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 Ramona Hodge Edelin.
Dr. Ramona Hodge Edelin was born in Los Angeles, California on September 4, 1945. Her mother was Annette Lewis Phinazee, the first Black woman to receive a doctorate from Columbia University in Library Science. She was crucial in inspiring Edelin maximize her potential through education. Edelin graduated from Fisk University in 1967, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She continued her education receiving a master’s degree from the University of East Anglia in England in 1969 and her Ph.D. in philosophy at Boston University.
While Dr. Edelin taught at numerous places, she was most known for her work at Northeastern University in Boston. While there she launched the first African-American studies program in the entire United States. She was a proponent of using the term African-American to describe Black people, and she gave her rationale, saying that the term African-American encompassed the entirety of the history of experiences and lineage of African people in the United States. She shared this in Ebony magazine:
“We want African people throughout the world to refer to ourselves as Africans wherever we are in the Diaspora. this is our proper geopolitical identification. It is our obligation to reconstruct our culture at this critical point in history so that we can move forward and not be satisfied with one or two people rising to the surface… calling ourselves African-American is the first step in the cultural offensive. Our cultural renaissance can change our lot in the nation and around the world.”
Dr. Edelin changed the paradigm as to how African-Americans referred to themselves. Rev. Jesse Jackson as well as other prominent Black leaders in the late 1980s adopted the term African-American. Her activism did not stop with thinking about how African-Americans referred to themselves. Her activism continued with addressing how African-Americans were educated. She served with the National Urban Coalition, leading the organization from 1988 to 1998; overseeing programs, including a stem initiative for children of color. She also served on an advisory task force with President Bill Clinton, advising him on HBCUs.
Lastly, she served as a champion of charter schools, arguing that the charter system offered much needed alternatives for families, including low income neighborhoods, and saw the system as an avenue for social justice. She was a champion specifically of charter schools in Washington DC. It is widely believed that without her advocacy and voice on behalf of charter schools in the charter school movement, Charter schools would not be where they are today.
Dr. Ramona Hodge Edelin; a member of the Black Educator Hall of Fame.
For more information on Ramona Hodge Edelin, visit the following site.
