In Black America; Tell Them We Are Rising with Alexis Moore

here. From the Longhorn Radio Network, the University of Texas at Austin, this is in Black America. Right now, she's not feeling very well. She's physically not well, so she's sort of taken it easy, but we're going to and from church. She's getting awards here in Yanda. She just got a very important one on Saturday.

And pretty much trying to enjoy being in touch with people who now that the book has been published, want to know how she's doing. She's taken it easy and she deserves to it, 86. She certainly has earned the right to rest. Alexis Moore, co-author of the book, tells them we are rising, a memoir of faith and education published by John Wiley and Sons, Incorporated. In June 1988, find the graduation ceremonies of six graders at two Philadelphia Elementary Schools. Ruth right hair made an announcement that she had been secretly thinking about for more than a year. At the age of 77, she took a leap of faith when she promised to pay college tuition for 116 elementary school students if they graduated from high schools. Ruth right hair is a great African-American pioneer. She became the first full-time African-American teacher in the Philadelphia Public Schools system. In February 1956, she became the first African-American senior high school principal in Philadelphia. And in December 1990, she became the first woman president of the Philadelphia Board of Education.

I'm John L. Hanson, Jr. and welcome to another edition of in Black America. On this week's program, tell them we are rising, a memoir of faith and education with co-author Alexis Moore in Black America. A preacher's daughter, dealing with this subject, had a whole lot of issues. She had to come up home. And as a result, an entirely redirected task force was created by Dr. Hair to address the entire subject, starting with emphasizing the value of restraint. The policy became abstinence as the best method of preventing aid. But if some parents wanted their child to get condoms, we would supply them. But nobody used tax money to get them. They were donated from the foundation. But the main thing was the parent had to sign in writing whether or not he or she wanted his or her child involved in this. Which I think was probably as wise a decision as you can imagine given the, as you say, taboo nature of the subject.

She probably had more impact in that single decision than any other, mainly because, as you know, schools become the battlegrounds for every other issues. That could have been, believe me, a very, very dangerous subject. Philadelphia has a very strong Catholic population. It also has a very strong pro-life population. And there was a whole lot of controversy around the subject. In her book, Ruth Wright Hair recounts a lifetime of accomplishments as a teacher as well as her profound experience with the tale then we are reising program, where she learned more about children and education in a few short years than she did in her entire career. This book is about winning and about loss, but not about losing. And ultimately, it's about giving back. Ms. Hair has spent an entire lifetime trailblazing through the Philadelphia Public School system and making strides for students in the inner city schools. Where she taught, she has held up strict standards of education. She fought the racist attitudes of white teachers and administrators and worked to remove barriers that black students face within the school system.

Recently in black America spoke with co-author Alexis Moore. Mrs. Moore is a journalist and a member of the editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper. Ruth Hair is a Philadelphia institution. I remember a time when I didn't know of her. You have to understand she was the first black high school teacher fully appointed in the city of Philadelphia. She was the first black female administrator fully appointed in the city of Philadelphia. She was a college professor. She was a member of the board of education. I mean, she's just an institution. Plus, which on the personal note, she knew my dad who was ahead of the Civil Rights Movement here. So I think she didn't realize I was going to take her seriously, but we had lunch once upon a time. And she said to me, how would you like to write a book with me? And I think went completely ballistic because an opportunity to document a voice like this doesn't come along every day. It is one of the most inspiring moments of my career.

Recording what she did to help children achieve their best possible level of excellence is a vital, vital, vital task. Too often we forget that you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Story is basically how anybody can give back to their community by creating your own mentoring program. She challenged the sixth graders of two schools in one of our poorest neighborhoods. If they would graduate from high school, she would pay their tuition to college. So half the book is the story of her family and her traditions and her achievement and how they inspired her to do the second half of the book, which is how she learned what it takes to help 116 boys and girls from middle school through high school. The problems, of course, are obvious. We all know them, but her story is not about losing. It's about winning and it's about loss, but never about losing because none of these kids are losers contrary to a lot of people wanting to believe.

Obviously Ruth was a, is a blessed woman. Tell us about her background. Well, the name of the book is tell them we are rising and more of faith in education. What that means is Dr. Hair grew up in a very close family, a middle class black family, which has been in the forefront of educational development since the Civil War. Her grandfather, Richard Robert Wright, went to school with his mother at age 10. They went 200 miles walking and bartering their way to get to school because emancipated slaves had, they had no problem understanding the only way to freedom was through education, the only way. So they marched 200 miles to get to the box car school that was in Atlanta. And when General Howard, after whom Howard University is named, a great benefactor of education came to visit that school.

