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.

Matthew Gaines (August 4, 1840-June 11, 1900) was the first black man elected to the Texas state senate, but that alone is not what makes him important. He was born of a slave mother on a plantation in Louisiana and was prohibited from having an education as a child. From lore, he learned to read smuggled books by candlelight. Twice Gaines tried to escape slavery and each time was returned. After the first attempt, he was sold and shipped to Texas where he tried again to escape. The second time, he was captured by the Texas Rangers and brought “home” where he stayed until the end of the Civil War.

In his slave role, he was a blacksmith and a sheepherder. After the War, he settled in Burton, Texas and became a black leader of the community. In this guise, he was a minister and a politician. It was during Reconstruction that he was elected as a senator. And it is for his role in a senate coalition that passed the bill to establish Texas A&M that he is recognized here.

In addition to that bill, Gaines was one of the men who worked with educational and religious groups to bring about change and improvement for black children in local communities. One piece of legislation that he supported was to exempt the educational and religious organizations from taxes, making buildings and equipment the groups owned also exempt.

Like others elected in this era, Gaines did not serve his entire term. His seat was challenged when he was convicted of bigamy, a charge that was overturned on appeal. After the successful appeal, he was re-elected to the senate but the white majority did not seat him. He died in Texas on June 11, 1900. A self-educated man, he fought for the education of others.

References:

Barr, A., and Calvert, R. (eds.) (1981). Black Leaders: Texans for Their Times. Austin: Texas State Historical Association.

http://www.aawc.com/Zpaa.html accessed on February 20, 2008.

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/GG/fga5.html accessed on February 20, 2008.

http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/exhibits/forever/representation/page7.html accessed on February 20, 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
Margaret Murray Washington
Robert Russa Moton
Fanny Jackson Coppin
Ellis O. Knox
Anna Julia Cooper