Black History: Heroes in Education
By Stephanie Wright and Charles Wright, Special to AOL BlackVoices
Each historical and contemporary figure on our list of African-American education heroes contributed in a notable way to the promotion of positive academic values in America. Here's our list of Black History Month heroes in Education for 2005:
Mary McLeod Bethune
College founder and political adviser Mary McLeod Bethune was born in Maysville, S.C., the 15th of 17 children. McLeod worked in the cotton fields alongside her parents and siblings, but yearned to go to school. Once in school, she excelled, and with the help of a favorite teacher went to Scotia Seminary in Concord, N.C. McLeod wanted to become a missionary, but was rejected because the Presbyterians did not send black missionaries to Africa.
Known for urging others to "invest in the human soul," Bethune put her energy and time in the girls of Florida when she founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls (now Bethune-Cookman College) in 1904. She served as the college's president for more than 40 years. As president of the National Association of Colored Women, and as founder of the National Council of Negro Women in 1935, Bethune organized black women to fight for their full citizenship rights.
Bethune served as adviser to four U.S. presidents on issues regarding education and African Americans. Until her death from a heart attack, Bethune worked tirelessly to see African Americans fully incorporated into American society.
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Daniel A. Payne
Bishop, author and college president Daniel Payne was born to free parents in Charleston, S.C., in 1811. He was primarily self-educated. Upon reaching adulthood, Payne began a day school for free blacks, while secretly teaching the enslaved at night. In 1835, the state legislature forbade the education of black children and Payne was forced to close his school and move north. Payne began religious studies at a Lutheran seminary in Gettysburg, Pa., but had to leave after two years due to poor eyesight. After a prolonged illness, Payne moved to Philadelphia to teach and became active in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He became a minister in 1843, and in 1852, was elected bishop. Payne was one of the most influential bishops in AME history. He advocated an educated ministry and was responsible for the purchase of Wilberforce University. Payne became the first black president of an African-American college when he assumed the presidency of Wilberforce in 1863. He served as the president of Wilberforce for 14 years. Payne was also the denomination's historian and after 40 years in the making, completed 'The History of the AME Church' in 1891. He also penned his memoirs, 'Recollections of Seventy Years.' He died in 1893.
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www.PBS.org
Booker T. Washington
Educator, school founder and college president Booker T. Washington was born enslaved in Franklin County, Va. in 1856. Although from humble beginnings, he had such a significant influence on black America that the years between 1880 and 1915 are called the Washington era by historians. Banned from school by slavery, Washington fought to get an education while working in the coal mines after the Civil War. Hearing of a school where one could work his way through, Washington arrived at Hampton Institute in 1872 with little but the clothes on his back. Hampton trained students to be teachers and to learn a trade. Its principal, Samuel Armstrong, became Washington's mentor.
After graduating, Washington taught for a few years in his home state, but returned to Hampton to run its night school in 1879. In 1881, he went to Tuskegee, Ala., to found a school that would be based on the Hampton model. As Washington rose to fame and power, his racial philosophies, which focused on blacks uplifting themselves rather than agitating for their civil rights, drew the criticism of some African Americans. Yet, at Tuskegee Institute (now University), Washington left his legacy to the world. He died in 1915.
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W.E.B. DuBois
Educator, writer and intellectual W.E.B. DuBois was born in Great Barrington, Mass. in 1868. Educated at Fisk University, DuBois studied at the University of Berlin for two years before becoming the first African American to receive his Ph.D. from Harvard. DuBois spent over a decade as a professor at Atlanta University, authoring studies on almost every aspect of black life.
His books 'The Suppression of the African Slave Trade,' 'The Philadelphia Negro' and 'Black Reconstruction' remain essential sources in history and sociology. Instrumental in the establishment of the NAACP, DuBois served as the editor of its magazine, The Crisis, for over 25 years. As editor, he used his pen to confront racism and argue for the equality of people of color worldwide. DuBois worked to unite people of color in Africa and the Americas around the problems facing all of them through the organization of several Pan-African Conferences.
Well-known for his dispute with Booker T. Washington over tactics for achieving civil rights, DuBois was relentless in his assertion that African Americans must agitate for their rights. Harassed in the United States due to his outspoken radicalism, DuBois moved to Ghana at the end of his life and died in Accra in 1963 after becoming a Ghanaian citizen.
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Marva Collins
Educational innovator and school founder Marva Collins was born in Monroeville, Ala., in 1936. Educated in the segregated schools of the South where black students were denied access to the public library, Collins was determined to excel in school despite the circumstances. After graduating from Clark College (now Clark-Atlanta University) in 1957, Collins taught for two years in her home state before moving to Chicago.
Collins taught in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) for 14 years. Dissatisfied with the CPS standards, she opened a school out of her home in 1975. The Westside Preparatory School began with $5,000 from Collins' pension and her two children and 25 students. Collins' success at teaching children labeled "unteachable" brought her school to the notice of the press. She has been profiled on '60 Minutes' and in TIME and Newsweek magazines. Collins was also the subject of the movie, 'The Marva Collins Story,' which detailed her efforts to help inner-city children excel academically.
Convinced that "all children can learn," Marva Collins travels throughout the country helping other educators implement her method of teaching. Marva Collins Preparatory Schools have been opened in Milwaukee and in Cincinnati.
