As Black History Month winds down, educators will still be doing their best to close education gaps and get students career ready. We want to give one last tribute to the black educators and other influential heroes we celebrated for this year’s Black History Month because they are a vital source of inspiration for those taking up the torch.
Our 2023 Black History Month Heroes:
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee represents Texas’s 18th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. During a 2022 interview, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee shared that Black History Month for her is about celebrating “…living, breathing history.” Click here to read her entire response.
LeVar Burton
Levar Burton has been an incredible supporter of literacy. One of his current projects is the “Levar Burton Reads” podcast. Discover some new short fiction for your students or yourself by clicking here.
5 Everday Heroes
Hear from 5 educational professionals about how they empower black students by advancing racial equity in their classrooms. Click here to listen to the podcast episode.
Rita Pierson
In her TED Talk “Why Every Student Deserves a Champion,” the late Rita Pierson, a teacher of 40 years, inspired fellow educators to connect with students on a personal level to accelerate education. Click here to watch a 2.5-minute motivational clip to catch a highlight from her motivational speech.
Edmund W. Gordon
Edmund W. Gordon was a founding director of Head Start. By September 2022, the program helped advance education for over 37 million low-income students. Click here for a short bio on Gordon.
500+ Inspiring Black Educators
The goal behind Project 500 was to share the stories of 500 black educators to inspire a new generation of educators. The project has expanded, and you can find many topics that help teachers grow. Check out the podcast series and listen to one of the episodes here.
Here’s who we celebrated in 2022.
Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
VARconnection 