Portland Observer Thursday, November 30, 1978 Page 3
left there a few years later,” Willis
reflected quietly, "th e vandalism
rate at that school was the lowest in
the entire city.”
by Kathryn H. Bogle
Here they arel Some o f Portland’ s
first Black school teachers! Seven are
pictured here — there were eleven,
but four were either out o f the city or
were unable to attend the big dance
back in 1949 given by the Portland
branch o f the NAACP tc celebrate
the 40th anniversary o f the national
organization.
The teachers were honored guests
that night and a very proud and hap
py throng crowded Norse hall to see
them, to gree than and to joy in their
accomplishment. The applause was
thunderous as each stepped forward
to receive a bouquet in recognition o f
the special strength o f character we
knew that each had to possess to win
a place in the city’s public schools.
We could only guess at what ob
stacles they had already overcome
and to guess what hurdles might be
later erected in their path as they
pursued their profession.
Receiving flowers on stage that
night in 1949 were: W illis Williams,
Leota Bryant Stone who had been
the very first Black woman in Port
land classrooms, Tessie Price, Helen
Rawlins, Emma Walker Chiles, Ruth
Spencer and Josephine Grim m ett.
Not appearing in the picture were:
Susie Patterson, M artha Jordan,
Heloise H ill and Robert Ford who
was the first Black male to teach in
the public schools o f the city.
Leota Bryant Stone, Josephine
G rim m ett and Tessie Price are
deceased but all led productive lives
and were happy to remain in their
profession throughout their working
careers. Nearly all the others have
retired. We have talked with some o f
them and w ill share with you some
pictures they have in their albums.
W illis Williams did not change his
profession basically, but he did go
very soon in to a p rin cip a ls h ip
capacity and he did change his
geographic location to bring variety
into his own life experience. He and
his wife, Frances, who also became a
teacher
(changing
her
own
profession), charted their journeys
with imaginative skill ending their
careers back in their old home town.
Well, close to it. They have retired to
a newly purchased home in Van
couver, Washington.
W illis is a graduate o f Pacific
U niversity at Forest G rove. He
worked hard for nine years on the
Union Pacific Railway and then put
himself through college, he related to
us.
Frances has seen to it that vacation
periods afforded this couple a chance
for “ enrichment as teachers, and for
some earned s e lf-g ra tific a tio n .”
Foreign travel has been their outlet.
The W illiam s’ have spent summer
vacation days in Italy, Greece, Israel
and the more northern parts o f
Europe. They have also touched
down in Mexico and have made an
aloha trip to Hawaii.
Retirement for W illis means serv
ing on the language arts committee
o f the Evergreen School District in
© Family Album Northwest 1978
ROSE VILLA CLEANERS
Portland's first public school teachers were honored by
the N AA CP in 1949: Willis Williams, Leota Bryant Stone,
Price, Helen Rawlins, Emma Walker Chiles, Ruth
Williams goes on with his story:
‘ ‘Since they had never had a Black
full-time teacher in their district, the
school superintendent and a prin
cipal drove 45 miles to observe my
teaching. I was not aware o f their in
tent until 20 minutes before their
arrival when I was so informed by
my principal. They spent an hour in
my classroom and they offered me a
contract before leaving. I was
assigned to a sixth grade at Addison
School.
“ A fte r my firs t year there, 1
passed a battery o f tests at Stanford
University and applied for a prin
cipalship with that district.
" I was one o f 32 men applying for
that single opening. 1 finished a
lengthy interview before a group o f
fifteen Stanford professors and cen
tral district personnel. 1 came out in
second place. 1 applied again the
following year and was successful on
my third try. The school I had been
in as a teacher became my firs t
assignment as a principal. It was
quite a w ealthy and inte lle ctu a l
community which afforded me op
portunities for experimentation and
new innovations.”
Meanwhile, Frances, a graduate o f
Bennett College in Greensboro, North
Carolina who had worked as a social
worker for Multnomah County when
the family lived in Portland, decided
to go back to college. She wanted to
s h ift her profession to that o f
teaching. Accordingly, she entered
San Jose State College and added an
Spencer, Josephine Grimmett. Not pictured: Susie Patter
son, Robert Ford, Martha Jordan, and Heloise Hill.
day that very few, i f any, white
youngsters attended school for fear
o f attack.
“ Needless to say, I p ro m p tly
called a lengthy ‘all school’ assem
bly. This activity ceased immediately
at my school.”
HAWAII
The couple heard the call o f
Hawaii. W illis applied and received a
one year exchange principalship to
Hawaii with his salary paid by the
California district.
" I became the first Black principal
in the Hawaiian Islands,” he said.
" M y assignment was at M onaw ili
School about nine miles from
Honolulu at Kailua. My school was a
710 p u p il school, kindergarten
through sixth grades. It was com
posed o f pupils from a number o f
ethnic groups from generally middle
to high middle income families.
“ I fo und the challenge oddly
reversed to discover that here the
white child and his family were the
brunt o f considerable ill will. It was
dramatically demonstrated on their
annual " K ill Hoale” day. This was a
WE DO ALTERATIONS
3l|t
from the "low er 48” often had to be
put back a class in transfer to catch
up with their grade level. The school
had its own com plete Stitz
planetarium ,
an
in s ta lla tio n
especially satisfying to W illis. He
had held a deep interest in
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Willis and Frances Williams in Hawaii in 1969.
ALASKA
W ithin two or three years, in 1964,
the Williams teaching team heeded
the "c a ll” again, this time it was the
"c a ll o f the Y ukon” they heard.