He asked the students, young and old, all colors, all sizes, but all desperate to learn what message he should take back. Richard Wright, Dr. Hair's grandfather, responded. Sir, tell them we are rising. That exchange became part of a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier. So with a background like that, as you can imagine, education has always been the primary goal of her family. Her, both her grandparents were distinguished educators, one, Colonel Richard Wright, became from that slave beginning, a banker, a founder of Georgia State College. Among other things, when he was in his 70s, he decided to invest in Haitian coffee and bought an airplane so he could help advertise it. So you could tell quite a, quite a group on her mother's side, her other grandfather also was an educator. He went to see and jumped off the boat when his captain offered to pay for him to go to school.

So he wound up in Atlanta along with her grandfather Wright. Dr. Hair's father was a distinguished member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and, in fact, became a bishop. And also a business person. The fascinating part about Bishop Wright is that he documented back in the beginning days of the century over a thousand black businesses in Philadelphia, which many people don't believe ever exist. But he documented it. So we know that it was always a thriving community before civil rights ever came to bear. With a background like that, as you can imagine, there was always the assumption she was going to go to college. So she started out with an advantage that unfortunately children of today don't seem to have a lot of them, which is that there must be education first, last and always. How did they happen to move to Philadelphia?

The father, Mr. Wright, I'm sorry, Bishop Wright, was going to school down there when he met Dr. Hair's mother and then decided to come up here to go to the University of Pennsylvania. And so, of course, she brought it. They married in Atlanta and then came to Philadelphia to live. Dr. Hair was born in 1910, believe it or not. And at that time. And her mother's home. Why was it important for her to be born in her mother's home? Oh, because you know the father, isn't it? You all know how you all are. Be born down here, darn it. And then you go anywhere you want. There's a real deep connection, deep roots in the South, as you know, for most of us that happens to be true. But anyway, Dr. Hair's father was going to school there and also had gotten a choice assignment to not only be a minister here, but become the editor of the official newspaper of the African-American Methodist Episcopal Church. So it was an interesting moment to be there. I'm sure you know that the AME Church was founded in Philadelphia. So it was a pretty prestigious appointment for them.

It seems that there were many illuminaries in and out of their household since they had one of the larger homes in Philadelphia. And of course, coming from a large family, family members was coming up there to study, to go on to a professional vocation. Some of the individuals that Ruth met in early age, that probably had an influence on her career and her philosophies. A.C.L. Randolph, the labor leader and civil rights activist who actually conceived of the original March on Washington. Madam C.J. Walker, the hair care innovator who also became the first black woman millionaire, she stayed with the family, opera singers, people, of course, people of distinction in the AME Church. But one of them, Madam Ivante, she was a Lillian Tibb, a soprano of great distinction in her day.

So it's clear that seeing what education could do helped re-emphasize the lesson. You could also become anything you wanted if you just had the knowledge in your head. Being the first African-American teacher in the Philadelphia public school system, were there any animosity from her colleagues when it was appointed? Well, let's put it this way. First, they ignored her pretty much. It was hard enough getting into the system because Dr. Harris returned to Philadelphia. She, by this time, had met and married in Arkansas. In 1940, she had to take the first national teachers exam. It was quite interesting. The school was not exactly welcoming, as you say. But she was much more startled by the fact that they basically had no compunction about saying terribly racially, biased remarks about the kids. Like, you can't teach them anything. I want to teach children not animals. And, of course, this infuriated Dr. Harris, and she knew darn good and well why they were saying it.

She was outraged, and she did not get a whole lot of support for her remark to the person who said this, that you ought to transfer. You're right. As soon as you get out of the profession, the better. But at any rate, let's just put it this way. She stood up for those kids by saying, I have never seen such condescension towards these young people that I have seen here. These are good kids, and they deserve better than what they're getting. By the time she finished her speech, even though she didn't get much but silence, she felt better, but the rest of the faculty was hardly friendly. I understand. Exactly. How was it that you were able to get Dr. Harris to open up, and the second part of the question, her life has been so fascinating. Did you become in awe at any point during the interview process?

I will say to you, the most exciting part was to listen to her in her voice and sustain her voice. There are so many stories that we had to cut. You could imagine that doing the research was fascinating and extraordinary. As you can imagine, she's born in 1910. She was raised in a very educated family. Her natural voice is very articulate. She speaks in paragraphs, if you understand. She's writing was wonderful. It was more writing and rewriting than it either of us had anticipated, but it was certainly a joy to do it. As far as the second part of your question was that I don't know how to put this, but I will tell you this. I've been in the news business 17 years. I have covered Nelson Mandela when he came out of prison and toward the United States. I covered Bill Clinton in 1992 when he was just this little Arkansas governor.

