Tag Archives: Elementary Teachers

Emily Griffith: Founder of Denver’s Opportunity School

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Emily Griffith

Emily Griffith, teacher and founder of Denver’s Opportunity School, often wore hats created by students in the school’s millinery classes.

There aren’t many educators who are so revered their portrait hangs in a state capitol building, but one who does is teacher Emily Griffith of Colorado.

Emily was born on February 10, 1868, near Cincinnatti, Hamilton County, Ohio. Even at a young age, Emily knew she wanted to be a teacher. However, because her father often changed professions and frequently moved the family from state to state, and because she was expected to go to work at a young age to help support the family, Emily didn’t have much opportunity to earn a formal education.

Nevertheless, in spite of her youth, lack of formal education, and inexperience, Emily managed to convince the school board at Broken Bow, Oklahoma, she was capable enough to teach. The teenager began her teaching career in the sod schoolhouse she had briefly attended herself. How long she taught there is not known for certain, but it is estimated to be between eight and eleven years.

In 1895, Emily moved with her parents to Denver, Colorado. There she accepted a position as a long-term substitute sixth grade teacher at Central School. The following year she secured a full-time position. The students that attended Central School came from impoverished immigrants from many countries, and Emily could see that her kids’ parents needed help to learn math and how to read and write in English. Emily reasoned that it was just as important to offer educational opportunities to adults as it was to offer them to children.

In 1904, Emily was appointed the Assistant State Superintendent of the Colorado Education Department, a position she held for four years. When her term expired, the veteran teacher served a two-year stint as an eighth grade teacher at the Twenty-Fourth Street School in the Five Points neighborhood of Denver. In 1910, she garnered the position of Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction, where she served another four-year term. After the end of this appointment, Emily once again taught at the Twenty-Fourth Street School, and before long, she became the school’s principal.

In 1916, Emily inaugurated a radical progressive experiment, a nontraditional school open from early morning until midnight, available to “All Who Wish to Learn,” including adults and working youngsters. The school offered courses the students deemed useful, such as English as a second language, American citizenship, mathematics, millinery, auto repair, cooking, carpentry, sewing, needlework, typewriting, and telegraphy. Instruction was individualized, and students could attend free of charge. When Emily became aware that some of her younger students had no time or money to eat, she organized free soup to be served. After 17 years, Emily retired from her work at the Opportunity School in 1933, but her years of service were not over. For the next 12 years, she served on the State Board of Vocational Education.

After Emily completed her public service, she and her sister, Florence, retired to a rustic cabin located in Pinecliffe, Boulder County, Colorado. Sadly, on June 18, 1947, the two sisters were found murdered in their home. Authorities have never been able to prove with certainty who the murderer was.

Emily Griffith

The portrait of Emily Griffith in the Denver State Capitol building.

For her tireless work in public schools, Emily garnered many honors, both during her lifetime and after. In 1911, she was recognized with a diploma and two Bachelor’s of Pedagogy degrees from the Colorado State Normal School and Teachers College in Greeley, Colorado, an institution now known as University of Northern Colorado. In 1976, a stained glass portrait of Emily was dedicated in the Colorado State Capitol. In 1985, Emily was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame, and in 2000 she was recognized with the Mayor Wellington Webb Millennium Award for Denver’s Most Useful Citizen.

Emily Griffith: truly a Chalkboard Champion.

Sekou Biddle: Talented elementary school teacher and politician from Washington, DC

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Sekou Biddle

Sekou Biddle: Talented elementary school teacher and politician from Washington, DC

There are many fine examples of talented classroom teachers who go on to become influential in local politics. One such teacher is Sekou Biddle, an elementary school teacher and politician from Washington, DC.

Sekou was born and raised in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, DC. His parents, who both worked for the federal government, stressed the importance of education, and they made sure Sekou went to quality public schools. The youngster attended Woodrow Wilson Senior High School in Tenleytown, a historic neighborhood in Northwest, DC. There he played sports, including football, basketball, and crew. He also dated the valedictorian, whom he later married.

Following his high school graduation, Sekou attended Morehouse College, where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.

Once he earned his degree, Sekou accepted a position as a fifth and sixth grade teacher at an elementary school in the Bronx borough of New York City. The job fulfilled his obligation to the Teach for American program. Later, Sekou accepted a teaching position at an elementary school at Atlanta, Georgia. In 2005, he moved back to Washington, DC, where he taught math for the Knowledge is Power Program. Eventually he was named the Director of Community Outreach for the Knowledge is Power organization.

When he decided to throw his hat into the political ring, Sekou ran for and won a seat on the District of Columbia State Board of Education. He served in that capacity for four years. When his term expired, he became the Executive Director of Jumpstart for Young Children, a nonprofit organization that prepares youngsters to enter elementary school. He worked there for four years. Since 2012, Sekou has been employed as the vice president of the United Negro College Fund, where he oversees the advocacy platform that builds coalitions and supports education reforms.

Give an Inspirational Book to Dad on Father’s Day

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Give an inspirational book to Dad on Father’s Day! If he is an educator. a history buff, or an avid reader, I can recommend two great choices: Chalkboard Champions and Chalkboard Heroes.

Chalkboard Champions presents stories of 12 gifted and dedicated teachers who worked with some of America’s most disenfranchised and disadvantaged students.  Among the captivating stories included is that of Charlotte Forten Grimke, an African American born into freedom in the North, who during the Civil War volunteered to teach emancipated slaves in a South Carolina school established just behind the battle lines. There’s the gripping eyewitness account of the Wounded Knee Massacre by teacher Elaine Goodale Eastman, the talented New England child poet who founded a school for Sioux Indians on a south Dakota reservation. There’s the story of Leonard Covello, the Italian immigrant turned school teacher who enlisted in the US Army during World War I to fight alongside his students, and educator Mary Tsukamoto, imprisoned in a World War II Japanese internment camp.

