Tag Archives: Teacher Authors

NY English teacher Alice Duer Miller was also a suffragist and prolific author

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New York English teacher Alice Duer Miller was also an accomplished mathematician and prolific writer. Photo Credit: Kappa Kappa Gamma

Often teachers can be counted upon to  throw themselves into causes that benefit humanity as a whole. This is true of Alice Duer Miller, an English teacher who became a tireless suffragist.

Alice Duer was born on Staten Island, New York, on July 28, 1874. As a young girl, she enjoyed a privileged upbringing, but the fortunes of her family took a down-turn at about the time she entered college. Even though she was on a limited budget, she was able to study at Barnard College, the women’s institution of higher learning associated with Columbia University. Barnard, founded in 1889, is known as one of the Seven Sister Colleges. Alice earned her degree in 1899, and later she completed graduate courses in mathematics at Columbia. She also studied astronomy and navigation, even becoming the navigator on a friend’s yacht during one summer vacation.

In 1899, Alice married Henry Wise Miller, and the couple emigrated to Costa Rica, where they attempted to establish a rubber farm. Alas, the venture was unsuccessful, and so they returned to the United States. Alice accepted a position as an English Composition teacher at a girls school, while Henry worked at the Stock Exchange. She taught there for several years, tutoring prospective college students in mathematics on the side.

Alice’s hard work was not confined to the classroom. Alice became an ardent suffragist. She penned columns in support of the cause. She also served on the Barnard Board of Trustees from 1922 to 1942. She even co-authored a history of the school entitled Barnard College: The First Fifty Years, which was published in 1939.

Throughout her career as an educator, Alice became a prolific writer and editor. She wrote short stories, poetry, screenplays, and novels.  She published a novel called Come Out of the Kitchen in 1916, and her fiction was frequently adapted to stage and film. She also continued to publish columns, including Are Women People? and Women are People! Her verse novel, The White Cliffs, was adapted into a film. She even dabbled in acting when she appeared in a film production of Soak the Rich. Some of her pieces were published in The Saturday Evening Post, The Ladies Home Journal, and Harper’s Bazaar, and she was listed as an Advisory Editor in the very first issue of The New Yorker Magazine.

As a suffragist, Alice contributed to the cause by writing a column published in the New York Tribune where she released pro-suffrage satirical poems. Later the poems were complied into a book entitled Are Women People? A Book of Rhymes for Suffrage Times (1915). She also became an active member of the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage (CUWS).

During her lifetime, Alice earned many honors. She was made a Curtiss Scholar in Pure Science in her senior year of college, and was inducted into Kappa Kappa Gamma while a student at Barnard, and she became a member of Phi Beta Kappa in 1926. Columbia University gave her a University Medal in 1933, and conferred an honorary doctorate in 1942.

Sadly, Alice Duer Miller passed away on August 22, 1942, following a lengthy illness. She is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Morristown, New Jersey.

NC PE teacher Jeanne Swanner Robertson also was a beauty pageant winner, public speaker, and author

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PE teacher Jeanne Swanner Robertson of North Carolina was also a beauty pageant winner, public speaker, and successful author. Photo credit: The Almanac News

Many accomplished educators exhibit talents in areas outside the field of teaching. One of these was Jeanne Swanner Robertson, physical education teacher from North Carolina who was also a beauty pageant winner, public speaker, and successful author.

Jeanne was born on Sept. 21, 1943, in Boston, Massachusetts. But she was raised in the small town of Graham, North Carolina. As a child, she was exceptionally tall. In fact, by the age of 13, she had already grown to a height of 6’2″. Athletically inclined, Jeanne used her height to become an accomplished basketball player. In addition to that sport, Jeanne was a member of the cheerleading squad and was elected her high school secretary.

