With this year marking the 60th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education, that declared separate public schools for Black and White students is unconstitutional, a great-great granddaughter of influential educator Booker T. Washington talked with Diverse about following her family’s legacy and her experience as an educator. Today, marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, gender or national origin. As Amanda Washington carves her own path, a Master’s degree candidate at Columbia University Teachers College (Education Policy) and an intern with the White House Initiative for Educational Excellence for African Americans (WHIEEAA), she sees a future in challenging what many consider the civil rights issue of our time.
Q: How has the family legacy and history influenced your career aspirations?
A: I’ve always been interested in education at an early age. My stepfather worked very closely with the civil rights attorney from Richmond, Va., Oliver Hill Sr., who was the Virginia counsel for Brown v. Board of Education. Back when I was in elementary school, I used to go to Oliver Hill’s house, where I was privy to stories about Brown v. Board and his time with Thurgood Marshall. At an early age I became interested in not just their stories, but the progression of academics and education within our community.
Initially, I wanted to go to law school, but, after I graduated from Spelman College, I joined Teach for America where I taught in Philadelphia and Northeast Washington, D.C., to get in the trenches of education and address why some schools had resources and others did not. One student in Philadelphia told me that “Everybody knows that you have to be White to succeed.” At that point it was not necessarily about the legacy of Booker T. Washington; it was more about what I saw growing up in Richmond and what I experienced in Philadelphia. Those systematic disparities in education stayed with me.
I was told about my family legacy that I am very proud of it but it was my recent work and research on Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois that further captured my interest. I actually think that it is a shame that people pit Washington and DuBois as antagonists. In our generation, both of their philosophies are relevant, and pitting these men against each other is not going to help the education system progress.
Q: If Booker T. Washington were alive today, what do you think he would say about the state education for African-Americans?
