E’ry day this month, Philly’s 7th Ward, in partnership with the Center for Black Educator Development, will highlight a “Black Educator Hall of Famer.“ But, don’t forget, e’ry month is Black History Month. February is just the Blackest. Every day is an ongoing opportunity to learn and teach the colossal impact Black educators have had on society.
Octavia Albert
Octavia Victoria Rogers Albert was born on December 24, 1853, in Oglethorpe, GA. She was born into the system of enslavement. She documented slavery in the United States through a collection of interviews with ex-enslaved in her book The House of Bondage, or Charlotte Brooks and Other Slaves, which was posthumously published in 1890.
In 1870, Octavia enrolled in Atlanta University, and three years later, she began teaching in Montezuma, Georgia. For Albert, faith was important, and teaching was a way to exercise it.
In Oglethorpe, she attended the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, which was under the ministry of former Congressman and prominent political activist Bishop Henry M. Turner. At this time, Albert would marry A.E.P. Albert, who himself was an educator and later an ordained minister.
Albert and her family moved to Houma, Louisiana, in the late 1870s, where she began documenting the experiences and lives of formerly enslaved people. The interviews in the book, recorded over 15 years after the end of slavery, documented vivid accounts of harsh treatment towards Louisiana slaves and the negative effects on the livelihood of ex-slaves after their emancipation.
Albert claimed her goal in writing The House of Bondage book was to tell the story of ex-slaves as well as to “correct and to create history.” This was a goal and necessity amongst African Americans at the time. It was important to do so in light of the sincere ignorance or contentious stupidity of ideas like the Lost Cause or racial pseudoscience like drapetomania.
Albert was part of the tradition of Black remembering; she brought the truth to light so that no one could erase the stories of Black suffering. She passed away sometime around 1890. She was survived by her husband and daughter.
Happy Black History Month and make sure to read up on Octavia Albert, a member of the Black Educator Hall of Fame.
