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.