Black Voices in Education, Part 2
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For Part 2 of our Black Voices in Education Series, we highlight Dr. Edmund Gordon and Fannie C. Williams, two educators who advocated for the positive development of the whole child.
Dr. Edmund Gordon is a professor of psychology whose career work has heavily influenced contemporary thinking in psychology, education, and social policy. Dr. Gordon’s research and initiatives have focused on the positive development of children of color.
Dr. Gordon grew up in a highly segregated area of North Carolina to parents who encouraged the importance of schooling. He received both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Howard University, and went on to pursue a PhD in psychology at the Teacher’s College at Columbia University. As a clinician and researcher, he explored divergent learning styles and advocated for supplemental education.
In 1956, after working with mentor and friend W.E.B. DuBois, Dr. Gordon was commissioned by President Lyndon B. Johnson to help design the federal Head Start Program, aimed at providing early childhood education and family services to under-resourced families. After six months working on Head Start, Dr. Gordon and his team had built a program to serve nearly half a million children. Dr. Gordon also conducted research that would later be used to prove to the Supreme Court that school segregation had harmful effects on children. Dr. Gordon strongly advocated the importance of understanding the learner’s frame of reference in the development of education action plans.
Dr. Gordon has authored 18 books and more than 200 articles on positive youth development, affirmative development of academic ability, and supplementary education. He has been elected a Fellow of many prestigious organizations, including the American Academy of Arts & Science, and has been named one of America’s most prolific and thoughtful scholars.
Dr. Gordon turned 101 years old in 2022, and still pays close attention to the state of education. He has stated that he would love to be able to change national education policy “to get a more equal focus on out-of-school and in-school learning.”
Learn more about Dr. Gordon here.
Fannie C. Williams was a teacher, principal, and pioneer in the field of Black education in the South. Fannie was born in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1882, where she began her career as a teacher in 1904. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Pedagogy degrees from what is now Eastern Michigan University, Fannie moved to New Orleans to become an elementary school principal, and began implementing new services to help students succeed.
Fannie believed in a holistic approach to children's education, which included mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual growth. She began a school health program to motivate healthy habits, and encouraged local doctors and dentists to provide free services for students. Fannie opened the first preschool for Black children in New Orleans, and promoted quality testing to measure student success long before it was required by the school board. She also encouraged the professional growth of her staff, and helped to train teachers throughout her career.
Along with education, Fannie was a committed community member. She was the first president of the Board of Management of the African American branch of the New Orleans YWCA, was a member of the Advisory Committee for the Department of Public Welfare, and sat on the Board of Directors for many local organizations. Today, the Fannie C. Williams Charter School in New Orleans honors her legacy.