Famous African American Teachers
Introduction: Dr. Charles K. Ross, Director, African-American StudiesThe 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.
Professor William Leo Hansberry (February 25, 1894-November 3, 1965) was born in Gloster, Mississippi and began college at Atlanta University in 1916 where he was influenced by Dr. William Edward Burghardt Dubois. He became fascinated by the culture and customs of African nations, a topic that had intrigued him since childhood through his father’s library. However, there were few materials and sources in the university library at that time so he looked elsewhere to go to school. He transferred to Harvard University where he received his Bachelors of Arts degree in 1921 and his Master of Arts degree in 1932. Additional study was conducted at the University of Chicago in 1936, at Oxford University in 1937 and 1938 and at the University of Cairo in 1953 and 1954.
Professor Hansberry’s teaching career began at Straight College in New Orleans for one year and then he joined Howard University where he taught until he retired in 1959. In his first year at Howard, Mr. Hansberry initiated the African Civilization Section of the university. His love of African culture and customs drove much of his academic career. One example is a speech at the Fourth Pan-African Conference in New York in 1927 on the archaeological research in Africa and its significance for African people. Another is the organization of the Ethiopian Research Council in 1934 to “stimulate interest in Ethiopia’s efforts to resist the Italian invasion and to disseminate information on Ethiopian history.”
Though Hansberry did much field research in Africa, his greatest work, The Rise and Decline of the Ethiopian Empire, was never published. Perhaps his lack of publications is one reason for him being disregarded by many black and white academic colleagues. However, he was beloved by his students, among them Noamdi Azikiwe, who became the first President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Professor Hansberry was one of the first in the United States to encourage institutions to teach black students about their roots in Africa. One of his first publications was “Announcing an Effort to Promote the Study and Facilitate the Teaching of the Fundamentals of Negro Life and History.” Much of his work was only appreciated after his retirement from the university community.
References:
Davis, John P. (1966). American Negro Reference Book. Yonkers: Educational Heritage, Inc., p. 677.
http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/hansberry.html
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