I will tell you, this has been the most rewarding professional experience of my life. Documenting someone who is very clear-eyed about what she's done, who is very modest at the same time, and who still gets angry about children wasting their potential and about a system that lets them down is really inspiring. I mean, you can't imagine how much fun it was to look at the old pictures and help her read out the stories we wanted to include and didn't have time for and all that. Basically, the other part of the challenge that I enjoyed was helping her narrow down the lessons that she learned from the kids, from the risers, as we call the children in the program that she sent to their college tuition. Some of her conclusions are going to be startling to people, not the least of which is that the middle school isn't a mistake, and that conditions in the 1990s are getting worse for kids as opposed to better. And that is something I don't think many people want to acknowledge, but I can't help but seeing enough evidence in the way we treat our children of all races in all conditions.

All kids are being submitted to things that I couldn't conceive of in my youth, and I'm 40 plus, so you can imagine what I'm talking about. I understand. Pregnancy, abortion, violence, constant reinforcement of negativity on television, I mean, it's amazing. Kids are standing up as much as they stand off. I was Dr. Hale able to connect to these 116 students, but of course, there were more students, but these particular 116 students. Well, among other things, she never allowed herself to not expect the best from them. Children are like anybody else. What you give them, you get back. What she's given them is, I believe you can do anything if you work hard for it. The main thing was she was in her 70s or late 70s when she decided to do this. So she was more of a grant, the extra grandmother, and a lot of these kids are familiar with.

And more importantly, the mentors that helped get her connected with these kids, I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to talk to some of these people. At the time when you hear only about people turning away from kids, you're looking at dozens of people who attach their lives to a child for six years. This is a major commitment, but more importantly is Dr. Hale made it clear to all of them, we're not parents, we're helpers, we're not substitutes. And she herself helped to that conviction, which meant that she understood there would be choices these children make that she could not make. Remember, this is a preacher's kid. So she didn't expect them to be perfect, nor did she condemn them for their mistakes in judgment. Some of these children are to this day determined to imitate Dr. Hale's example. I, one young lady, I ran into on the street the other day and she said, you know, I'm still going to get my money together so I can send somebody to college the way Dr. Hale sent me. It's not so much what you say as what you do and believe me, these kids are very aware of the commitment that she made to them.

They watched her for six years, so they know she wasn't just, you know, trying to be some grand benefactor. She really believes they can do it. How was she able to put the finances together to make that leap of faith? Well, the funny part about it is she and her family had always been what's the word I'm looking for. Can we say conservative? Right. She could not waste it. And, you know, her husband had passed away in 1977, so she had, they had a pension and some benefits and she made it some financial decisions. She was independently wealthy into the extent that as long as she, as she puts it, she stayed away from scams, unwise investments in the second husband. All right. So basically, Reaganomics made it possible, as she tells in the book, when she realized that Mr. Reagan would introduce tax reductions that would help his buddies, real millionaires, those in the 73% bracket, she put fine advantage of all those opportunities. Of course, as we know now, some of these deals were just simply avert, but at, oh, in the 80s, a lot of people who didn't pay a dollar in income tax were rolling up the books.

But anyway, the point is in 1987, she realized she had more money than she would spend and her grandchildren and her daughter would be taken care of, so it was time for her to invest in the future by investing in these children. And that's how she did it, as she would tell anybody, it wasn't hard, you just had to make sure you stay away from scams, unwise investments in the second husband. Having that innate love for teaching, how did she come to the decision to move on to become a principal? Well, it was almost forced upon her, frankly, if you do a wonderful job as a teacher and other people say, well, why not try this next step? Then you have the opportunity in 1946 to actually uplift the school that was deliberately being run down because the children were black. How could you say no to that? It's the deliberate systemic erosion of educational standards outraged her to the point where she had to take some of it.

She had to take some of it. The principal who nominated her, in fact, was quite proud that she, this was a white lady as a matter of fact, crossed the color line to that extent. So this time around, by the time she finally got it in 1956, everybody was happy for it because she had proven she knew what she was doing. And she loved that job, as she tells anyone, and as she says in the book, first and foremost, she had to change the attitude and then change the curriculum. And she had a wonderful faculty to work with, including the mother of former Congressman William H. Gray, who is now president of the United Negro College Fund. It was a great faculty, and some of them, unfortunately, are still with us, so it's fun to talk to them to make a school basically a place where she wanted to send her own child. That if she had to send her own daughter here, it would be a school she'd be proud of.

