Nancy Cook: Chalkboard Champion and Suffragist

Many remarkable teachers blend their interests in teaching with an interest in politics. Such is certainly the case with Nancy Cook, a high school vocational education teacher who was also a tireless worker for women's suffrage and other political causes dear to her heart.

Nancy was born in Massena, New York, on August 26, 1884. After her graduation from high school, she attended Syracuse University, where she earned her bachelor's degree in 1912. There she became an avid supporter of woman's suffrage and campaigned for legislation to protect women, to abolish child labor, and to secure world peace.

After her graduation from college, Nancy accepted her first teaching position in Fulton, New York, where she taught art and handicrafts to high school students from 1913 to 1918. It was here that she ran into fellow Syracuse classmate Marion Dickerman, who was also a teacher of arts and handicrafts at the school. These two women become lifelong partners, spending almost their entire adult lives together.

During World War I, Nancy and Marion became active doing volunteer work for the Liberty Loan Drive and the Red Cross. As Marion remarked after the war, they both "really believed this was a war to end wars and make the world safe for democracy." In 1918, Nancy and Marion traveled to London, England, to work in the Endell Street Military Hospital., a facility staffed entirely by women. There they scrubbed floors and performed whatever other chores were needed. Nancy would, with less than two weeks of training, begin to make artificial limbs  for veterans that had lost an arm or a leg in the conflict.

Women earned the right to vote while Nancy and Marion were abroad. Upon their return to the United States, Nancy accepted a job as the executive secretary of the Women's Division of the State Democratic Committee, a position she held for nineteen years. She was key to the gubernatorial and presidential campaigns of Al Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1927, Nancy, Marion, and Eleanor Roosevelt purchased a small, private school for girls in New York City they called the Todhunter School. The school provided primary and secondary education, emphasizing art, music, and drama, as well as a college preparatory curriculum. Todhunter combined traditional testing and grading standards with progressive teaching methods.

Nancy and Marion were very good friends with Eleanor Roosevelt. Together, the three women built Stone Cottage at Val-Kill, on the banks of FallKill Creek in Dutchess County, New York. Nancy and Marion lived there full-time, and Eleanor often visited. Nancy, who was an expert woodworker, made all the furniture for the home. The trio established Val-Kill Industries with the goal of producing fine hand-made heirloom furniture/. More importantly, by doing so, they were acting on a larger social goal of providing a second income to local farming people in rural Hyde Park in order to keep them from migrating away to city jobs.

When Eleanor Roosevelt committed herself to redeveloping Arthurdale, West Virginia, she asked Nancy to work with the subsistence homestead program. Nancy and the First Lady oversaw the interior needs of each Arthurdale house, while Nancy temporarily administered the furniture and woodworking projects of Arthurdale's Mountaineer Craftsmen's Cooperative Association.

Nancy Cook, chalkboard champion and suffragist, passed away on August 16, 1962.

Chalkboard Champion Chet Blaylock of Montana

Many talented educators have also made a name for themselves in the political arena. Such is certainly the case for Chester Merle Blalock, better known as Chet Blaylock, a history teacher and state senator from Montana.

Chet was born on Novembr 13, 1924, in Joliet, Montana. He served his country well as a member of the US Navy during World War II. After the war, this heroic veteran earned his bachelor's degree in history in 1951 and his master's degree in education in 1957, both from the University of Montana. He then worked as a teacher and school administrator for over thirty years, until his retirement in 1991.

During his long career in education, Chet served as a delegate to the Montana State Constitutional Convention in 1972, and as a member of the Montana State Senate from Laurel, Montana. In 1996, he became the Democratic nominee for Governor of Montana against incumbent Marc Racicot. Unfortunately, on October 23, 1996, on his way to a debate with his opponent less than two weeks before the election, the former educator passed away of a heart attack at Deer Lodge, Montana. He was cremated and his ashes interred at Rockvale Cemetery in Rockvale, Montana.

Malala Yousafzai: The Pakistani Teenager Who Is A Champion for Education

Most people in Western cultures have heard of Malala Yousafzai, the teenager from Pakistan who was targeted by the Taliban simply for claiming that education for girls is a human right. She's recently published an autobiography detailing her life in Pakistan under the Taliban, her struggles to advance the cause of education for girls, the attack that nearly took her life, and her road to recovery. The book is a riveting testimonial of the resiliance of this remarkable young woman.

Like many memoirs of this kind, Malala begins with a description of her life before the Taliban took control of her native valley of Swat, focusing on family, home life, and school. She details how the region's political and social unrest impacted the lives of everyone in her community. Without the dryness of a history book, the volume presents a brief history of Pakistan, emphasizing how precarious life is for everyone who lives there, especially women, and the men who advocate for them. She includes a discussion of familiar current events, such as the devastating 7.2 earthquake in October of 2008, the 9/11 attacks, the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto, and the removal of Osama bin Laden in 2011. Throughout the narrative, Malala maintains a clear, determined, but humble voice insisting that all children, boys and girls, have the right to be educated. And that's why the Taliban targeted her for assassination.

