February 2013 - Queen Anne`s County Public Schools

February 2013
Qacps/boe/easter/revised 2-13
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and
live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these
truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
From the “I Have a Dream” speech
August 28, 1963
The true test of the American ideal is whether
we’re able to recognize our failings and then
rise together to meet the challenges of our
time. Whether we allow ourselves to be
shaped by events and history, or whether we
act to shape them. Whether chance of birth
or circumstance decides life’s big winners
and losers, or whether we build a community
where, at the very least, everyone has a
chance to work hard, get ahead, and reach
their dreams.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
DID YOU KNOW?
To recall and celebrate the positive
contributions to our nation made by people of
African descent, American historian Carter G.
Woodson established Black History Week. The
first celebration occurred February 12, 1926.
For many years, the second week of February
was set aside for this celebration to coincide
with the birthdays of Black abolitionist/editor
Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. In
1976, as part of the nation's bicentennial, the
week was expanded into Black History Month.
WHAT ARE OUR SCHOOLS DOING?
Kent Island / Bayside Elementary Campus School
PREK-K…Read stories about historical figures including Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, and Frederick Douglas..Students chose a figure
to write about…Also learned about African-American inventors, visited the Multicultural Committee’s display, discussed the inventors and inventions, and made
and read an African-American inventors mini-book…Students learned about other inventors and made projects, i.e… P.B. Dowing invented the mailbox --students made valentine mailboxes…George Grant invented the golf tee --- students made patterns with golf tees…Madame C.J. Walker invented hair products
--- students set up hair salons …W.B. Purvis invented the cartridge pen & J.L. Love invented the pencil sharpener --- students added a variety of pens, pencils,
and sharpeners to the Writing Center…Garrett Morgan invented the stop light --- students made a paper stoplight…George Washington Carver invented peanut
butter --- students counted peanuts…Teachers read stories by African-American authors including Ezra Jack Keats, Faith Ringgold, Gerdene Nolan and Mary
Hoffman…Students also participated in the African-American “Read In” with Chesapeake College.
FIRST GRADE… Read books and created bulletin boards on famous African-Americans…Did activities related to MLK, Rosa Parks, and President
Obama…Made a book on Louie Armstrong and George Washington Carver…Did lessons on character traits and actions and made webs of facts and wrote
facts…Did several writing activities on MLK and other African-Americans.
SECOND GRADE… Read and wrote about famous African Americans, i.e. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Harriett Tubman, and Fredrick Douglas…Read and
discussed Weekly Reader on African Americans…Did Tar Beach activities…Did a Black author study… Made a quilt of famous Back Americans.
THIRD GRADE… Students did research reports with posters and a presentation dressed as characters… Students did letters to Ruby Bridges… Students
learned historical facts about famous African-Americans… A “My Dream for American” research project and report was completed… Read biographies and
created posters about famous Black Americans …Read non-fiction texts about life as a slave on plantations.
FOURTH GRADE… Students did book projects related to a famous African-Americans…Part One was to Create a special award to be presented to the person,
Part Two – students needed to prepare a presentation speech keeping in mind to introduce themselves and the reason for their speech. They needed to
explain the accomplishments, why they deserved the award, how their invention helped change the world, and announce the person.
FIFTH GRADE… Students created a Powerpoint based on information gathered about a famous African-American from a web quest. This was an interestbased activity allowing the students to pick which person they wanted to learn more about… Students researched a famous African-American and presented
information on a mobile…Students watched Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, then read the speech and discussed the lines from the
speech. They also discussed how parts of the speech appealed to emotion. a
UNIFIED ARTS (KIES)…Discussed different influential African-American athletes through the month, i.e. Arthur Ashe, Jackie Robinson, and Jesse
Owens…Studied the artist, Faith Ringgold, and made collages based on her works…Shared some of the famous African American books/posters like
Muhammad Ali, Wilma Rudolph, and Jacki Joyner Kersee…Discussed various styles of African-American music, including gospel music, call and response, and
work songs from the Civil War Era….Also played African-American game songs.
