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 Rev. Francis L. Cardozo.
Francis Lewis Cardozo was born on February 1, 1837 in Charleston, South Carolina. He was a biracial heritage; his father was white, and his mother, a free Black woman. He received his bachelor’s degree in Glasgow, Scotland, at the University of Glasgow, where he studied Greek and Latin. He continued his studies in London attending Edinburgh Theological Seminary.
When Cardozo returned to the United States in 1864, he had numerous options for a career. Minister was one of those options. He was an ordained Presbyterian minister and soon became a pastor. However, with having free status and a European education, Cardozo had opportunities. But he chose to serve Black people in the South. He linked with the American Missionary Association (AMA) and began his career as an educator in Charleston, South Carolina.
He took over for his brother, Thomas Cardozo, in Charleston—who was initially the point person in the city for the AMA. Thomas was removed due to a scandal costing him the lead position of the coming AMA school. With Francis Cardozo at the helm, the Saxton School opened in October 1864 as a common school to teach Black students the basics in preparation for them to attend normal school; a teacher’s school with the mission to train prospective Black teachers.
Cardozo served us both an educator and principal of the school. He was well known in the community as both a master educator and efficient administrator. His faculty was made up of both white and Black educators, and the students performed well academically under Cardozo’s leadership. Eventually, Cardozo’s work with students in the common school, enabled him the ability to open up the normal school.
He opened the normal school in the fall of 1866. Two years later, Cardozo changed the name of the school to the Avery Normal Institute after receiving a $10,000 grant from Charles Avery Philadelphia. That grant, along with assistance from the Freedmen’s Bureau help secure new building for the normal institute. Soon after Cardozo resigned. He later served as a state treasurer for South Carolina for three consecutive terms.
After resigning from that post, Cardoza return to the classroom. He relocated to Washington D.C. and served as the principle of the Colored Preparatory High School in 1884 where he introduced a business curriculum and led the school to becoming one of the nation’s leading high schools for Black students. The school was renamed the Cardozo Senior high school in his honor.
Francis Cardozo served as an educator of Black children at a pivotal time; the Reconstruction Era. This was a time where African-Americans stepped out of enslavement and walked into self-determination. Education is the key to helping students unlock their potential and walk into their future. Additionally, education is the vehicle to serve and to prepare other students. This was Cardozo’s work; educating Black educators to educate Black children.
This is important and meaning for work that inspires or serve as an inspiration for much of the work that Black educators and organizations like the Center for Black Educator Development engages in today.
Francis L. Cardozo; a member of the Black Educator Hall of Fame.
For more information on Francis L. Cardozo, visit the following site.