Malala is not a teacher, but she certainly is a champion for education. And her valiant campaign, despite the dangers, on behalf of equal education for girls presents a lesson in courage for us all.

The book, entitled I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, was published 2013 in New York by Little, Brown and Company. It is easily available at Barnes and Noble or on amazon.com.

High School History Teacher, Principal, and NBA Star Bill Thieben

Many chalkboard champions have distinguished themselves as talented athletes, and this is certainly the case with William Bernard Thieben, who is also a retired professional basketball player.

Bill Thieben was born in Suffolk County, New York, on March 28, 1935. He attended Sayville High School from 1948 to 1952, and played for his high school basketball team. After graduation, he enrolled at Hofstra University. In his sophomore, Bill played for his college team, and in his junior year, he was named an All-American by Look Magazine. In his senior year, he was again named an All-American by Look Magazine, and he also won the Haggerty Award, given to the New York City top male collegiate basektball player. Bill was the first student from Hofstra to earn this prestigious award. He graduated in 1956 with degrees in history and political science.

Bill was drafted into the National Basketball Association and played for the Fort Wayne Pistons during the 1956-1957 season, and the Detroit Pistons during the 1957-1958 season. At 6'6" and 196 pounds, he played the position of forward. He participated in a total of 85 games during his professional basketball career.

After two season of professional basketball, Bill accepted a position as a history teacher at Bay Shore High School in Bay Shore, New York. His imposing stature, his hearty voice, and his unique ability to connect with students made him a truly remarkable educator. After three years in the classroom, Bill was promoted to assistant principal, a position he maintained for ten years. In 1971, Bill became the principal at Rocky Point High School, where he remained for twenty-three years. He retired in 1994. During these years, Bill also taught history and sociology at Suffolk Community College, Long Island University. He was also a professor of secondary education at St. Joseph's College in Patchogue.

Bill Thieben’s positive influence on the students of Bay Shore was recognized in July of 2000. Almost three decades after leaving Bay Shore, students who attended the school in the 1960s honored this chalkboard champion by establishing a permanent memorial plaque at the high school in his name. Engraved on the plaque are the words "William B. Thieben - The voice that launched a thousand school days remains forever in our hearts.” A William B. Thieben Scholarship Fund was also created in his honor. In addition, an annual award is given to a senior graduate who needs a helping hand, because the students felt that Bill "was always there to lend a helping hand."

In 1990, this talented athlete and remarkable educator was inducted into the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame in 1990. In 2003, he was named a Colonial Athletic Association Basketball Legend, and in 2008, he had his jersey (#93) retired by the University.

Angela McLean: The High School History Teacher Who Became Montana's Lieutenant Governor

Many talented teachers make their mark in fields other than education. Such is certainly the case for high school history and government teacher Angela McLean. In February of this year, Angela was appointed by Montana's Governor Steve Bullock to be the new lieutenant governor. She is the first classroom teacher and the second woman to become Lieutenant Governor in Montana history.

Angela graduated from Twin Bridges High School and became the first person in her family to graduate college. She earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Montana Western and her master's degree in curriculum and insruction from the University of Montana. As a beginning teacher, Angela taught at Arlee High School from 1994 to 1997. She has taught at Anaconda High School from 1997 until she was appointed Lieutenant Governor on February 17, 2014. At the time of her appointment, Angela was the chairwoman of the Montana Board of Regents, a position she held from 2012 to 2014.  She has also served on the Montana Board of Public Education and as an adjunct professor at Montana Tech of the Univerisity of Montana.

This remarkable educator credits her former teachers for her adult successes. "As a high schooler waiting tables at the Blue Anchor Cafe, it would have been hard for me to imagine one day becoming lieutenant governor – but great teachers and the support of my friends, my community, and my family have made today possible for me," she said on the day she was appointed. These teachers "made me believe the sky was the limit," she continued. "I think, even at times when the challenges I felt were so overwhelming that I might not have believed it, they made me see it. So I hope that somewhere along the line I made a difference in the lives of my students the way the teachers in my life made a difference."

Isaac Scott Hathaway: Talented Teacher and Accomplished Artist

Many chalkboard champions have distinguished themselves in fields other than education. Such is certainly the case with Isaac Scott Hathaway, a high school teacher and university professor who was also an accomplished artist. Isaac is probably best recognized for the masks and busts he created of important African American leaders, and as the designer of the first two US coins to feature black Americans.

 

Isaac was born on April 4, 1872, in Lexington, Kentucky. Following his high school graduation in 1890, he began his formal academic studies at Chandler Junior College in Lexington, and attended classes in art and dramatics at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. While in Boston, he sculpted his first bust, using as his subject Bishop Richard Allen, the first bishop of the African American Episcopal Church. Isaac's first formal training in ceramics came from Cincinnati Art Academy.

