Tag Archives: Civil Rights Activists

Chalkboard Champion Septima Poinsette Clark: Activist of the Civil Rights Movement

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Chalkboard Champion and activist Septima Poinsette Clark was an integral part of the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s. Photo credit: Charleston Raconteurs

Chalkboard Champion and activist Septima Poinsette Clark was an integral part of the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s. Martin Luther King, Jr., often called her “The Mother of the Movement.” In fact, this remarkable educator earned the Martin Luther King, Jr., Award in 1970, the Living Legacy Award in 1979, and the Drum Major for Justice Award in 1987.

Septima was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on May 3, 1898. Her father was born a slave, and her mother, although born in Charleston, was raised in Haiti and never experienced slavery. After Septima graduated from high school in 1916, she didn’t have the money to finance her college education. Nevertheless, she landed a position as an elementary teacher in a school for African American Gullah children on John’s Island in South Carolina’s Sea Islands. By 1919, Septima returned to Charleston to teach sixth grade at Avery Normal Institute, a private academy for Black children. Before long, Septima became involved with the Charleston’s chapter of the NAACP, which inaugurated her involvement in Civil Rights activities. In the 1940s, Septima was finally able to return to school, taking summer school courses to earn her college degree. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Benedict College and her Master’s from Hampton University.

In the 1950s Septima found herself working at the Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tennessee. She was instrumental in fighting against Jim Crow laws by organizing citizenship schools to teach underprivileged African Americans basic literacy skills, voter registration techniques, and the history of the Movement. At Highlander, Septima served as the director of workshops, trained teachers, and recruited students.One of the participants in her workshops was Rosa Parks. Shortly after participating in the Highlander workshops, Rosa helped launch the now-famous Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Septima Clark passed away on John’s Island on December 15, 1987, of natural causes. This talented and dedicated teacher was 89 years old.

We celebrate MLK: A towering figure in American history

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was a towering figure in American history. In May, 2021, author Terry Lee Marzell visited the memorial erected to honor this Civil Rights icon, erected in Washington, DC. Photo credit: Hal Marzell

The annual celebration of Martin Luther King Day is always a somber day for me. As a child of the 1960’s, I was just 13 years old when the icon was assassinated in 1968.  Before his death, I remember watching televised speeches from the beloved minister and revered Civil Rights leader, who called for the fair and equitable treatment of all American citizens, regardless of skin color. As a speaker, MLK was mesmerizing.

Like many young teenagers, I was at an age when I was developing an acute sense of fairness and justice—not just for myself, but for all people—and an awareness that as a society there was a great deal of work to be done in this area, even in a country so great as America. I was becoming a socially conscious being. MLK’s message of resonated, not only with me, but also for millions of people of all ages. Like millions of American citizens throughout our country, his murder hit me hard.

As an educator, I was often given the opportunity to lead my students in a study of MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech. His employment of repetition, metaphor, simile, and analogy are as wonderful as his oratorical skills. This speech is a delight to the English teacher.

MLK was a towering figure in American history, and the memorial erected in Washington, DC, to honor this amazing historical figure depicts this. I visited the monument in May, 2021. I love this monument, which concretely shows the unfinished nature of MLK’s work. There is still a great deal of work to be done.

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.