E’ry 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 Matilda Booker.
Matilda Booker was born in Halifax County, VA on September 18, 1887. With the encouragement of a grandfather who had been enslaved, she entered the Thyne Institute, a normal school (a school for prospective teachers) at Chase City in Mecklenburg County, at about age thirteen. She graduated four years later with her teaching certificate. She taught for two years in Chesterfield County Schools before returning to school.
Booker graduated from the Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute (later Virginia State University) in 1911. She was hired as principal of the two-teacher Little Bethel School in Henrico County. She cared about the look of her school, to the tune of organizing to fundraise while working with her staff to purchase items to beautify her school building.
Her work as an educator continued from the schoolhouse to another non-profit organization. She began work as a supervisor for the Jeanes Fund, formerly known as the Negro Rural School Fund Inc., of Cumberland County in 1913. The role of the fund was to financially support Black schools with an industrial arts curriculum, like many agricultural and mechanical colleges.
At this time, she met her husband, Samuel Booker. The two wed and lived on a farm they owned. They had no children but found life and joy in their family, friends, and work.
As the county supervisor, Booker oversaw twenty-three schools, however many of them were closed and most buildings were dilapidated and in need of repair. Booker reached out to the community for support for all the schools. By 1920 they had responded by building eight new schools and renovating another thirteen.
With the help of like-minded white citizens, money was raised, lumber and other materials were donated as well as hard labor, and eventually, the county’s first black high school was opened in South Hill, known as Mecklenburg Training School. They graduated their first class in 1930. Additionally, Booker encouraged teachers to attend summer institutes to improve their skills while raising money for the higher salaries to which their new skills entitled them.
Booker also fought for pay equity for Black teachers in Mecklenburg County.
From the late 1940s until her retirement in 1955, Booker distributed educational materials, collected funds for charity, and served as the county superintendent, in effect, his assistant for the education of African Americans. Booker died of heart disease on June 27, 1957.
Matilda V. Booker; a member of the Black Educator Hall of Fame.
For more information on Matilda V. Booker, visit the following site.
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