At the conclusion of his studies and training, Isaac returned home to Lexington to teach at Keene High School. There he worked from 1897 to 1902. He also opened his first art studio, where he made plaster parts of human anatomy for schools and medical uses. In 1907 Isaac relocated to Washington, DC, where began making sculpture busts, including those of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, university president Booker T. Washington, poet Paul L. Dunbar, and scholar W.E.B. Dubois.

In 1912, the accomplished teacher and talented artist married Ettic Ramplin of South Boston, Virginia. Sadly, she died early in their marriage from complications in childbirth. Following Ettic's death, Isaac established a course in ceramics at Branch Normal College, now known as the University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff. He taught there and at a high school in Pine Bluff until 1937.  In 1926, Isaac married his second wife, Umer George Porter. The couple moved to Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1937 to inaugurate the ceramics department at Tuskegee University. Shortly thereafter, Umer earned a degree from Tuskegee and became Isaac’s assistant.

The remarkable educator made an important contribution to the art world in 1945 when he developed Alabama kaolin clay as a medium, and he became the first artist on record to “make the clay behave.” The following year, Isaac was commissioned by the Fine Arts Commission of the United States Mint to design a half dollar coin using Booker T. Washington as the face and subject. In 1950 he was commissioned to make another coin, this time combining the images of both Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver.

During the summer of 1947, Hathaway broke a significant racial barrier when he introduced ceramics at the all-white Auburn Polytechnic Institute, now known as Auburn University. In 1947, Isaac and Umer relocated to Montgomery, Alabama, where Isaac became the director of ceramics at Alabama State College. He worked there until his retirement in 1963.

Throughout his life, Professor Hathaway received many awards, including honorary degrees, doctorates, or fine arts awards from various colleges and universities where he helped introduce ceramics as a field of study. This chalkboard champion and amazing artist passed away at his home in Tuskegee, Alabama, on March 12, 1967.

Jackson T. Davis: An Educator Who Worked Tirelessly for African-American Students

Many chalkboard champions work tirelessly on behalf of disenfranchised groups of students. This is certainly true of Jackson T. Davis, a remarkable educator who devoted his entire 45-year career to improving educational opportunities for African-American students here in the United States, and for Africans abroad.

Jackson T. Davis was born in Cumberland County, Virginia, on September 25, 1882. He attended public schools in Richmond, Virginia. He earned his bachelor's degree from the College of William and Mary in 1902 and his master's degree from Columbia University in 1908. He was given an honorary law degree by the University of Richmond in 1930 and another by the College of William and Mary in 1931.

Following graduation from William and Mary, Jackson was was employed in a variety of high-profile positions where he dedicated his talents to improving the lives of students. He became the principal of the public schools of Williamsburg, Virginia. He also served as the assistant secretary of the YMCA in Roanoke, Virginia, from 1903 to 1904. During the 1904-1905 school year, he was principal of the public schools of Marion, Virginia, followed by a stint as the superintendent of schools in Henrico County, Virginia from 1905 to 1909. The next year, 1909-1910, this hardworking educator was a member of the state board of examiners and inspectors for the Virginia State Board of Education, and from 1910 to 1915 this forward-thinking individual was the  state agent for African-American rural schools for the Virginia State Department of Education. In 1915, Jackson became affiliated with the General Education Board in New York, New York, as a field agent. Two years later he was transferred to New York City as the board's general field agent, where he remained until 1929 when he was made the assistant director. He became the associate director in 1933, and the vice-president and then the director in 1946. During his many years associated with the General Education Board, Jackson's work was focussed on education in the Southern states, and he used his influence to improve relations and understanding between whites and African-Americans. His pioneering work in promoting regional centers of education in the South tremendously significant.

Throughout his extensive career, Jackson specialized in Southern education, inter-racial problems, and education in the Belgian Congo and Liberia. In 1935 he traveled to Africa as a Carnegie visitor, and in 1944 he went again to that country as the leader of a group sent by the Foreign Missions Conference of North America, the British Conference of Missions, and the Phelps-Stokes Fund. Jackson served as a trustee of the Phelps-Stokes Fund, an organization devoted to African-American education and race relations, both in America and in Africa. He became vice-president of the Fund in 1940, and succeeded Anson Phelps Stokes as president in 1946.

At the time of his death in 1947, Jackson T. Davis was the president of the board of trustees of Booker T. Washington Institute in Liberia, the president of the New York State Colonization Society, a member of the Commission on Inter-Racial Cooperation, and of the Advisory Committee on Education in Liberia. He served as a member of the board of visitors of the College of William and Mary from 1913 to 1920, and as secretary of the International Education Board from 1923 to 1938. He was also frequently contributed articles for publication to educational journals.

This remarkable chalkboard champion passed away in Cartersville, Virginia, on April 15, 1947.  In 1962, Jackson Davis Elementary School in Henrico County, Viriginia, was dedicated in his honor.