Tag Archives: Teacher Activists

Mississippi Freedom Schools helped Southern Black Americans vote

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Freedom Schools were opened in southern states as part of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The most famous ones were established in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 1964. Photo credit: Civil Rights Teaching

The anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington today gives us the opportunity to think about the courageous and dedicated teachers, both Black and White, who tirelessly worked towards creating a more equal society in our country. Some of them dedicated their teaching expertise to teach in Freedom Schools during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, particularly during the Freedom Summer of 1964.

Freedom schools were the brainchild of New York City math teacher Bob Moses, an African American educator with unique vision. Under his direction, these alternative schools were organized and staffed by White political activists, teachers, and college students. They came from all over the United States to participate in the endeavor.

The goal of the summer program was to empower disenfranchised African American community to register to vote and to exercise their Constitutionally-guaranteed rights to political participation. Volunteers also hoped to help bridge some of the gap created by educational neglect. The neglect had long been rampant in states ruled by Jim Crow laws. Both Black and White citizens realized that only through education and participation in the democratic process could African Americans ever hope to improve their lot.

The enterprise was not without danger. On the first day of Freedom Summer, three volunteers involved in the program—Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James Chaney—disappeared. They were investigating the firebombing of the church facility in Mississippi designated for their voter recruitment activities. Six weeks later, the badly beaten and bullet-ridden bodies of the three missing men were discovered buried in an earthen dam in nearby Neshoba County, Mississippi.

To learn more about freedom schools and Freedom Summer, click on this link to the History Channel.

Amos Bronson Alcott: Progressive educator, philosopher, and reformer

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Amos Bronson Alcott was a supporter of the Progressive Movement in the early 19th century. Many of his practices are commonly implemented in schools today. Photo credit: National Park Service

In the early 19th century, the Progressive Movement was responsible for great changes in the field of education. One progressive educator from this period was Amos Bronson Alcott, a teacher, philosopher, and reformer from Connecticut.

Amos was born in 1799 in Wolcott, New Haven County, Connecticut, the self-educated son of a farmer. When he grew to manhood, he became a prominent proponent of the Transcendentalists, a philosophical movement that emphasized the value of nature and the inherent goodness of people.

Even as a young man, Amos was interested in a career as a teacher. He disliked the rote memorization, lecture, and drill so prevalent in the schools of his day. Instead, he focused on the students’ personal experiences, advocated a more conversational style of interaction with pupils, and avoided traditional corporal punishments. He was one of the very first teachers to introduce art, music, nature study, and physical education into his curriculum. He engaged his students in Socratic dialogue to bring their ideas to the forefront. He treated children as adults, and would allow the class to address disciplinary problems as a group.

In 1834, Amos founded a “progressive school,” the Temple School in Boston. Under great skepticism and criticism almost from the start, the school still managed to stayed open for six years. Eventually it was closed, not because of its unorthodox methods, but because Amos, an ardent abolitionist, had enrolled an African American girl in the predominantly white school.

In 1859, Amos returned to Connecticut, where he was appointed the superintendent of Concord Public Schools. There he revamped the curriculum by introducing calisthenics, singing, and physiology. He insisted that his teachers use the Socratic method in their classrooms. He also established the first parent-teacher association. His work inspired later educational reformers. In fact, many of his practices are commonly implemented in schools today.

Amos was also an advocate for women’s rights. This remarkable Chalkboard Champion is probably best known, however, for being the father of Louisa May Alcott, the author of the classic American novel Little Women.

Amos Bronson Alcott passed away from natural causes in 1888. To read more about him, click on this link to the National Park Service.

Clara Barton: School teacher, Civil War nurse, humanitarian, and activist

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Clara Barton was an accomplished school teacher. She was also a Civil War nurse, humanitarian, and women’s rights activist. Photo credit: National Archives

Many people have heard of the pioneering nurse and founder of the American Red Cross. But did you know that when she was a young woman she was a school teacher?

Clara was born on Dec. 25, 1821, on a farm in North Oxford, Massachusetts. Her formal schooling began when she was only three years old, When she was three years old, but even at that age she excelled in reading and spelling.

Clara studied at the Clinton Liberal Institute in Clinton, New York. There she earned her first teacher’s certificate in 1939. Even before this, when she was only 16 years old, Clara accepted a position as a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in her home town of North Oxford. There she was praised for instilling discipline in her students without the use of corporal punishment, which was prevalent in her day. Later, Clara relocated to Bordentown, New Jersey, where she opened the first free public school in the state.

Clara’s career as an educator spanned 12 years. In addition to teaching in Massachusetts and New Jersey, she also taught in schools in Canada and West Georgia. Throughout her years ion the classroom, Clara lobbied vociferously for equal pay for women and men teachers. “I may sometimes be willing to teach for nothing, but if paid at all, I shall never do a man’s work for less than a man’s pay,” she once declared.

