Famous African American Teachers

Introduction: Dr. Charles K. Ross, Director, African-American Studies
The University of Mississippi

Africans, delivered to America during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, brought with them a commitment to education. This desire for learning caused them to be placed in the difficult position of forcibly learning English but not legally being taught how to read and write. Although caught in this paradox, African Americans such as Jupiter Hammon, Phillis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Mary Jane Patterson, and Booker T. Washington all had significant educational accomplishments.

Several African Americans received degrees from white institutions of higher learning during the 19th century and historically black colleges were formed beginning in 1837 with the establishment of Cheyney State Training School in Pennsylvania.

With the end of the Civil War and Reconstruction, African Americans in the South found themselves retrenched to land as sharecroppers and tenant farmers, legally stripped of the right to vote, and socially segregated. Against this backdrop, education became the leading tool in the fight for equal rights politically, economically and socially. The individuals featured during Black History Month by the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning represent and epitomize some of the many accomplishments, contributions, and achievements by African American teachers.

Margaret Murray Washington (1865-1925) was the second wife of Booker T. Washington. She was born to sharecroppers in Macon, Georgia, one of ten children. Her father died when she was seven and Margaret was raised by Quakers.

Margaret loved to read and excelled in school. When she was 14, she was so advanced that Margaret was hired as a teacher in the school that she attended. At 19, she enrolled at Fisk University, where she met Booker T. Washington. After graduating from Fisk, Booker T. offered Margaret the position of Lady Principal at Tuskegee, a position formerly held by his deceased wife. Margaret fell in love with him and they married in 1893. During her time at Tuskegee, Margaret directed the Girl’s institute at Tuskegee, offering courses in laundering, cooking, dressmaking, sewing, millinery, and mattress making. She formed several rural schools, started the Mt. Meigs school for boys, and an industrial school for girls at Tuskegee. She created the Tuskegee Woman's Club and worked to advance the liberation of African-American women of the south. Margaret also worked to improve prisons and better the economic welfare of poor and neglected African-Americans. She became the fifth president of the National Association of Colored Women.

Margaret and her husband shared the belief that the key to advancing African-American's position lie with domestic and vocational education. After his death in 1915, Margaret continued to advance this mission. She worked to provide domestic education for women and children in and around Tuskegee. Margaret also participated in the Memphis Women's inter-Racial Conference in 1920. Margaret Murray Washington is considered to one of the greatest women and African-American leaders of her century.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_James_Murray accessed February 19, 2008.

http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/846/She_was_All_That__Margaret_Murray__ accessed February 19, 2008.

Archives: Teachers featured earlier this month
John Robert Edward Lee
Sarah Mapps Douglass
Mordecai Wyatt Johnson
Mary Smith Peake
Peter Humphries Clark
Mary McLeod Bethune
William Leo Hansberry
Inez Beverly Prosser
W.E.B. DuBois
Hallie Quinn Brown
Father Patrick Francis Healy
Charlotte Forten Grimke
Harper Councill Trenholm
Mary Church Terrell
Alexander Twilight
John Hope
Euphemia Lofton-Haynes
Booker T. Washington