Teachers and PTAs

“While we believe it is an outrage…to carry on the caste schools, yet if they must be forced upon us and if our children are always to be reminded…they are not entitled to the privilege of going to the same school that every other class of Americans are permitted to attend, then we shall insist…our educated sons and daughters are placed in them as teachers.” The Colored Citizen, Topeka, KS, December 14, 1878.

African American teachers and parent-teachers associations enabled segregated African American schools to succeed in Kansas. Often armed with more advanced college degrees than their white colleagues, these teachers created a nurturing learning environment for their students that fostered a strong sense of self-worth and high expectations to achieve academically and in life. These local PTAs mobilized communities to support their schools and donate supplies and funding needed to enhance the educational experiences of their students.

Washington School PTA Fundraiser Program, Topeka, Kansas, 1952. The program featured the coronation of Donald Smith and Bonnie Dandridge as king and queen for selling the most tickets for the project. The event included performances by students from Washburn University and Lincoln University.

New Responsibilities In A Changing Society, 1954 Convention Theme Kansas Colored Parents and Teachers Association Annual Meeting. Held at Cleveland School Auditorium in Coffeyville, Kansas. Address delivered by Joseph F. Barnes, President of Kansas Colored Parents and Teachers Association. Sumner High School Collection

National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers 1948 Publication. Organized in 1926, the National Congress of Colored Parents-Teachers Association worked to improve conditions in schools for children and teachers. Featured on the cover of this publication is the organization’s founder, Mrs. Selena Sloan Butler (1872-1964) of Atlanta, Georgia. A graduate of Spelman College, she was a wife, mother, teacher and a leading clubwoman.

Kansas Colored Parent-Teacher Association program, Annual Meeting, 1948. Monroe School, Topeka, Kansas.Organized in 1925, the Kansas Colored PTA promoted the welfare of children, youth, parents and teachers in schools, homes, churches and communities.

National Congress of Colored Parents & Teachers Membership Card.

1952 Kansas Colored Parent-Teacher Association Convention. Convention theme: Every Child An Equal Chance. Sumner Elementary School, Leavenworth, Kansas

Faculty Members of Lincoln School, 1952-195. Atchison, Kansas. Lincoln was the elementary school assigned to all African American students residing in Atchison, Kansas. Featured in this page of the school’s yearbook are Evelyn Harper, principal, and two members of the school’s teaching faculty.

Christmas letter from principal Daniel Lewis of Grant School, an African American grade school in Kansas City, Kansas, to the parents and teachers, December, 1942. A native of Oklahoma, Mr. Lewis (1897-1989) moved to Kansas for his college education. He earned a B.S. from Kansas State Normal School (Emporia State University) and a M.S. from KU in 1938. He served as teacher and principal of African American schools in Kansas City, Kansas and later as a supervisor for the city’s public schools. Daniel W. Lewis Collection.

Miss Mamie Dillard, 1896. A life-long resident of Lawrence, Kansas, Ms. Dillard graduated from the University of Kansas in 1896. She began her teaching career in Lawrence at Pinckney School for their segregated class of African American students. Later, she served as principal of Lincoln School, an African American grade school in Lawrence.