UNIFIED ARTS (BES)…They studied artwork by contemporary black artist, Mark Bradford….Watched biographies on the Brain Pop website about Martin
Luther King, Harriet Tubman, and Jackie Robinson…Had a display of books on famous Black Americans and books that are written by or illustrated by Black
Americans. Also read a book nominated for the Black-Eyed Susan Award which is called Sit In…Students have been learning to play folk songs and
jump rope rhymes that have been passed along with roots in black communities. ..Students have been singing “We Are the World”, composed
by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and have discussed the meaning behind the words… Students have been playing games
involving the careers and livelihoods of inventor/entrepreneur, George Washington Carver, and inventor
Dr. Charles Richard Drew.
WHAT ARE OUR SCHOOLS DOING?
Centreville Elementary School
Two of those books are specifically about African Americans. One is a biography of Dave, a potter, artist and slave who lived in the 1800s in South Carolina and created
beautiful works of art. The second is called Sit-In. It is the story of the 4 young African American students who staged a SIT-IN at a Woolworth lunch counter. Their initial
actions created sit-ins all over America and lead to integration laws being changed. Both of these books will lead to discussions about contributions by African Americans
leading to the legislative changes and equality that we see today in our country.
Church Hill Elementary School
Overall…Display of African American inventions set up in main entrance. African American guest readers will read biographies to students.
Kindergarten..Role play fairness, equality, and problem solving as it occurs in our reading curriculum…Read books about Rosa Park and
Ruby Bridges…Discuss schools today as compared to Ruby’s School…Read books about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. …Make cut out paper doll friends
Grade 1…Discuss biographies and complete writing/follow up activities : Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, George Washington Carver, Ruby Bridges
Grade 2…George Washing Carver Readers’ Theater…African American of the Day…Teaching about different African Americans and their influences
on America…A variety of occupations /fields of study will be discussed…Poetry about diversity
Grade 3…Learn more about African Americans: Poetry, Timelines, Informative posters
Grade 4…African American biographies…Readers’ Theater – Martin Luther King, Jr., “ Henry’s Freedom Box”
Grade 5…Grade level bulletin board related to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Give Peace a Chance” student writing…Read TFK biographical sketches and answer
comprehension questions. Present information to class…Present Readers’ Theater on Phillis Wheatley, Rosa Parks, Dr. King, Jackie Robinson and George Washington
Carver. Questions about author’s purpose, tone and message…Compare/contrast a literary work about Phillis Wheatley to an informational selection about her.
A variety of “May Do” activities related to the accomplishments and contributions of African Americans
Art - Kindergarten – Introduction to African Kente clothes Grade 1 – Creation of African Kente clothes Grade 2 – Creation of African hats and the book “Many
Hats”, Grade 3 & 4 – Discussion of African American artists Romare Bearden and Faith Ringgold, Grade 5 – Discussion and presentation of traditional masks in African
community and the influences of these masks on African Americans
Music - Listening to interviews with African-American composers…Listening to the Boys Choir of Harlem and interview with the director…Learning an early African
American dance…Spirituals – their significance in American history and what a spiritual is…Musicians: Paul Robeson, Aretha Franklin, Marion Anderson, Ray Charles
Biographies – Duke Ellington and Louie Armstrong
Physical Education - Information/questionnaire on African American athletes in newsletter…Discussion/readings/pictures
on African American athletes …Church Hill African American Baseball Team from 1940’s and 1950’s
Media - Explore and display Black History individual books…Use reference materials to research biographical information
on selected individuals…Explore authors in literature and poetry…Sharing literature, biographies and websites with staff
WHAT ARE OUR SCHOOLS DOING?
Grasonville Elementary School
Bulletin boards, showcases and student work honoring Black History are displayed throughout the school.
Pre-K
Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream” lesson and activities…Torrence/friendship lessons
Kindergarten
Famous Black Americans…George Washington Carver…Frederick Douglas…Harriett Tubman…Rosa Parks.
