champion passed away in Fairburn, Georgia, on May 18, 2016, and was interred at Vine Street Hill Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio. To read more about her, see this biography published by the Encyclopedia of Alabama.