Tag Archives: Pioneer Teachers

Lucia Rede Madrid: Pioneer Texas educator and librarian

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Lucia Rede Madrikd

Educator Lucia Rede Madrid in the Blue Room of the White House where she received presidential recognition.

There are many fine educators who have contributed to the development of America’s border-town communities. One of these was Lucia Rede Madrid, a dedicated teacher from the border town of Redford, Texas.

Lucia Rede was born in Polvo, Texas, on January 8, 1913. She was the sixth of eight children born to Eusébio Rede and Antonia Luján, who had settled in the area in 1870. When Lucia was only 12 years old, her family relocated to the tiny community of Marfa, West Texas.

Lucia was born to be a teacher. As a young girl, she helped to educate her brothers and sisters. In fact, seven of the eight Rede children became teachers. Lucia earned both her Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in Education, both from Sul Ross State University. Sul Ross is a public institution of higher learning located in Alpine, in the Big Bend region of the far western part of Texas. After earning her degrees, Lucia taught at public schools in Marfa and Redford for 23 years.

After her retirement from the classroom in 1976, the dedicated educator established a private lending library in the isolated border town of Redford in 1979. She started the library with just 25 books. By 1992, the collection included over 15,000 volumes. The institution gained national attention and still functions today as a library and museum. Current library holdings include Lucia’s personal Library Hall of Fame, a collection of portraits of individuals who were children in Redford that have gone on to successful careers as engineers, doctors, teachers, and accountants.

For her work as a pioneer educator and librarian, this chalkboard champion has garnered many accolades. She was once featured on the NBC Today Show, and a story about her was published in National Geographic in February, 1984. The story was entitled “West of Pecos.” In addition, Lucia was honored with the President’s Volunteer Service Award by President George W. Bush in 1990, and the Ronald Reagan Award for Volunteer Excellence. In 1989, Lucia was inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame.

Lucia passed away at the age of 90, but her work has not been forgotten!

Educator Anna Boyd Ellington, founding member of the Delta Gamma Fraternity

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Anna Boyd Ellington

Educator Anna Boyd Ellington, one of three founding members of the Delta Gamma Fraternity.

Teachers are among the most community-minded individuals who work to improve the lives of citizens in any community. One of these very hardworking teachers is Anna Boyd Ellington, one of three founders of the Delta Gamma Fraternity in the 1800’s.

Anna was born on January 22, 1856, in Kosciusko, Atlanta County, Mississippi. Her father was a member of the Mississippi State Legislature, and her mother was a schoolteacher. Anna taught in public schools until her marriage to Daniel W. Ellington.

In 1873, Anna and two of her colleagues founded the Delta Gamma Fraternity at the Lewis School for Girls in Oxford, Mississippi. These three educators worked tirelessly to promote among their students a sense of high ideals and standards, intellectual growth, and community service. They chose as their motto “Do Good.”

The Delta Gamma fraternity still exists today. Now an international organization, membership has grown to more than 250,000 women worldwide, with 151 collegiate chapters and more than 200 alumnae groups across the United States and Canada. Members continue to place strong emphasis on personal values and standards, academic excellence, leadership, and service.

This chalkboard champion passed away on August 12, 1907. She was only 51 years old.

Remembering the first Teacher in Space, Christa McAuliffe

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Christa McAuliffe

High school history teacher Christa McAuliffe of New Hampshire, chosen to be the first Teacher in Space.

One of the saddest days of my teaching career was the day our nation lost the first educator to go into space, New Hampshire history teacher Christa McAuliffe. In only my third year of teaching, I was so proud that a fellow teacher had been selected as the first civilian in space. I was more than a little star-struck by the professionalism, intelligence, and infectious enthusiasm of the chosen candidate, who was selected from among 11,000 other highly-qualified applicants.

During her mission in space, Christa planned to write a journal of her experiences as an astronaut from the perspective that even an ordinary citizen can take center stage in the making of history. She was to have been the perfect example of that. In addition, the intrepid educator was scheduled to perform lessons and simple scientific experiments aboard the space shuttle which would be viewed by students in classrooms all over America.
Tragically, Christa was one of seven astronauts killed when the space shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, just 73 seconds after lift-off. The journal she never got to finish was replaced by A Journal for Christa: Christa McAuliffe, Teacher in Space, written by Grace George Corrigan, Christa’s grief-stricken mother. This book is a tender tribute to an extraordinary teacher. A Journal for Christa can be ordered form amazon. I have also included a chapter about Christa McAuliffe in my second book, Chalkboard Heroes: Twelve Courageous Teachers and their Deeds of Valor, also available on amazon.

