Teacher Appreciation: Black Educators Who Saved Us

Teacher Appreciation: Black Educators Who Saved Us - Page 2

From Mary McLeod Bethune to Booker T. Washington, here are seven Black educators who made an impact in the classroom and beyond.

2. Septima Poinsette Clark (1898–1987)

Woman and men at event — Source: Claflin University / Getty

Often called the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” Septima Clark understood that literacy was a revolutionary tool. She began her teaching career on Johns Island, South Carolina, in 1916 and later worked throughout the state, often under grueling conditions, per King Institute. She pursued her own education during summer breaks, studying under W.E.B. Du Bois and earned degrees from Benedict College and Hampton Institute.

In 1956, Clark was fired after refusing to resign from the NAACP, following South Carolina’s passage of a law banning civil rights affiliations for public employees. But this only pushed her deeper into grassroots organizing. She joined the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee, where she developed Citizenship Schools—programs that taught Black adults how to read, write, and understand their rights as citizens.

Rosa Parks was one of her students. When the state shut down Highlander, Clark carried her model to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), where she became director of education. Her workshops helped thousands of Black Americans gain the tools to vote and organize, directly fueling the civil rights movement.