Martin Luther King, Jr., President Barack Obama
Famous Athletes…Jackie Robinson…Jesse Owens…Wilma Rudolph…Thurgood Marshall…Langston Hughes
Booker T. Washington
Watched a play about Martin Luther King Jr. performed by third grade…READ Other African American Literature
First Grade
Read African American Literature & Research and Writing Activity: Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington Carver, Rosa Parks, President
Barack Obama, Harriet Tubman, Michael Jordan, Bill Cosby, Ruby Bridges, Jesse Owens
Second Grade
Additional literature will be shared during the Reading and Social Studies block: George Washington Carver, Guion Bluford, Alex Haley, Bill
Cosby, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Jesse Owens, Booker T. Washington, Steve Wonder, Marion Anderson…Book Share projects
Third Grade
Informative Reports Martin Luther King Jr. and other famous African Americans…Third grade students performed play about Martin Luther King
Jr. for Kindergarten
Fourth Grade
Research and Report on African Americans…Research African Americans and create certificates…Read additional literature on African
Americans…Read African folktales…Maya Angelou quotes…G. W. Carver…Duke Ellington
Fifth Grade
Read Biographies and complete written and oral book reports…Identifying mood, tone and paraphrasing clips from the Civil Rights Movement
Journal writing on prominent African Americans…Writing prompt, I Have a Dream…
Music School Wide
Sample of songs: Follow the Drinkin' Gourd…This Little Light of Me…Miss Mary Mack…He's Got the Whole World in His Hand…Write blues
lyrics & walking bass lines…Juba (game)
Media
Displayed books that were written by African American authors and depicted African American
WHAT ARE OUR SCHOOLS DOING?
Kennard Elementary
Each morning students share information about a famous African American on the am
announcements
Students are participating in the African American writing contest
African American Read-In
Each year, students at Kennard Elementary School participate in the African American writing
contest during the month of February. Students have the opportunity to research and write a
report on the contributions of an African American. This year's winners are as follows: 1st placeMegan Crump, 2nd place-Madison Darrah, 3rd place-Tavion Gross, honorable mention-Danielle
Shook.(shown at right)
Matapeake Elementary
Kindergarten…Along with talking about being a good citizen with good character, students discussed equality and Martin Luther King, chose famous Black
Americans throughout the month of February to introduce, and discussed George Washington Carver, Ray Lewis, Ray Rice, Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey,
and President Burak O'Bama and how they contributed and made a difference in our country.
First Grade…teachers provided a variety of learning activities for students during Black History Month, and participated in read-alouds, reading activities, and
discussions using biographies on accomplishments of African-Americans important to our history. Such as George Washington Carver, Martin Luther King Jr.,
Garrett Morgan, Benjamin Banneker, Jackie Robinson, and Rosa Parks. Students began a project for African American History Month and continued it into
March for Women's History Month. Students read non-fiction text about Bessie Coleman and Rosa Parks and are collecting and displaying facts about these
famous African- American women on posters which will be shared with their classmates. The children enjoyed fiction books such as Amazing Grace, Sweet
Clara and the Freedom Quilt, and books by Ezra Jack Keats. Students learned how to play mancala after learning about its origins and some will learn about
the game later in the school year. These activities represent a sampling of the multicultural activities incorporated into first grade subjects throughout the year.
Second Grade…Matapeake Elementary School students researched a famous African American of their choice and then presented oral reports based on their
research. Moreover, students created beautiful pieces of written work. Some examples of their written work activities are as follows:
- a paragraph about what their dream is for our country and why
-a paragraph about what they believe the bus would say when Rosa Parks was asked to get up from her seat and why the bus would say this
-letters to Dr. King that we would give him if possible (the letters were then compiled into a book titled Letters to Dr. King)
-letters to slave owners about why slavery is wrong
Additionally, one class enjoyed having parents visit to hear student research presentations and to also enjoy a cultural music celebration. Second graders also
enjoyed comparing and contrasting President Obama to Martin Luther King, Jr. The second grade team takes pride in celebrating black history and cultural
diversity not only during the month of February but during the entire school year!
WHAT ARE OUR SCHOOLS DOING?