During the American Civil War, Clara volunteered to nurse wounded soldiers in Washington, DC. Some of her patients were members of the 6th Massachusetts Militia, and a few of them were her former students. Throughout the bitter conflict, Clara worked diligently to collect and store medical supplies, clean field hospitals, apply dressings, and serve food to wounded soldiers on both the Union and Confederate sides on the front lines. She was present at some of the most fierce battles of the war. Her grateful patients called her the “Angel of the Battlefield.”

When the Civil War was over, Clara coordinated a national effort to locate soldiers who were missing in action. Through. her efforts, 22,000 soldiers who were marked “missing” were located. In 1881, she founded the American Red Cross. In 1905, she established the National First Aid Society to teach people how to give first aid and save lives even when health workers are not on the scene.

This amazing educator, nurse, humanitarian, and women’s rights activist passed away on April 12, 1912, in Glen Echo, Maryland. She was 90 years of age. In 1973, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. To read more about her, click on this link to the National Women’s History Museum.

 

GA teacher Ruth Frances Woodsmall was a global activist for women’s rights

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High School English teacher Ruth Frances Woodsmall of Georgia was a global activist for women’s rights in her day. Photo credit: Smith College

Many exceptional educators have also made significant contributions to society as a whole. One of these is Ruth Frances Woodsmall, a high school English teacher from Georgia. She is well-known as a post-World War II global activist for women’s rights.

Ruth was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on Sept. 20, 1883. She was the daughter of Harrison S. Woodsmall, a lawyer and teacher, and Mary Elizabeth Howes, an art teacher. Ruth grew up in Indiana and attended local schools. She earned her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Nebraska in 1905. She earned her Master’s degree from Wellesley in 1906.

After she earned her degrees, Ruth worked as a high school English teacher in both Nevada and Colorado from 1906 to 1917. Between 1917 and 1928 she held various positions in the YWCA, including a stint as Director of Hostess Houses in the US and in France. From 1921 to 1928, she was Executive Secretary of YWCAs in the Near East. Based in Istanbul, the former classroom teacher supervised branches in Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon. In 1923, her jurisdiction was expanded to include Egypt and Palestine. From 1935 to 1948 Ruth served as General Secretary of the World’s YWCA.

From 1949 to 1952 Ruth served as the Chief of the Women’s Affairs Section of the US High Commission for Occupied Germany. For this work she received the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of West Germany. At the same, she did extensive research on the changing status of Muslim women in the Middle East and published several important works on the subject.

In recognition of her work with women and international relations, this exceptional educator received honorary degrees from the University of Nebraska in 1945 and the University of Indiana in 1954.

Sadly, this Chalkboard Champion passed away in New York City on May 25, 1963.

Delphine Ferminear Thomas: Educator and community activist

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Educator Delphine Thomas  was nominated for the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame in appreciation for her work in the classroom and her dedication to her community.  Photo Credit: The Wiregrass Farmer

Often dedicated educators work tirelessly to make things better in their community. An excellent example of this is Delphine Thomas, a secondary level teacher who was so beloved in her community that she was nominated for the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame.

Delphine Ferminear was born on Oct. 1, 1890, in Bay Minette, Alabama. As a young woman, she graduated in 1910 from Troy State Normal School in Troy, Alabama. Today, the institution is known as Troy University. In addition to this education, Delphine completed extra courses to improve her teaching practice at the University of Alabama in the summer of 1914.

Once she completed her education, Delphine accepted a position as a high school teacher in Pike County, a rural area located in southeast Alabama. In 1913, she was named the principal of a school in the more centrally-located Edgewater, a mining community in Jefferson County near Birmingham.

Throughout her career, Delphine became a vocal advocate to improve benefits for her colleagues. She authored a paper entitled “Homes for Rural Teachers” in 1915. That same year, she was elected the Vice President of the Alabama Educational Association.  To benefit the entire community, she advocated the abolition of poll taxes, and even published papers to advance that cause.

In 1916, Delphine married Albert Thomas, a professor of mechanical engineering at Alabama Polytechnic Institute. The pair were married on the campus of the Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville, Tennessee. The union produced two children.

In 1919, Delphine was working as an assistant in the English Department of Auburn University, but by 1930, she had returned to the secondary classroom, teaching junior high school students at the Marietta Johnson School of Organic Education in Fairhope, Alabama. The progressive school, founded by educational reformer Marietta Johnson, was profiled and praised by educator John Dewey in his book Schools of Tomorrow, published in 1913. The school emphasized learning in outdoor environments and offered crafts and folk dancing in addition to traditional academic subjects.

In addition to her work in the classroom, Delphine organized both the first Girl Scout troop and the first 4-H Club programs for girls in Auburn. She was also active in local politics, the Auburn Library Board, the Alabama Congress of Parents of Teachers, and the American Red Cross. From 1941 to 1953, Delphine served on the Alabama State Personnel Board.

For all of her work as an educator and as a community activist, Delphine Ferminear Thomas was nominated for the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame in 1977. Sadly, this remarkable Chalkboard Champion passed away in a Birmingham hospital on July 22, 1963, following a short illness. She was 72 years old.