The next step was school board president. Well, she got on the board as a member first, and then she did become, well, I'm sorry, let me back up a minute. From principal, she became an administrator for a tentative of our sub districts. Again, the challenge was just you have to take it. Did it at one school? Let's see what you can do with some more. Again, the schools were becoming increasingly minority, and the buildings were appalling. This cone started with the Civil Rights Movement, and it also gave her an opportunity to mentor other young educators, including Marcus Foster, one of the finest educators in urban America. He was a distinguished motivational person, a huge commitment to education. He became her appointment for a high school that ironically I wound up teaching in much later. Marcus Foster, unfortunately, was assassinated by the Symbini's Liberation Army after he left Philadelphia.

He moved to Oakland, California with a tragic loss, and one that she speaks of to this day. At any rate, she had to whip that district in the shape by going right back to the basics, which is we're going to learn how to read first and foremost. We will read. We will read. We will read. Parents will get involved. We will put back academics to the level that they were supposed to be, and we will give our children the so-called fringes like art and music. Art and music, by the way, are two of the things that we have some potential to reinvigorate education with. Children don't see those as things other than performance, but they certainly can be successful business careers in the field of music and art. And that's one of the things that Dr. Here is recommending we think about creating special schools that focus on these kinds of methods to educate children who otherwise have no interest in the curriculum as it is now.

You got to keep trying to reform things. In other words, it can't be satisfied. So then she went from the administrator who was beloved by so many people. Actually, she left as retirement. That's when she was approached to become a part of the school board. And she basically took it even though she didn't think she was going to have the strength because we had at that time the first black school superintendent a woman named Dr. Constance Clayton. So she wanted to be there to help Dr. Clayton. And from there it was thrust upon her again, we had to have someone to become president of school board who could handle the different interest pardoning expression of the school board. Unlike many places there, we have an appointed school board as post-unelected school board, partially because unfortunately our city has a long tradition of public corruption and education. So for a star that we have an appointed board and it's so far worked out under Dr. Harris tenure,

she always seems to get stuck in the middle when the big issues come up. She had to deal with the issue of AIDS and how the schools should handle that subject. As you know, sex and schools has always touched the subject. But she had, exactly. She had literally just become president when a demonstration erupted at the school board meeting where young people involved with act up and to the front of the room and started throwing condoms around because they wanted to have condoms in the school. To put it mildly startled her, let's put it this way. A preacher's daughter dealing with this subject had a whole lot of issues she had to come up with. And as a result, an entirely redirected task force was created by Dr. Harris to address the entire subject, starting with emphasizing the value of restraint. The policy became abstinence is the best method of preventing AIDS. But if some parents wanted their child to get condoms, we would supply them. But nobody used tax money to get them.

They were donated from a foundation. But the main thing was the parent had to sign in writing whether or not he or she wanted his or her child involved in this. Which I think was probably as wise a decision as you can imagine given the, as you say, taboo nature of the subject. She probably had more impact in that single decision than any other, mainly because, as you know, schools become the battlegrounds for every other issues. That could have been, believe me, a very, very dangerous subject. Philadelphia has a very strong Catholic population. It also has a very strong pro-life population. And there was a whole lot of controversy around the subject. You could say Dr. Harris was blessed to be the right person at the right time in that very tricky subject. Well, some years earlier in May 1970, there were other confrontations with the city as relates to the Black Revolutionary and Black History Corp is in the school.

Oh, yeah. Well, again, she walked the point, as they say, in the military, on that particular issue. The schools have been neglected for so long that so much was wrong just physically. The buildings along were in a disgrace. More to the point, the curriculum had to decline to the point of abuse. Alexis Moore, co-author of the book, Tell Them We Are Rising, a memoir of faith in education, published by John Wiley and Sons, Incorporated. If you have a question or comment or suggestions asked your future in Black America programs, write us. Also, let us know what radio station you heard us over. The views and opinions expressed on this program are not necessarily those of this station or of the University of Texas at Austin. Until we have the opportunity again for IBA technical producer David Alvarez, I'm John El Hansen, Jr.

Thank you for joining us today. And please join us again next week. Cassette copies of this program are available and may be purchased by writing in Black America cassettes. Communication Building B, UT Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712. That's in Black America cassettes, Communication Building B, UT Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712. From the University of Texas at Austin, this is the Longhorn Radio Network. I'm John El Hansen, Jr. Join me this week on in Black America. She just got a very important one on Saturday and pretty much trying to enjoy being in touch with people who now that the book has been published want to know how she's doing. Tell them we are rising a memoir of faith and education this week on in Black America.