Matapeake Elementary (cont’d)
Third Grade…A wide range of activities were completed among the different third grade classrooms at Matapeake Elementary School in honor of Black History
Month. Students completed independent research projects on famous African-Americans. Students were encouraged to learn about different people, not ones
they already knew then shared in class. African-American genres of music were used to explore poetry. Students studied character traits while reading about
different African-Americans. Black-eyed Susan books with African-Americans as main characters were read and discussed. Students read research reports
from other grade levels and wrote down new questions about each person in the reports. They then went on to do further research to find answers to their
questions.
Fourth Grade…read a play on Rosa Parks. We used the play to discuss character traits of Rosa Parks and talked about integration and segregation. They
used the story, "Happy Birthday, Dr. King!" to discuss the civil rights movement and life lessons that could be learned. Students also read a Black-Eyed Susan
nominated book titled "Dave the Potter" through which we discussed the topic of slavery.
Fifth Grade…students read biographies about Wilma Rudolph, Mae Jemison, and Rafer Johnson. In social studies, students learned about the history of the
slave trade and the impact black heritage had on individuals such as Olaudah Equiano and Crispus Attucks. Students also wrote narratives from the
perspective of being a slave or an indentured servant.
Sudlersville Elementary
SES will for the ninth consecutive year host a school-wide “African American History Month Read-In.” Locally recruited readers will conduct read-alouds in all
grades of books relevant to the Black History Month theme. Scheduled readers are Mrs. Michelle Johnson, Mrs. Pam Copper, Mrs. Cheryl Saunders, Mr.
James Saunders, Mrs. Vivian Garnett, Ms. Alma Davis and The Reverend Sheila Hunley.
Kindergarten…teachers read stories and simple books to students about famous African Americans. In addition students will read books by Ezra Keats
First Grade…students read stories by and about African Americans and focused on the lives of four historically important African Americans: Harriet Tubman,
Frederick Douglas George Washington Carver, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Also, all first grade classes are involved in the “Read-In.”
Grade Two…students read biographies about famous African-Americans and put together a “I Have a Dream” bulletin board .
Grade Three: February book reports will concentrate on celebrating famous African Americans through the genre of biographies. In addition, third grade
students will read short biographies about famous African Americans with emphasis on the Underground Railroad. Teachers will include read-alouds about
famous African Americans.
Grade Four…students will read about the life and times of Martin Luther King Jr. as well as Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks
Grade Five…math class students completed a coordinating graph and timeline activity using the dates of noteworthy achievements, birth dates, etc. of famous
African Americans. In social studies, children studied the triangular trade route and slavery issues within the context of colonial American times. Discussion
included the economic and social impact that slavery and its abolition had in early America. Pupils will be asked to compare/contrast these topics with modern
American life. In reading class, youngsters will extend their historical fiction unit about colonial American life with independent readings about famous African
Americans and their contributions to the American experience. In addition, students will read biographies and go on-line to complete
organizers/projects about famous African Americans.
Music…students at each grade level will compile information on African American composers and listen to selections from their
musical compositions.
Art…students are researching African countries and will create masks to display their newfound knowledge.
WHAT ARE OUR SCHOOLS DOING?
Centreville Middle School
Centreville Middle School students attended an assembly program on the civil rights movement, How Old is a Hero? Social studies
and language arts classes integrated lessons on this topic both before and after the assembly. Each week during morning
announcements a famous black American was honored. Books written by and about African Americans were showcased in our
library.
Matapeake Middle School
Discussed African culture, politics and government, economies and climate and how people in Africa are affected by each of these…focused on African
American artists or paintings using African American subject material for our entire warm ups and exemplar critiques…completed studies in ancient and early
civilizations in Africa in 6th grade History Class…read a biography on an African prince who was captured and sent to America to be sold as a slave. He spent
his lifetime trying to get his freedom, which was finally granted. Emphasis was on the ignorance of white people toward certain advanced African cultures NOT
being a consideration in enslaving people. Lesson objective was centered on reading critically to evaluate the implications of slavery in the 1800's as well as
identifying the author's tone toward slavery…have been focusing on African-American authors in Reading Class. Nikki Giovanni - "Grand Mothers"/various
poems, Langston Hughes - "Mother to Son“, Gwendolyn Brooks - "Speech to the Young“…There are other various authors, but these were the primary focus.
