Tag Archives: Teacher Activists

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.

 

Former teacher and formidable labor leader Dolores Huerta

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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 93rd 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.

Jackson Davis: He worked tirelessly for African American students

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Jackson Davis worked tirelessly to improve educational opportunities for African Americans here in the United States, and for Africans abroad. Photo Credit: Encyclopedia Virginia

Many Chalkboard Champions work tirelessly on behalf of disenfranchised groups of students. This is certainly true of Jackson Davis, a remarkable educator who devoted his entire 45-year career to improving educational opportunities for African American students here in the United States, and for Africans abroad.

Jackson was born in Cumberland County, Virginia, on Sept. 25, 1882. He attended public schools in Richmond, Virginia. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary in 1902 and his Master’s degree from Columbia University in 1908. In addition, he was awarded an honorary law degree by the University of Richmond in 1930 and another by the College of William and Mary in 1931.

Following graduation from William and Mary, Jackson was employed in a variety of high-profile positions, where he dedicated his talents to improving the lives of students. He became the principal of the public schools of Williamsburg, Virginia. He also served as the Assistant Secretary of the YMCA in Roanoke, Virginia, from 1903 to 1904. During the 1904-1905 school year, he was principal of the public schools of Marion, Virginia, followed by a stint as the Superintendent of Schools in Henrico County, Virginia from 1905 to 1909. The next year, 1909-1910, this hardworking educator served as a member of the State Board of Examiners and Inspectors for the Virginia State Board of Education, and from 1910 to 1915, this forward-thinking individual was the state agent for African-American rural schools for the Virginia State Department of Education.

In 1915, Jackson became affiliated with the General Education Board in New York, New York, as a field agent. Two years later he was transferred to New York City as the board’s general field agent, where he remained until 1929 when he was made the Assistant Director. He became the Associate Director in 1933, and the Vice President and then the Director in 1946. During his many years associated with the General Education Board, Jackson’s work was focussed on education in the Southern states, and he used his influence to improve relations and understanding between White people and African Americans. His pioneering work in promoting regional centers of education in the South tremendously significant.

Throughout his extensive career, Jackson specialized in Southern education, inter-racial problems, and education in the Belgian Congo and Liberia. In 1935 he traveled to Africa as a Carnegie visitor, and in 1944 he went again to that country as the leader of a group sent by the Foreign Missions Conference of North America, the British Conference of Missions, and the Phelps-Stokes Fund. As if all that were not enough, Jackson served as a trustee of the Phelps-Stokes Fund, an organization devoted to African American education and race relations, both in America and in Africa. He became vice president of the fund in 1940, and succeeded Anson Phelps Stokes as president in 1946.

At the time of his death in 1947, Jackson T. Davis was the President of the Board of Trustees of Booker T. Washington Institute in Liberia, the President of the New York State Colonization Society, a member of the Commission on Inter-Racial Cooperation, and of the Advisory Committee on Education in Liberia. He served as a member of the Board of Visitors of the College of William and Mary from 1913 to 1920, and as secretary of the International Education Board from 1923 to 1938. He also frequently contributed articles for publication to educational journals.

This remarkable Chalkboard Champion passed away in Cartersville, Virginia, on April 15, 1947. In 1962, Jackson Davis Elementary School in Henrico County, Virginia, was dedicated in his honor. To read more about him, see this article published on Encyclopedia Virginia.

Chloe Merrick Reed: She taught newly-liberated African Americans

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Chloe

Intrepid teacher Chloe Merrick Reed travelled from New York to Florida to teach children of newly-liberated African Americans. Photo Credit: Public Domain

In times of social and political turbulence, it is often the teachers who help with transition. Such is the case for Chloe Merrick Reed, a teacher from the Civil War period who opened a school for newly emancipated slaves.

Chloe was born in Syracuse, New York, on April 18, 1832. She became a teacher in Syracuse public schools, where she worked from 1854 to 1856. In 1863, while the Civil War was still raging, this intrepid teacher traveled to Fernandina, Florida, where she opened a school on Amelia Island to educate 55 of the children of slaves who had been liberated by the Union Army. Later she opened a home for orphans there. She was one of the first teachers to work with the Freedmen’s Bureau, a federal agency that was established to protect and assist newly-emancipated African Americans. Chloe’s work on Amelia Island is well documented. She is the only educator cited by name in Florida’s monthly education reports to the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.

On August 10, 1869, Chloe married Harrison M. Reed, who served as the governor of Florida from 1868 to 1873. Reed was the ninth governor of the state. While First Lady of Florida, Chloe campaigned for legislation that would improve education, provide aid to the poor, and address other pressing social issues. The couple had one child, a boy they named Harrison Merrick Reed.

Chloe Merrick Reed passed away on August, 5, 1897. In 2000, this remarkable teacher’s name was added to the list of “Great Floridians,” a program which recognizes men and women who served their state through philanthropy, public service, or personal or professional service, and who have enhanced the lives of Florida’s citizens.