Teacher Appreciation: Black Educators Who Saved Us

Throughout history, Black educators have played a vital role in shaping minds, breaking barriers, and fighting for equal access to education. Their dedication went far beyond the classroom, often intertwining with activism, leadership, and community empowerment.

Here are seven influential Black teachers whose legacies continue to impact, inspire and thrive today.

1. Mary McLeod Bethune (1875–1955)

With only $1.50 and a dream, Mary McLeod Bethune founded the Daytona Literary and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls in 1904. At the time, Daytona Beach, Florida, had no viable educational options for Black children, according to Women’s History. Schools were grossly underfunded, overcrowded, and segregated. Black children received fewer instructional hours, and Black teachers were paid far less than their white counterparts.

Bethune’s school began with just five students. Within two years, that number had grown to 250, Bryan University noted. In 1923, the school merged with the all-male Cookman Institute, eventually becoming Bethune-Cookman University. Bethune remained at the helm until 1942 and continued her work as a civil rights leader and presidential advisor. As vice president of the NAACP and an influential voice in President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Black Cabinet,” she used education as a lever for social change, determined to cultivate what she called a generation of “New Negro Women.”