We discussed cultural differences, dialect, values, etc.
Stevensville Middle School
Students made posters of African American Scientist/Inventors. Also posters of the sports African Americans
WHAT ARE OUR SCHOOLS DOING?
Sudlersville Middle School
The media center has a displays of biographies for Black History month.
Bulletin boards related to Dr. M. L. King, Jr. “Give Peace a Chance” student writing.
Experienced a variety of ‘MAY DO” activities related to the accomplishments andcontributions of African Americans.
In Language Arts:
They researched important people in history which included many African American civil rights activists and abolitionists.
In Mathematics: coordinating graphs and time lines using dates of noteworthy achievemnts, birth dates, etc. of famous
African Americans.
Social Studies: Triangular trade and slavery issues as theyrelated to the colonial American times. Discussions of
economic and social impact of slavery , its abolition and compare/contrast with modern life in America
Reading: Colonial American life and famous African Americans’ conributions to our culture in general.
WHAT ARE OUR SCHOOLS DOING?
Kent Island High School
Each day this month, a biography of an influential African American has been shared with the students via our Morning Announcement
Program. Students submit their guesses in the office and a winner is selected each afternoon.
In Dance classes, students learned literal and/or abstract movement based on the a skit and poem on Harriet Tubman.
Queen Anne’s County High School
We have available materials and displays in the media center of literature that highlight men and women in Black History and
their accomplishments.
TV Announcements, including Black History Fact of the Day!
Promoted and Announced in conjunction with Washington College:
Diversity Through Many Disciplines: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Speaker: David “Sonny” Lacks
Date: Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Decker Theatre, Daniel Z. Gibson Center for the Arts Reception and Book Signing to Follow
Anchor Points Academy (Alternative Education)
History of Slavery
Writing Memoirs - family history
Celebration of black poets
Read and analyzed slave narratives
Who am I?
My modest beginnings are certainly what make my career success amazing and
almost unfathomable and raised in inner-city Detroit, I credit my mother’s influence
with much of my success. She performed domestic work to keep her family
financially afloat. With only a third grade education herself, she prayed diligently
for wisdom to help me and my older brother succeed in school. Vigorous studying
and a thirst for knowledge enabled me to graduate from high school with honors
and gain admission to Yale University where I pursued a degree in Psychology.
Then I went onto medical school at the University of Michigan where my interest
shifted from psychiatry to neurosurgery. After medical school, I became a
neurosurgery resident at the Johns Hopkings Hospital in Baltimore. At age 33, I
became the youngest physician to ever head a major division at Johns Hopkins. I
am currently the director of pediatric neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Medical
Institutions, a position I have held since 1984, and a professor of neurosurgery,
oncology, plastic surgery, and pediatric medicine.
FAMOUS MARYLAND AFRICAN AMERICANS
Frederick Douglass was born in a slave cabin, in February, 1818, near the town of Easton, on
the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Separated from his mother when only a few weeks old he was raised
by his grandparents. At about the age of six, his grandmother took him to the plantation of his master
and left him there. Not being told by her that she was going to leave him, Douglass never recovered
from the betrayal of the abandonment. When he was about eight he was sent to Baltimore to live as
a houseboy with Hugh and Sophia Auld, relatives of his master. It was shortly after his arrival that his
new mistress taught him the alphabet. When her husband forbade her to continue her instruction,
because it was unlawful to teach slaves how to read, Frederick took it upon himself to learn. He
made the neighborhood boys his teachers, by giving away his food in exchange for lessons in
reading and writing. At about the age of twelve or thirteen Douglass purchased a copy of The
Columbian Orator, a popular schoolbook of the time, which helped him to gain an understanding
and appreciation of the power of the spoken and the written word, as two of the most effective
means by which to bring about permanent, positive change.
