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These 7 Black Educators Shaped America

Feb 5, 2018 12:00:00 AM

by Rob Samuelson

Black teachers have influenced countless students over the years, and America wouldn’t be what it is without them. As we celebrate Black History Month, let’s highlight some of the greatest Black educators to enter America’s classrooms. https://www.facebook.com/BetterConversationBetterEducation/videos/759545344244163/
  1.  Anna Julia Cooper was a principal who dedicated herself to “the education of neglected people” after rising out of slavery.
  2. Fanny Jackson Coppin was the first Black woman to be named principal of a school when she took the reins of the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia in 1869.
  3. W.E.B. Du Bois is known as the founder of the NAACP, but he also taught university courses on Greek, Latin, economics and history.
  4. When Inez Beverly Prosser received her Ph.D. in psychology in 1933, she became the first Black female psychologist.
  5. Booker T. Washington founded what became known as Tuskegee University in 1881, and the school went on to become one of the leading schools in the country.
  6. Nathan Hare is known as the “father of Black Studies” after he created the first such program at San Francisco State University in 1968.
  7. Nannie Helen Burroughs ran the National Trade and Professional School for Women and Girls, which was one of the most successful schools for women in the U.S. It was later renamed after her.
Photo courtesy of the History Channel.

Rob Samuelson

Rob Samuelson is a Staff Writer at Education Post and Digital Media Manager for the brightbeam network.

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