Positions for W illis as a principal,
and for Frances as a teacher, were
awaiting their arrival in Juneau.
They drove their car from Palo
A lto to Prince Rupert, took their car
aboard a ship at Prince Rupert and
when the ship docked in Juneau,
Juneau’ s firs t Black teacher and
Juneau’s first Black principal had
arrived.
The Juneau experience was a
rewarding one, the couple agree en
thusiastically, W illis was principal at
d iffe re n t times at tw o d iffe re n t
elementary schools and spent three
happy years at the newly built junior
high school called the “ M arie
Drake.”
What made “ M arie D rake” so
special in W illis ’ album? The
curriculum for one thing. The basic 3
R’ s were stressed here and children
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Eskimo students paint wall mural
in Anchorage school.
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planetariums as a teaching tool since
his Portland days when the efforts o f
Portland locals built one here.
The children o f Juneau kept
school hours exactly as children do in
the "low er 48,” though often they
had to lig h t th e ir own way by
fla sh lig h t through
the season
darkness. Snows were frequent and
deep, so the classrooms were equip
ped with extra cloakroom space for
the drying o f wet garments. Physical
education classes very norm ally
provided instruction for skiing and
for ice skating. Marie Drake had its
own ice skating rink and ice hockey
games, and, ro u tin e ly children
checked out any o f the 100 pairs of
skis kept at the school for this pur
pose.
A fte r five years in Juneau,
Williams was offered a place as the
Assistant Superintendent o f Schools
for that district, but he turned the
o p p o rtu n ity down. He preferred
principalships. Also there had been
“ tw o d iffic u lt w inters o f deep
snow” ; four-foot layers piled on top
o f four-foot layers — with incessant,
endless shoveling required.
The Williams’ looked southward.
The principal and the teacher ap
plied for employment with the A n
chorage School District where the
winters were "less severe as far as
snowfall is concerned.” They were
accepted. But — there was a proviso
before W illis was asked to sign the
co ntract. He had to accept the
position the District most wanted to
fill. It was the problem school o f A n
chorage. The school had had five
different principals in eight years.
W illis signed.
Composition o f the student body
was one-third white, one-third Black
and one-third Indian-Eskimo. Van
dalism was rampant. White parents
knew o f only one other Black prin
cipal in Anchorage schools (there
were about fifteen Black teach«s in
the 63 Anchorage schools) and they
had some apprehension regarding
the treatm ent they might receive
from this new Black principal.
"T h is was my first experience o f
this nature,” recounted W illis, "and
I accepted it with open arms. A ll
parents soon discovered that I
treated my pupils alike, regardless o f
color and (gradually) they joined
w ith other parents to make the
needed changes.
" I reorganized a number o f PTA
m ethods, and the student body
methods. The pupils took on a new
pride in their school and had much to
say through their student council on
the running o f their school. When I
/J
8525 N.E. F R E M O N T ^
CLOSED
M O NDAY
" I held several teacher workshops
while there and 1 also conducted
three-hour workshops in "Creative
Social Studies” for the convention o f
principals while I was there. The cen
tra l adm inistrative s ta ff and my
faculty cordially received all o f my
efforts and I was asked to remain
there.
"Frances and I had enjoyed our
year there in Hawaii but we preferred
to return to California, which we
did.
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School, where Willis Williams headed the athletic department.
elementary school teaching creden
tial to her secondary credential, and
accumulated work towards an M .A.
degree in education.
So, two years after the W illiams’
move to C a lifo rn ia , Frances
qualified and was accepted fo r a
teaching position with the Ravens
wood School District- in East Palo
Alto. She taught also in Menlo Park
while W illis was moving into his
p rin c ip a lsh ip . A fte r teaching in
California for seven years, she now
holds a L ife Teaching Credential
from that state.
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1953 basketball team and cheer leaders at Portland's Failing Elementary
" I n September o f 1948,” Williams
began, ” 1 was placed in a teaching
position in the eighth grade at Joseph
Failing School here in P ortland.
Being the only male person on the
faculty (other than the principal), I
was put in charge o f a number o f in
school assignments such as head o f
the athletics department, the m ilk
program, the safety squad, and after
three years, in charge o f the building
in the absence o f the principal.
" I spent five years at this school
and during that time I took on some
outside elected positions. I became
president o f the Southwest Social
Council, Director o f the Department
o f Classroom Teachers for District
10 (P o rtla n d ) o f the Oregon
Education Association, and became
a member o f the Board o f Directors
o f the P o rtla n d Grade Teachers
Association. I also was a board
member o f the Urban League.”
Along the way, W illis also picked
up a M .A . degree in School A d
ministration from the University o f
Oregon in 1953.
Soon the Williams family decided
on a move to sunny California. They
settled in R ichm ond, C a lifo rn ia
where W illis taught sixth grade for a
year until he could get his bearings to
select community and housing in a
more permanent lo ca tio n . They
found an attractive location at Palo
A lto and W illis applied fo r a
teaching position there.
Vancouver, W ashington, being a
member o f the Citizen’ s Bond and
Levy Committee. He makes “ many
tracks” to P ortland attending
meetings o f the Royal Esquire Club
and is their corresponding secretary.
Willis also is running for a seat on
the board o f directors for the Alaska
State Retirement System.
In retirement Frances seems con
tent to decorate and settle the family
into their new home and to brush up
on the bridge game with old friends.
What other visions o f “ enrich
ment” are taking shape as these
teaching partners currently deal the
cards and play their hands? Even a
kibitzer must guess.
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