In 1963, when she was 19 years old, Jeanne entered the Miss North Carolina contest, where she played the ukulele and performed a comedy sketch during the talent portion of the competition. She captured the state title and, for extra measure, was named Miss Congeniality. Jeanne moved on to the Miss America contest, where she once again garnered the Miss Congeniality Award. To this day, she holds the record as the tallest contest to enter the Miss America competition.

After her reign as Miss North Carolina, Jeanne used her scholarship winnings to pay for her college tuition at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. There she majored in physical education, played college basketball, and joined the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority. She completed the requirements for her Bachelor’s degree in 1967. Once she completed her education, Jeanne accepted a position as a PE teacher in Durham, North Carolina.

After leaving the classroom, Jeanne launched a career as motivational speaker and humorist, traveling on speaking tours across the country where her wholesome brand of comedy became popular with audiences. She was also a frequent guest at the Grand Ole Opry. Over the years, Jeanne served as the National President and National Board Member for the National Speakers Association. The organization gave her many of their most prestigious awards, including the CSP (Certified Speaking Professional), the CPAE (Council of Peers Award for Excellence), Master of Influence, Philanthropist of the Year, and the coveted Cavett Award. She also earned the Toastmaster Golden Gavel in 2010. She was inducted into the National Speakers Association Speaker Hall of Fame in 1981.

As if all this were not enough, the former educator also authored four books. Humor: The Magic of Genie: Seven Potions for Developing a Sense of Humor (1989); Mayberry Humor Across the USA (1995); Don’t Let the funny Stuff Get Away (1998); and Don’t Bungee, Jump Naked, and Other Important Stuff (2020).

Although she had left the classroom many years before, Jeanne never lost her interest in supporting education. In her senior years, she and her husband Jerry both served on the Board of Trustees at Elon University. Jeanne involvement in this endeavor spanned a total of 18 years.

Sadly, Jeanne Swanner Robertson passed away on Aug. 21, 2021, in Burlington, North Carolina, following a short illness. She was 77 years old.

Herbert Parmat of NYC was also a successful author of presidential biographies

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High school social studies teacher and college professor Herbert Parmat earned acclaim as the author of many well-received biographies of American presidents. Photo Credit: The Portal to Texas History

Many talented educators have earned acclaim as accomplished authors. One of these is Herbert Parmat, a high school social studies teacher and historian who wrote many well-received biographies of American presidents. In fact, he has been described as a major historian of the American presidency and politics.

Herbert was born on Aug. 28, 1929, in New York City, the son of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. As a youngster, he attended DeWitt Clinton High School in New York, graduating in 1948. He earned his Bachelor’s degree at State University of New York, Oswego, in 1951, and his Master’s degree from Queens College in 1957. During these years, Herbert also completed a stint in the US Army, where he served from 1952 to 1954, achieving the rank of Corporal.

In the 1960s, Herbert taught social studies at North Babylon High School in Long Island, and then at Mineola High School in Mineola in Long Island. At Mineola, he served as the school’s Social Studies Department. He also taught history courses at the Graduate Center of City University of New York and at Queensborough Community College. By all accounts, Herbert was an outstanding classroom teacher, dynamic and charismatic. When he retired in 1995, the former high school teacher was named a Distinguished Professor Emeritus.

While teaching at Mineola, Herbert decided to tackle a writing project with colleague Marie B. Hecht. The pair authored their first biography, Aaron Burr: Portrait of an Ambitious·Man (1967). Together, they also wrote Never Again: A President Runsfor a Third Term: Roosevelt versus Wi/lkie, 1940 (1968). This was followed by a pioneering biography, Eisenhower and the American Crusades (1972). Next, Herbert wrote The Democrats: The Years After FDR (1976). In a return to the biography genre, he authored Jack: The Struggles of John F. Kennedy (1980) and JFK: The Presidency of John F. Kennedy (1983). Next, he penned the biographies Richard Nixon and His America (1990) and George Bush: The Life of a Lone Star Yankee (1997). His later works were Presidential Power from the New Deal to the New Right (2002) and a return to an earlier biographical subject in Richard M. Nixon: An American Enigma (2008).

