MARVA COLLINS

Collins (1936- ) was born in Alabama into a prosperous family, but was affected by the divorce of her parents. She became the first in her family to graduate from college after attending Clark College in Atlanta. Trained as a secretary but not able to land a job, she turned to teaching business, a trade she had learned from her father. After teaching in the Chicago school system, in 1975 she opened the Westside Preparatory School, a haven for children considered as rejects from the Chicago public and private schools. She instilled in them character-building, morals, ethic, values, and attitudes in addition to expectations. Her successes led to a CBS television special and a "60 minutes" interview in 1979. Soon thereafter she declined an opportunity to be the US. Secretary of Education in order to remain with her students. Collins has remained active in service and professional organizations, has won multiple awards and honors, and has written over 35 articles for publication.

HILDA DAVIS

Davis (1905- ) was born in Washington, D.C. Her uncle, Benjamin Oliver Davis, Sr., would eventually become the nation's first African American general in the U. S. Army. A good student, she graduated from Howard University in 1925 after acquiring a rich educational experience. She taught at the Palmer Memorial Institute in North Carolina for five years, then received a masters from Radcliffe in 1932. Appointed dean of women and assistant professor of English at Shaw Unive3sity in North Carolina, Davis became the only woman administrator. In 1936 she left Shaw to become director of women's activities and associate professor of English at Talladega College. Davis also is the only person to serve two separate, nonconsecutive terms as president of the National Association of College Women (1939-1945, 1957-1961). After having resigned from Talladega, she completed her Ph.D. in human development at the University of Chicago, the first African American graduate of this program. Before retiring in 1977, she held faculty positions in the English departments of the University of Delaware and Wilmington College in Delaware.

ANNIE WEALTHY HOLLAND

Holland(1871-1934) was born in Virginia, passed an examination that earned her a permanent teaching certificate, though the death of her mother forced her to care for her siblings and earn a living as nurse and dressmaker in New York. In 1897, she married a school principal and moved with him to Franklin, Virginia. Once she began to teach a few years later, she was taken by the poverty of her charges and organized pooled funds into cooperative buying clubs. When her husband resigned in 1905, she took over as principal. In 1911 she moved to North Carolina, where there were no public secondary schools for any race until 1918. She set about improving conditions by obtaining funds through private philanthropy. In 1915 Holland was appointed State Home Demonstration Agent for North Carolina, a post that mad her the supervisor of the rich Jeanes fund. She traveled throughout the state to ensure that the "Jeanes teachers" were improving rural education by helping black teachers learn new skills. She also organized reading circles, local parent-teacher associations, build libraries and new school buildings, and even expanded the work of the Jeanes teachers to include instruction in dental hygiene and good health habits.