Every day this month, the Center for Black Educator Development, in partnership with Education Post and Philly’s 7th Ward, will highlight a Black Educator Hall of Famer.
But, don’t forget, e’ry month is Black History Month and February is just the Blackest. All year are ongoing opportunities to learn and teach and the colossal impact Black educators have had on society.
Today, our featured Black educator is Doxey Alphonso Wilkerson.
Doxey Alphonso Wilkerson was born on April 24, 1905, in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. He’s a graduate of Sumner high school in Kansas City Kansas. After graduation, he attended the University of Kansas, earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 1926 and 1927. He received his PhD from New York University, after beginning at the University of Kansas, in 1958 specializing in higher education.
As an educator, Dr. Wilkerson dedicated his time and attention to higher education. He taught at Virginia State College, Howard University, Bishop College, Jefferson School of Social Change, and Yeshiva University. As a result of his academic expertise, he served in multiple roles while a professor. He was president of the teacher’s union at Howard University. He was also appointed to President Roosevelt’s advisory committee on education. He served as Vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, and he was appointed to the Federal Office of Price Administration.
Wilkerson is famously known for his civil rights advocacy on behalf of the famed singer Marian Anderson, who was denied access to Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. With the help of Paul Robeson, Wilkerson worked to get Anderson’s concert moved to the Howard University campus.
Wilkerson’s activism led to a philosophical shift in how he looked at race in America. In 1943 Wilkerson joined the communist party and served on its national committee. In the 40s, Wilkerson was managing editor of the People Voice in Harlem and a columnist for the Daily Worker; a newspaper for the communist party.
Upon joining the communist party, Wilkerson left Howard University. His work and membership with the Communist Party elicited investigations from Senator Joseph McCarthy. Yet he remained with the party during the height of McCarthyism. However, due to stirring revelations about Joseph Stalin, Wilkerson left the communist party in 1957. In the same year, he was dismissed from Bishop College due to participating in sitting demonstrations to integrate lunch counters.
After departing Bishop College, Wilkerson served as a professor of education and department chair of curriculum and instruction at Yeshiva University. He would leave there to run an educational consulting firm. He retired from that firm in 1984.
Dr. Wilkerson was definitely an eduactivist. He believed in using education to confront injustice in ways that shocked the sensibilities of the mainstream. He ought to be an example for all of us to utilize our education and our work as educators in a way that challenges the status quo on behalf of Black people Both here and abroad.
Doxey Alphonso Wilkerson; a member of the Black Educator Hall of Fame.
For more information on Doxey Alphonso Wilkerson, visit the following site.
