E’ry day this month, the Center for Black Educator Development, in partnership with Phillys7thWard.org, will highlight a Black Educator Hall of Famer.
But, don’t forget, e’ry month is Black History Month…February is just the Blackest.
Today, our featured Black Educator is Charlotte Hawkins Brown.
The work of eduactivist, Charlotte Hawkins Brown, personifies Black excellence in education. Born in North Carolina in 1883, Brown was educated in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she with her parents moved to escape the Jim Crow south. While in school, Brown was known as a brilliant student. After high school, she enrolled in the Salem Normal School to enter a career in teaching.
Encouraged by the Women’s Division of the American Missionary Association, Brown returned to North Carolina to educate Black children upon her graduation. When she arrived, she found a school with conditions unlike anything she experienced in Cambridge. The school was in such bad shape that the American Missionary Association closed the school down. However, she was not deterred.
Encouraged by local Black people and after hearing about Lucy Craft Laney’s work in a lecture, Brown, at the age of 18, moved back to North Carolina and CONTINUE READING: Charlotte Hawkins Brown, Black Educator Hall of Fame Member - Philly's 7th Ward
WHEN WILL BLACK LIVES MATTER IN SCHOOL?
In September of 1915, historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson co-founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). ASNLH was dedicated to researching and highlighting the achievements of Black people in American and all peoples of African descent. To that end, ASNLH, under the direction Dr. Woodson, established Negro History Week to promote and celebrate the long history of accomplishments of Black people in America.
Thanks to the freedom fighters throughout the Civil Rights Movement, Negro History Week evolved into Black History Month because of a growing awareness among Black people of Black identity and the freedom fighters of the Civil Rights Movement and, in 1976, it was recognized by President Ford.
There has been a growing debate as to the usefulness or necessity of Black History Month. When engaging in these debates, I am reminded of the words of Dr. Woodson, who said of Negro History Week (which became Black History Month):
In 2016, a group of educators, parents and activists in Seattle, Washington organized a week of activities for racial justice in schools with the goal of teaching students about systemic racism, Black history and the Black CONTINUE READING: WHEN WILL BLACK LIVES MATTER IN SCHOOL?