Then there’s Mississippi Freedom Summer teacher Sandra Adickes who, together with her students, defied the Jim Crow laws of the South and integrated the Hattiesburg Public Library. And Clara Comstock, who found homes for thousands of Orphan Train riders. And what collection about remarkable teachers would be complete without a discussion of Anne Sullivan Macy, the teacher of Helen Keller, and the dedication of Jaime Escalante, the East LA educator who proved to a skeptical establishment that inner city Latino youths could successfully meet the demands of a rigorous curriculum.

Chalkboard Heroes shines a spotlight on courageous teachers in American history who were both exemplars of teaching and role models of society. There are the veterans, such as Henry Alvin Cameron, who fought in World War I, and Francis Wayland Parker, a Civil War veteran. There are the social reformers who put themselves at risk to fight for improved conditions and better lives for disenfranchised citizens, such as Dolores Huerta, the champion of migrant farm workers; Robert Parris Moses, the Civil Rights activist; Prudence Crandall, who defied prevailing 19th-century convention to open a school for African American girls; Carrie Chapman Catt, the suffragist; and Zitkala-Sa, who campaigned for the constitutional rights of Native Americans.

Readers also learn about the brave pioneers who took great risks to blaze a trail for others to follow, such as Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher in space; Willa Brown Chappell, the aviatrix who taught Tuskegee airmen to fly; Etta Schureman Jones, who was interned for four years in a POW camp in Japan during World War II; and Olive Mann Isbell, who established the first English school in California while the Mexican American War raged around her. And then there are the savior teachers like Dave Sanders of Columbine High School, who put their own life at risk to protect the students whose safety was entrusted to their care.

Share these stories with your Dad this Father’s Day. He’ll be pleased.

Distinguished educator and legislator Joe Ellis Brown of South Carolina

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Joe Ellis Brown

Distinguished educator and legislator Joe Ellis Brown of South Carolina.

Many terrific teachers also make excellent lawmakers. This is true of Joe Ellis Brown, an educator from South Carolina who also served in the House of Representatives for his home state.

Joe was born on May 24, 1933, in Anderson County, South Carolina. After his high school graduation, young Joe enrolled at Allen University, a private university located in Columbia, South Carolina. He was the first member of his family to go to college. Joe earned his Bachelor’s degree from Allen in 1956, and then he earned his Master’s degree at South Carolina State University in 1961.

Joe inaugurated his career as a teacher at Atlas Road Elementary School in Columbia, South Carolina. Within his first year of teaching, the talented educator was promoted to principal. In 1957, Joe was named the principal of Hopkins High School in Richland County School District in Hopkins, South Carolina. Later, he accepted a position as the principal of Hopkins Junior High School. He held this job until his retirement in 1985. In all, his service as a professional educator spanned nearly 30 years.

After he retired from teaching, Joe decided to pursue a career in public service. In 1986, he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives on the Democratic ticket. He represented District 73. While a member of the House, Joe was recognized as a stalwart supporter of public education, and he also worked toward reducing the cost of health care. In addition, he served as the Chairman of the Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee. He also served as the Chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus. His career as a legislator continued until 2006, a total of 20 years.

After leaving the House, Joe continued his practice of working for others by returning to his alma mater, Allen University, where he completed full-time volunteer work with alumni affairs, undergraduate affairs, the Student Mentoring Program, and the Legislators’ Archive Project.

Throughout his lifetime, Joe earned many accolades. He garnered the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity’s Charles W. Green Award of Merit; the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity’s Citizen of the Year Award; the Distinguished Alumni Citation of the Year Award from the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education; and an Honorary Doctorate of Arts and Humanities from Allen University. In addition, he was a life member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Arrow’s Bridge Club for Professional Men, and the Eau Claire Rotary Club, as well as many other civic and community organizations.

This amazing educator and politician passed away from natural causes at the age of 84 on January 7, 2018.

Teacher Mary Tsukamoto was incarcerated in a US internment camp during WWII

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Mary Tsukamoto

Japanese American teacher Mary Tsukamoto was incarcerated in a US internment camp during WW II.

At the start of World War II, Mary Tsukamoto was living a quiet life as the wife of a strawberry farmer in a diminuitive Japanese-American community in Florin, Northern California. When Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Empire of Japan on December 7, 1941, “a day that will live in infamy,” Mary’s quiet life was suddenly turned upside-down.

Like 120,000 other persons of Japanese descent living on the West Coast, most of them American citizens, Mary was forced into a relocation camp by the US government because her loyalty to our country was questioned. Evicted from their home, Mary, her husband, their five-year-old daughter, her elderly in-laws, her teenaged brother and sisters, and other members of her family wound up in a camp in Jerome, Arkansas, where they were incarcerated until authorities were convinced this family of farmers posed no threat to national security.

While detained in the camp, Mary became part of a prisoner-organized effort to provide meaningful educational opportunities for the imprisoned children. Mary taught speech courses for the high school students and English language classes for the elderly. Once she was released from the camp and the war was over, Mary returned to college, completed her degree, and became an elementary schoolteacher, one of the first certificated Japanese American teachers in the United States.

This intrepid teacher’s remarkable story is told in her autobiography, We the People, a volume which unfortunately is now out of print. However, with some effort, it can be found through second-hand book sellers or in some libraries (check WorldCat), and it is well worth the hunt. You can read also read her story in my first book, Chalkboard Champions, available through amazon.com.