Returning to the Eastern Shore, at approximately the age of fifteen, Douglass became a field hand, and experienced
most of the horrifying conditions that plagued slaves during the 270 years of legalized slavery in America. But it was during
this time that he had an encounter with the slavebreaker Edward Covey. Their fight ended in a draw, but the victory was
Douglass', as his challenge to the slavebreaker restored his sense of self-worth. After an aborted escape attempt when he
was about eighteen, he was sent back to Baltimore to live with the Auld family, and in early September, 1838, at the age of
twenty, Douglass succeeded in escaping from slavery by impersonating a sailor.
He went first to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he and his new wife Anna Murray began to raise a family.
Whenever he could he attended abolitionist meetings, and, in October, 1841, after attending an anti-slavery convention on
Nantucket Island, Douglass became a lecturer for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society and a colleague of William Lloyd
Garrison. This work led him into public speaking and writing. He published his own newspaper, The North Star, participated in
the first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls, in 1848, and wrote three autobiographies. He was internationally
recognized as an uncompromising abolitionist, indefatigable worker for justice and equal opportunity, and an unyielding
defender of women's rights. He became a trusted advisor to Abraham Lincoln, United States Marshal for the District of
Columbia, Recorder of Deeds for Washington, D.C., and Minister-General to the Republic of Haiti.
FAMOUS MARYLAND AFRICAN AMERICANS
Born: (1820-1913)
Occupation: Underground Railroad Conductor, Rights Activist
Born in 1820 in Dorchester County, Maryland, Harriet Tubman had the hard
childhood of a slave: much work, little schooling and severe punishment. In 1848 she
escaped. As a free woman, she began to devise practical ways of helping other slaves
escape. Over the following 10 years she made about 20 trips from the North into the
South and rescued more than 300 slaves. Her reputation spread rapidly, and she won
the admiration of leading abolitionists (some of whom sheltered her passengers).
Eventually a reward of $40,000 was posted for her capture.
Tubman met and aided John Brown in recruiting soldiers for his raid on Harpers Ferry
— Brown referred to her as "General Tubman." One of her major disappointments was
the failure of the raid, and she is said to have regarded Brown as the true emancipator of
her people, not Lincoln. In 1860 she began to canvass the nation, appearing at antislavery meetings and speaking on women's rights. Shortly before the outbreak of the
Civil War she was forced to leave for Canada, but she returned to the United States and
served the Union as a nurse, soldier, and spy; she was particularly valuable to the army
as a scout because of the knowledge of the terrain she had gained as a conductor on the
Underground Railroad.
Tubman's biography (from which she received the proceeds) was written by Sarah
Bradford in 1868. Tubman's husband, John, died two years after the end of the war, and
in 1869 she married the war veteran Nelson Davis. Despite receiving many honors and
tributes (including a medal from Queen Victoria), she spent her last days in poverty, not
receiving a pension until 30 years after the Civil War. With the $20 dollars a month that
she finally received, she helped to found a home for the aged and needy, which was later
renamed the Harriet Tubman Home. She died in Auburn, New York.
FAMOUS MARYLAND AFRICAN AMERICANS
Born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 2, 1908, Thurgood Marshall was the grandson of a slave. His
father, William Marshall, instilled in him from youth an appreciation for the United States Constitution and
the rule of law. After completing high school in 1925, Thurgood followed his brother, William Aubrey
Marshall, at the historically black Lincoln University in Chester County, Pennsylvania. His classmates at
Lincoln included a distinguished group of future Black leaders such as the poet and author Langston
Hughes, the future President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, and musician Cab Calloway. Just before
graduation, he married his first wife, Vivian "Buster" Burey. Their twenty-five year marriage ended with her
death from cancer in 1955.
