Tag Archives: Civil Rights Activists

B. F. Bowles: Educator and leader of the African American community

Posted on by

Educator Benjamin Franklin Bowles earned a place in history as a leader of the African American community. Photo Credit: The St. Louis Globe-Democrat Magazine

I always enjoy sharing stories about dedicated educators who have also earned a place in history for their work as a leader of the African American community. One of these is Benjamin Franklin (B.F.) Bowles, a teacher and principal from Missouri.

B. F. was born on April 3,1869, on a farm near Cooperville in Pike County, Ohio. As a young man, he attended Wilberforce University, a private university in Wilberforce, Ohio, where he earned his degree in 1905.

After he earned his degree, B. F. relocated to Illinois, where he taught for six years in elementary schools in both DuQuoin and Metropolis. Next, he accepted a position as the principal of Lincoln High School in East St. Louis, Missouri, where he worked from 1896 to 1914. He also instructed courses at Lincoln University, a historically African American college located in Jefferson City, Missouri.

Like so many Black leaders of his day, B. F. worked to improve the lives of his community. In 1921, the Chalkboard Champion signed a petition circulated by the NAACP in support of the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill. Also, to increase opportunities for education for Black students, B. F. founded Douglass University in 1926 to offer education opportunities to Black students in segregated St. Louis. The institution offered degrees in education, law, medicine, engineering, architecture, public administration, liberal arts, fine arts, and more. B. F. operated the school until the late 1920’s, when he was compelled to turn over the leadership of the school because of declining health. Despite a change in leadership, the school remained open intermittently for two decades.

B.F. spent his entire life supporting teachers. He was a life member of the National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools. He was also a member of the St. Clair County Teachers’ Association and the East St. Louis Teachers’ Association. In addition, he served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the University Club of St. Louis.

B. F. was also an accomplished musician and composer. He could play any brass instrument from the cornet to the tuba. In fact, he authored a book on the subject: The Musician’s Manual: Technics of the Brass Instrument.

Sadly, Benjamin Franklin Bowles—educator, Black community leader, and musician—passed away on Sept. 29, 1928. He was only 59 years old. He is interred in Saint Peter’s Cemetery in Normandy, Missouri.

 

Elem teacher Constance Clayton: Philadelphia trailblazer

Posted on by

Trailblazer Constance Clayton, an elementary school teacher, became the first African American and the first woman to become the Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia. Photo Credit: The Philadelphia Tribune

There are many fine teachers who go on to positions of leaderships within their districts. They may even become trailblazers in the profession! One of these is Constance Clayton, who became the first African American and the first woman to become the Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia.

Constance was born in Philadelphia in 1933. As a youngster, she attended the city’s Girls’ High, Jay Cooke Junior High School, and Paul L. Dunbar School. After her high school graduation, she went on to earn her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Temple University in 1955 and her PhD from the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania in 1981.

Once she earned her degrees, Constance inaugurated her career in education when she accepted a position teaching fourth grade at William H. Harrison Elementary School in North Philadelphia. She spent 16 years in the classroom. Next, between 1971 to 1972, she worked for the US Department of Labor in Washington, DC, she became the director of the Women’s Bureau for the Middle Atlantic States. Her work there involved improving the status of employment equity for women. In 1973, she returned to Philadelphia, where she became the first Director, and then the Associate Superintendent, of the Early Childhood Program for the school district.

In 1982, Constance was selected for the position of Superintendent of Schools for Philadelphia. With this selection, the former classroom teacher became the first African American and the first woman to become the Superintendent of the Philadelphia schools. She served in this role for 11 years before her retirement in 1993.

In Philadelphia, the influence of this Chalkboard Champion still goes far and wide. “She has a big heart, and there are children that still remember her from when she was a teacher, an educator, and principal,” declares colleague Howard C. Stevenson, who has known Clayton for more than 20 years. “We still hear about her contributions in that regard.”

To read more about Constance Clayton, click on this link to a story about her published in the Philadelphia Tribune.

Educator Mary Bethune McLeod honored in US Capitol’s Statuary Hall

Posted on by

The newest addition to the US Capitol’s Statuary Hall is the image of educator Mary McLeod Bethune, a teacher, women’s rights activist, and Civil Rights leader in Florida. Photo Credit: US House of Representatives

Many exceptional educators have earned honors for their work in the profession, and now, one of them was singled out for recognition in the US Capitol’s Statuary Hall this month. She is Mary McLeod Bethune, an African American teacher who was was also a women’s rights activist and Civil Rights leader in Florida.

The statue of the honored educator towers at 11 feet tall and was created from marble originating from the same Tuscan quarry in the Italian Alps used by Michelangelo. The block, which originally weighed 11,500 tons, was fashioned into the image of the teacher by artist Nilda Comas of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who was selected in a national competition run by Florida’s Council on Arts and Culture in 2016. Inscribed at the foot of her statue is Mary’s famous quote: “Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it may be a diamond in the rough.”

Mary was born on July 10, 1875, to former slaves in a log cabin on a plantation in Maysville, South Carolina. She was the only one of her parents’ 17 children to be born into freedom. When the Civil War was won, Mary’s mother worked for her former owner until she could buy the land on which the McLeod family grew cotton. By nine years of age, young Mary could pick 250 pounds of cotton a day.

Even as a youngster, Mary showed an unusual interest in books and reading. However, in those days it was rare for African Americans to receive an education. Nevertheless, a charitable organization interested in providing educational opportunities for Black children established a school near Mary’s home. Her parents could scrape together only enough money to pay the tuition for one of their children, and Mary was chosen. Later, the future educator earned a scholarship to attend the Scotia Seminary, a boarding school in North Carolina. She graduated from there in 1894. She also attended Dwight Moody’s Institute for Home and Foreign Missions in Chicago, Illinois. Her studies there spanned two years.

