Ann Wager: A 17th-century teacher in Colonial Williamsburg

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Ann Wager was a 17th-century school mistress who taught at Bray School located in Colonial Williamsburg, pictured above. Photo Credit: Ben Franklin’s World

In this country, an emphasis on the importance of education and recognition for the essential role of dedicated and hardworking teachers goes way back to our very beginnings. One of these early teachers was Ann Wager, a 17th-century school mistress who taught in Virginia’s Colonial Williamsburg.

Ann Wager was born in 1716. As a young girl, she was educated by her father, despite her mother’s resistance to the idea. Ann’s mother believed it was not proper for a young woman to learn or to support herself. When she came of age, Ann married William Wager of Williamsburg, and the couple lived with their children in colonial Williamsburg. After her husband’s passing in 1748, Ann was faced with the necessity of earning a living.

As a widow, Ann inaugurated her career as an educator when she accepted a position as tutor and governess to the white children of Carter Burrell of the Carter’s Grove Plantation in Williamsburg. She held this position for two years.

In 1760 Ann was hired to teach school in the Williamsburg Bray School. This move was in response to Ben Franklin’s recommendation that the town establish a school “for the instruction of Negro Children in the Principles of the Christian religion.” The Bray school was the first school established in the colony of Virginia for African American students, which was not at that time illegal. For her work as a school mistress, Bray Charities Association paid her the salary of £20 per year, plus housing. Each year, between 20 and 30 boys and girls aged three to ten years of age were enrolled in the school, where Ann taught Anglican religious doctrine, reading, spelling, grammar, writing, and general deportment. In addition, girls were taught knitting and sewing. Ann taught lessons seven days a week.

Ann taught school in Williamsburg for 14 years. Over that period of time, she taught nearly 400 students.  Even when her health began to fail, she continued to teach until her passing on Aug. 20, 1774.

To read more about this colonial Chalkboard Champion, see this article written about her in History of American Women.

Eleanor Roosevelt: Dedicated teacher, social activist, and US First Lady

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Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was born into an aristocratic family, yet she worked as a teacher when she was a young woman and all her life she championed education for the underprivileged. Photo credit: national First Ladies Library

It is common knowledge that Eleanor Roosevelt was a popular First Lady who served our county during the presidency of her husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He served during the Great Depression and World War II. During that period, Eleanor worked tirelessly to advance her husband’s social and political agenda. But did you know that this great lady was a teacher before her marriage to FDR?

Eleanor Roosevelt was born into an aristocratic family in New York city. Her mother died when Eleanor was quite young, and her father was an alcoholic. As a child, she was socially and physically awkward and starved for attention. When her father also passed away, young Eleanor became a ward of her maternal grandmother.

Eleanor was educated by private tutors until she was 15 years old. Then her grandmother sent her to private finishing school, the Allenswood Academy, in England. There Eleanor flourished under the guidance of the school’s headmistress, Marie Souvestre, who encouraged social responsibility and independence for young women. When Eleanor completed her formal education at age 18, she returned to New York City. There she made her social debut in 1902, according to the customs of her social class.

After Eleanor’s debut, she shunned the social life of a debutante that her family expected her to follow. Instead, she turned her boundless energy into progressive projects that helped improve the lives and working conditions of immigrants and those living in poverty. She joined an organization known as the Junior League, and helped established a community center known as the Rivington Street Settlement House on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The center specialized in teaching life skills and vocational skills. Many of the center’s clients were children who worked long hours in the confined spaces of sweat shops. These children did not have many opportunities to engage in physical exercise and movement. To help them improve their health, Eleanor worked as a dance teacher and calisthenics instructor.

Because of her work at the Junior League, Eleanor Roosevelt found her voice as a social activist long before she became First lady. Her work at there was the start of a career in public service that extended even after she left the White House.

To learn more about this amazing historical figure, see this link at the National First Ladies Library.

PE teacher and football coach Brick Mitchell was a fine athlete

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High school PE teacher and football coach Brick Mitchell was, himself, an exceptional football player. Photo credit: Public Domain

Many fine educators also enjoy success in professions other than teaching. One of these is Brick Mitchell, a high school physical education teacher who also earned fame as a football player and college football coach.

Brick was born Clarence Leon Mitchell, but was always known by his nickname, “Brick.” His birth year is believed to be 1894. As a young man, Brick played college football at the University of Oregon from 1915 to 1918, when World War I was in full swing. In 1916, he was selected to the All-Pacific Coast football team. He played the position of end. During his college years, Brick played three games in the Rose Bowl.

In the 1920s, Brick coached football at San Mateo High School in San Mateo, California. The school is located 20 miles south of San Francisco. In 1926 Coach Mitchell led his team to its first state championship. Next, Brick worked as a line coach at the University of California, Berkeley. From there he was hired as the Head Football Coach at the University of Nevada, Reno. He coached there from 1932 to 1935. During those years, he led his team, the Wolf Pack, to a record of 10 wins, 20 losses, and 3 ties.

In 1958, Brick returned to the high school. There he taught physical education, mechanical drawing, and math at Oroville High School in Oroville, California. Oroville is a public high school located in the rural northern valley at the base of the Sierra Nevada foothills, about 70 miles north of Sacramento.

Sadly, Brick Mitchell passed away on Oct. 21, 1963, at the University of California Hospital in San Francisco. He was 69 years old.

Maryland teacher and community activist Rose Sommerfield

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Many dedicated educators work diligently on humanitarian projects to improve conditions for others in their community. One who did this was Rose Sommerfield, a teacher from Baltimore, Maryland, who was an activist and social worker for the Jewish community in her city.

Rose was born into a middle-class German Jewish family in Baltimore in 1874. From 1889 to 1899 she taught in public schools in Baltimore. During those years, Rose became interested in the First Grade Teachers’ Association, and greatly influenced the organization’s policies. In addition, she established the first Mothers’ Meetings held in a Baltimore public school.

Rose was instrumental in the organization of her city’s Daughters of Israel and the Baltimore Section of the Council of Jewish Women. In fact, she was the first secretary of both organizations. She was also involved in a day nursery, the First Jewish Working Girls Club, and the Maccabeans, an association of men who did volunteer work with Jewish boys. In addition, Rose authored many published articles on educational and philanthropic subjects.

In 1899, Rose relocated to New York, where she organized the  vocational course for the Clara de Hirsch Home for Working Girls. She was instrumental in the development of the Home, where she served as Resident Director from 1899 to 1926. In addition to this work, Rose also organized the Clara de Hirsch Home for Immigrant Girls, the Welcome House Settlement house, and the Model Employment Bureau. And, as if all this were not enough, she helped to reorganize the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society and the Virginia, a non-sectarian hotel for working girls.

The indefatigable teacher and activist passed away on August 5, 1952. She was 78 years old. To read more about her, see this article published by Women of America.