This outstanding educator passed away on Jan. 25, 2017, in Newton, Massachusetts. He was 87 years old. To read more about Herbert Parmat, click on this link to History News Network.

Alabama’s Catharine Brown: Cherokee teacher and author

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Alabama’s Catharine Brown, a Cherokee who, during the early 19th century, worked as a missionary teacher, also became a celebrated author. Her memoirs were widely distributed and immensely popular.

There are many examples of Native Americans who became teachers and leaders in their community. Some have also become celebrated authors. One of these was Catharine Brown, a Cherokee who, during the early 19th century, worked as a missionary teacher and writer.

Catherine was born at the turn of the century, circa 1800, in a small village in Cherokee Indian Territory, Alabama, approximately 25 miles southeast of the Tennessee River. Her parents, Yau-nu-gung-yah-ski (“Drowned by a Bear”), known by Westerners as John Brown, and Tsa-luh, known as Sarah, held a place of prominence in their tribe.

As a young girl of about 17, Catharine attended the Brainerd Missionary School. Her progress there was impressive. In only three months, she learned to read the Bible in the English language. Then she became a tutor to younger students in the school. May 1820, Catharine accepted a position as a teacher at a school for Native Americans established at Creek Path, her home town. The school opened with 20 students, but enrollment continued to grow, as both children and their parents were eager to learn.

In 1821, Catharine left the school to nurse her brother John, who had contracted tuberculosis. Unfortunately, he did not survive. Soon after he died, Catharine began to show symptoms of the deadly disease. By 1823, her condition was so serious that she was transported by canoe to the home of a missionary doctor. But, sadly, she died on July 18, 1823. She was not older than 23.

One year after her passing, Catherine’s biography was published. The volume, entitled Memoir of Catharine Brown, A Christian Indian of the Cherokee Nation, was widely distributed and became immensely popular. Largely forgotten in the following centuries, Catharine Brown has recently been rediscovered as an influential Native American leader and writer. You can find her memoir on amazon.

African American teacher, poet, and biographer Henrietta Cordelia Ray

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African American teacher, poet, and biographer Henrietta Cordelia Ray became known for her sonnets and her ode to Abraham Lincoln.

Many excellent educators have also earned fame for their endeavors outside of the classroom. One of these was Henrietta Cordelia Ray, an African American teacher who is best known for composing a poem about Abraham Lincoln that is associated with the Freedmen’s Memorial located in Washington, DC.

Henrietta was born on Aug. 30, 1852, in New York City. Her father was Charles Bennett Ray, a blacksmith, abolitionist, and clergyman.

As a young woman, Henrietta earned her degree in pedagogy from the University of the City of New York in 1891. She also studied French, German, Greek, and Latin at the Sauvener School of Languages. Then she launched her career as a public school teacher in New York City schools. During this period, Henrietta also became active in community-building and political activism.

Henrietta gave up her position as an educator to pursue a career as a writer. One her pieces, an eight-line ode to Abraham Lincoln, was read at the unveiling of the Freedmen’s Memorial in Washington, DC, in April, 1876. At this unveiling ceremony, the prominent African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass served as the keynote speaker. In 1887, Henrietta co-authored a biography of her father with her sister, Florence. The book was entitled “Sketch of the Life of Rev. Charles B. Ray.” Henrietta also published a collection of sonnets in 1893 and a second book of poetry in 1910.  Selections from the 1910 volume were widely included in anthologies published in the early 20th century. Frequently, the subjects of her verse were nature, piety, and idealism.

In her retirement years, Henrietta returned to her original vocation of teaching. She tutored students and instructed English classes for teachers. In addition, she organized and participated in regional and national conferences for African American teachers.

Sadly, Henrietta passed away on Jan. 5, 1916. She was 63 years old.