Willa Brown Chappell: The teacher of Tuskegee Airmen

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Many exceptional teachers use their instructional expertise to work with students outside of the classroom. Willa Brown Chappell, the first African American woman licensed to fly in the United States, is an excellent example of this.

Willa was born January 22, 1906, in Glasgow, Kentucky. She earned her degree in education from Indiana State Teachers College in 1927. She also completed the requirements for an MBA from Northwestern University in 1937. Following her college graduation, Willa was employed as a high school teacher at Roosevelt High School in Gary, Indiana, and later as a social worker in Chicago.

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Willa was always seeking challenges and adventures in her life, especially if they could be found outside the limited career fields normally open to African Americans at that time. She decided to learn to fly, studying with Cornelius R. Coffey, a certified flight instructor and expert aviation mechanic at a racially segregated airport in Chicago. Willa earned her private pilot’s license in 1938. Later, Willa and Cornelius married and founded the Coffey School of Aeronautics at Harlem Airport in Chicago, where together they trained black pilots and aviation mechanics. Willa conducted the classroom instruction and Cornelius conducted the in-flight practice.

In 1939, Willa, Cornelius, and their friend Enoch P. Waters founded the National Airmen’s Association of America. Their goal was to secure admission for black aviation cadets into the US military. As the organization’s national secretary and the president of the Chicago branch, Willa became an activist for racial equality. She persistently lobbied the US Government for integration of black pilots into the segregated Army Air Corps and the federal Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP), a system established by the Civil Aeronautics Authority just before the outbreak of World War II. The CPTP’s purpose was to provide a pool of civilian pilots for use during national emergencies. Willa was given the rank of an officer in this first integrated unit. In 1948, when Congress finally voted to allow separate-but-equal participation of blacks in civilian flight training programs, the Coffey School of Aeronautics was one of a select few private aviation schools selected for participation. Later, her flight school was selected by the US Army to provide black trainees for the Air Corps pilot training program at the Tuskegee Institute. Willa was instrumental in training more than 200 students who went on to become Tuskegee pilots. Eventually, Willa Brown became the coordinator of war-training service for the Civil Aeronautics Authority and a member of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Women’s Advisory Board. She was the first black female officer in the Civil Air Patrol and the first black woman to hold a commercial pilot’s license in the United States.

This remarkable educator and pioneer aviatrix passed away on July 18, 1992. In 2010, Willa was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by the Indiana State University Alumni Association. She was inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame in her native Kentucky in 2003.

To find out more about this remarkable chalkboard champion, you can read a chapter about her in my book, Chalkboard Heroes, which is available on amazon.com and the website for Barnes and Noble.

Colonel Francis Wayland Parker: Educator and Civil War Veteran

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Francis Wayland Parker

Colonel Francis Wayland Parker: Educator and Civil War Veteran

At the turn of the of the 20th century, one of the most celebrated pioneers of the progressive movement in education was Colonel Francis Wayland Parker.

In a time when modern ideas were not popular, this innovative educator promoted a philosophy that education should not emphasize standardization, rote memorization, and isolated drill. Rather, he advocated a curriculum that addressed the development of the whole student, including the child’s intellectual, physical, and moral growth. He created a model program that was strong on language development and geared towards teaching students to think and make decisions independently. Today we would recognize his strategies as teaching critical thinking skills and creative problem-solving.

Francis Parker was born on October 9, 1837, in Bedford, New Hampshire. At the tender age of 16 he became the village teacher, and when the Civil War broke out seven years later, this young educator enlisted as a private in the 4th New Hampshire Volunteer Army. It wasn’t long before he was promoted to lieutenant, then to lieutenant colonel, and then to commander. In May, 1865, Colonel Parker was captured by Confederate forces and held as a prisoner of war in North Carolina.

When the war was over, this Civil War veteran resumed his teaching career, first as a teacher, and then as a principal. In 1872, the continuously evolving educator traveled to Germany to study pedagogy at the Humboldt University of Berlin. When he returned, he became the coordinator of a highly-acclaimed teacher-training institution In Chicago, Illinois.

Colonel Parker is an American hero in so many ways, and is undoubtedly a chalkboard champion in the truest sense of the word. You can read more about this remarkable historical figure in my second book, Chalkboard Heroes: Twelve Courageous Teachers and Their Deeds of Valor, available from amazon.