When she grew up, Mary retained her strong desire to extend educational opportunities to other African Americans. She became a teacher in South Carolina. While there, she married fellow teacher Albertus Bethune. In 1904 Mary founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls in Daytona Beach, Florida. Beginning with five students, she helped expand the school to more than 250 students over the next few years. Today, this school is known Bethune-Cookman University.

In her later years, Mary became a close friend of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and also a trusted adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt. In recognition of her outstanding abilities, the President made her a member of his unofficial “Black Cabinet.” He also appointed her the head of the National Youth Administration in 1936. In 1937 the indefatigable educator organized a conference on the Problems of the Negro and Negro Youth, and she fought tirelessly to end discrimination and lynching. In 1940, Mary became the Vice President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Persons (NAACP), a position she held for the rest of her life. In 1945, she was appointed by President Harry Truman to be the only woman of color present at the founding meeting of the United Nations.

This celebrated educator passed away peacefully on May 18, 1955. For all her accomplishments, Mary McLeod Bethune is truly a Chalkboard Champion. It is fitting and proper that she should be honored in our nation’s Capitol. To read more about her, see this link at the website for the National Women’s History Museum.

Teacher, counselor, and Civil Rights activist Norma Snipes Marcere

Posted on by

English teacher and counselor Norma Snipes Marcere of Canton, Ohio, served as a pioneer of Civil Rights for women and people of color in her community. Photo Credit: The Repository

I always enjoy sharing stories about dedicated and forward-thinking educators who have served as pioneers of Civil Rights in their communities. Norma Snipes Marcere, a teacher and school psychologist from Ohio, was one such educator.

Norma was born on Oct. 21, 1908, in Canton, Ohio. She attended high school at Canton McKinley in 1926. After her graduation from high school, Norma worked her way through college to earn her Bachelor’s degree in 1929 in Elementary Education from Kent State University. She also earned a Master’s degree in Counseling there.

Once she completed her education, Norma applied for a teaching position in her home town of Canton. Unfortunately, a bigoted superintendent refused to hire her because she was an African American. Because of this incident, Norma declared her intention to work tirelessly for the rest of her life to advance the Civil Rights of women and people of color.

When she was denied employment in Canton, Norma went to Massillon, Ohio, where she accepted her first teaching position at Edmund A. Jones Junior High School. There she taught English. Later she moved to the Akron City School District, where she became the first African American counselor and school psychologist in the district. During her lengthy career, Norma founded Project Academic Excellence (PAX), a Saturday school run completely by volunteers to help inner-city minority students succeed in their academics. The program emphasized high expectations and tutored students in basic subjects, study skills, and ethnic cultures.

In 1976, Norma retired from the teaching profession and authored not one, but two, autobiographies. The first was ‘Round the Dining Room Table, published in 1985, and the second, The Fences Between, was published in 1989. In 1994, these autobiographies were transformed into a play by Lois DiGiacomo which was performed in front of an audience of more than 12,000 people.

The former teacher earned other accolades for her work in the classroom. In 1973, the Junior League named her their Woman of the Year. In 1980, she was awarded an honorary PhD from Walsh University in North Canton, Ohio. In 1991, she garnered the Norma Award, an honor named after Norma Sigler Atkins Rowlands. In 1998, she earned the Sister Thea Bowman Medallion from the Office for Black Catholic Ministries of the Diocese of Toledo. In 1985, the Chalkboard Champion was inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame.

Norma Snipes Marcere passed away on Aug. 20, 2004, in Louisville, Ohio. She was 95 years old.

Teacher and Civil Rights activist Idella Jones Childs

Posted on by

Teacher and Civil Rights activist Idella Jones Childs was named to the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame. Photo credit: Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame

Many dedicated educators also work towards improving society as a whole. One of these was Idella Jones Childs, an elementary school teacher from Alabama who made a significant contribution to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.

Idella was born on June 21, 1903, in Perry County, Alabama. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Alabama State University, and her teaching certificate from Lincoln Normal School. She inaugurated her career as an educator when she accepted a position to teach algebra, biology, social studies, and history in segregated Perry County schools. Her career as an educator there spanned the next  35 years.

All her life, this amazing teacher was a tireless advocate for the equality and dignity of all people. During the Civil Rights Movement, she even volunteered her home in Marion to be a meeting place for activists.

In 1982, Idella founded the Perry County Arts and Humanities Council, an organization which provided the children of her rural county with a variety of cultural experiences. She was also a member of the Perry County Retired Teachers Association, the Girl Scouts, the Marion Perry County Library Board, the Alabama Black Heritage Council.

As if all that were not enough, in 1985, she was appointed to fill an unexpired term on the Marion City Council, the first African American woman to serve on that entity. She was 79 years old at the time. In the next election, she was elected in her own right to continue in the position.

For her work in the classroom, the community, and the Civil Rights Movement, Idella earned many accolades. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter named her an honorary member of the National Commission on the International Year of the Child. In 1993, when NASA was commemorating the 30th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, she earned their Unsung Heroes Award. In addition, in her name, the Alabama Historical Commission’s Black Heritage Council distributes an annual award known as the Idella Childs Distinguished Service Award. The honor “recognizes people who have contributed to the preservation of African American historic places.” She was also inducted into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame in 2002.

Idella Jones Childs passed away at the age of 85 on August 8, 1998, in the county where she had spent so many years as a teacher. She is buried at Marion Cemetery in Marion in Perry County, Alabama.