In 1930, he applied to the University of Maryland Law School, but was denied admission because he
was Black. This was an event that was to haunt him and direct his future professional life. Thurgood
sought admission and was accepted at the Howard University Law School that same year and came
under the immediate influence of the dynamic new dean, Charles Hamilton Houston, who instilled in all of
his students the desire to apply the tenets of the Constitution to all Americans. Paramount in Houston's
outlook was the need to overturn the 1898 Supreme Court ruling, Plessy v. Ferguson which established
the legal doctrine called, "separate but equal." Marshall's first major court case came in 1933 when he
successfully sued the University of Maryland to admit a young African American Amherst University
graduate named Donald Gaines Murray. Applauding Marshall's victory, author H.L. Mencken wrote that
the decision of denial by the University of Maryland Law School was "brutal and absurd," and they should
not object to the "presence among them of a self-respecting and ambitious young Afro-American well
prepared for his studies by four years of hard work in a class A college."
Thurgood Marshall followed his Howard University mentor, Charles Hamilton Houston to New York and later became Chief Counsel for the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). During this period, Mr. Marshall was asked by the United Nations and the
United Kingdom to help draft the constitutions of the emerging African nations of Ghana and what is now Tanzania. It was felt that the person who so
successfully fought for the rights of America's oppressed minority would be the perfect person to ensure the rights of the White citizens in these two
former European colonies. After amassing an impressive record of Supreme Court challenges to state-sponsored discrimination, including the
landmark Brown v. Board decision in 1954, President John F. Kennedy appointed Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second
Circuit. In this capacity, he wrote over 150 decisions including support for the rights of immigrants, limiting government intrusion in cases involving
illegal search and seizure, double jeopardy, and right to privacy issues. Biographers Michael Davis and Hunter Clark note that, "none of his
(Marshall's) 98 majority decisions was ever reversed by the Supreme Court." In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson appointed Judge Marshall to the
office of U.S. Solicitor General. Before his subsequent nomination to the United States Supreme Court in 1967, Thurgood Marshall won 14 of the 19
cases he argued before the Supreme Court on behalf of the government. Indeed, Thurgood Marshall represented and won more cases before the
United States Supreme Court than any other American.
Until his retirement from the highest court in the land, Justice Marshall established a record for supporting the voiceless American. Having honed his
skills since the case against the University of Maryland, he developed a profound sensitivity to injustice by way of the crucible of racial discrimination
in this country. As an Associate Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall leaves a legacy that expands that early sensitivity to include all of
America's voiceless. Justice Marshall died on January 24, 1993.
FAMOUS FIRST” AFRICAN AMERICANS ON
EASTERN SHORE!
REVEREND JANET ROCHESTER was the first Black Mayor of Church Hill to be voted by election.
MRS. JANET ADAMS & MRS. HELEN T. AYERS were the first two black teachers to integrate the elementary schools in
Queen Anne’s County.
MRS. MADELYN HOLLIS was the first black female to be a member of the Board of Education of Queen Anne’s County
MR. WARREN BUTLER was the first black male to be a member of the Board of Education of
Queen Anne’s County.
MR. LARRIE JONES was the first black high school principal in Queen Anne’s County.
MR. FRIZELLE MOORE was the first black person to sing on the stage of the Centreville Theatre.
MR. WILLIAM SMITH was the first black policeman in Centreville.
MR. ADOLPHUS BROWN was the first black person to have a catering service in Centreville.
MR. ARTHUR CARTER was the first black manager of the Centreville Black Sox.
MRS. TERESA SMITH was the first black female real estate agent to be licensed on the Eastern Shore.
MR. RANDOLPH HOLLIS was the first black person to be employed at the Acme Supermarket.
MRS. RUTH DAVENPORT was the first black person to own/operate a beauty parlor in Quantico, MD
MR. SYLVANUS BROWNE was the first black male to be a member of the Eastern Shoreman in a
Barbershop Quartette.
MRS. BERTHA EMORY became the first black principal in Queen Anne’s County’s integrated school system.
MRS. MARIE BROWN was the first black president of the United Methodist Women’s Peninsula Conference.
MR. EARL TAYLOR was the first black person to have a taxi cab service in Queen Anne's County.
MR. ALEXANDER AYERS was the first black person to own and operate a school bus in Queen Anne’s County and the
State of Maryland.
"Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from
something they have deep inside them—a desire, a dream, a
vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to
be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But
the will must be stronger than the skill."
Muhammed Ali, Boxing Champion (1942-)