Related Link:
World Book
Benjamin Mays
Minister and college president Benjamin Mays was born in Epworth, S.C., in 1894. As a child, Mays was determined to get an education despite the sub-standard schools available to black children in the segregated south. Mays attended the high school of South Carolina State College. Confident that he could compete with white students if given the chance, he entered Bates College in Maine and graduated in 1920 with honors. He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago.
In 1921, Mays was appointed the pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Atlanta and was recruited to teach math at Morehouse College. Between 1926 and 1934, Mays held positions with the Urban League and the YMCA. In both organizations, Mays mobilized black communities to fight against segregation.
In 1934, Mays became the dean of Howard University's School of Religion. In 1940, he left Howard to assume the presidency of Morehouse College. Mays is credited with establishing the modern Morehouse. He revamped the curriculum and led it through World War II and the civil rights movement. Mays also mentored a generation of civil rights activists, including Martin Luther King Jr.
Over his long academic career, Mays authored nine books and more than 200 articles. After his retirement from Morehouse in 1967, he served as the first black president of the Atlanta School Board. He died in 1984.
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Richard T. Greener
Educator, attorney and diplomat Richard T. Greener was born in Philadelphia in 1844, but spent most of his youth in Boston. At 14, Greener dropped out of school to help to support his widowed mother. With the help of one of his employers, however, he returned to school, entering Oberlin College in 1862. Greener studied at Oberlin for two years and completed his preparatory work at Phillips Academy in 1865. He entered Harvard in 1865 and graduated with honors in 1870, becoming its first black graduate.
After graduation, Greener briefly served as a principal at the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia (later Cheney University). In 1873, Greener became professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy at the University of South Carolina. When Democrats reclaimed control of the state government in 1877, shutting down the interracial university, Greener left.
Greener began teaching at Howard University's Law School, where he became dean in 1879. After his longtime work for the Republican Party, President McKinley appointed Greener United States Consul to Bombay, India, in 1898. He was later transferred to Vladivostok, Russia. Greener retired in 1906 and lived in Chicago for the remainder of his life. He died in 1922.
Joseph Clark
School principal and public lecturer Joseph Clark was born in Rochelle, Ga., in 1939. Clark gained nationwide recognition when actor Morgan Freemen portrayed him in the movie 'Lean on Me.'
A former Army drill sergeant, Clark received his B.A. from William Paterson College and his M.A. from Seton Hall. He built his career in New Jersey, serving on the Board of Education in Paterson from 1960-1974. In 1979, Clark took his first position as a school principal. Five years later, he became the principal of East Side High School in Paterson. East Side was one of the worst high schools in the state, with a history of low test scores and unruly students. Called "Crazy Joe" by his critics, because he carried a bat around the school, Clark turned around East Side. New Jersey’s governor named East Side a model school in 1986.
Clark resigned as principal of East Side in 1991 after a history of disagreements with the school board over his disciplinary methods. Currently retired and on the public lecture circuit, Clark also spent six years working with troubled youth as director of the Essex County Detention Center in Newark, N.J.
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www.joeclarkspeaker.com
Cornel West
Educator, philosopher and public intellectual Cornel West was born in Tulsa, Okla., in 1953 and raised in Oklahoma, Kansas and California. Influenced by his Baptist upbringing and the social activism of the Black Panthers in California, West has made a career combining his academic interests with a social and political agenda.
West received his B.A. from Harvard in three years, graduating magna cum laude. He pursued his graduate studies in philosophy at Princeton University, completing his Ph.D. in 1980. West's professorial career began at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He went on to teach at Yale Divinity School. In 1988, he became the director of Princeton's African-American Studies Program, revitalizing it with the addition of world-renowned scholars like Toni Morrison. In 1993, he moved to Harvard University. After a very public dispute with Harvard's president, Lawrence Summers, West returned to Princeton University in 2002.
West is a prolific author who has written more than 10 books and is regarded by many as one of the leading philosophers in the United States. In addition to his roles as college professor and writer, West maintains an active speaking schedule making him one of the most well-known public intellectuals in the nation. He has also expanded his activities outside of the ivory tower by appearing in 'The Matrix' trilogy and producing a hip-hop album titled 'Sketches of My Culture.'
Related Link:
www.cornelwest.com
Nicholas Said
Nicholas Said was born in 1836 in the Bornou Empire in central Africa to a well-connected family. But as a young man, he was stolen into slavery by a group of Arab slave traders. He would later travel the world and end up an educator in the United States, dedicated to teaching African Americans. An adventurer and lover of different cultures, Said was fluent in at least seven languages.
The slave traders first took him to North Africa. As a slave there, he became a favorite of visiting statesmen. One Russian prince was so impressed with Said that he arranged for him to go to St. Petersburg to work for him. He later met another wealthy patron who hired him to be a valet for a trip he made to the United States. But while in New York, Said's new master skipped town and left him in a fancy hotel with an outstanding bill.
Details on Said's life are sketchy, but he stayed in the U.S., working odd jobs and wandering from city to city. He later became a French teacher and opened schools in Alabama and Detroit teaching African-American children. He died in 1882.
Related Link:
University of North Carolina
About the Authors
Stephanie Wright is an assistant professor of history at the University of West Georgia. She can be reached at lilac670@yahoo.com. Her husband, Charles Wright Jr., is Founder and CEO of School Evaluations and Management Services Inc. He can be reached at cwright@k12sems.com
Black History Month 2005