Melanie Acosta, an associate professor at Florida Atlantic University, is holding an event at the African-American Library Research and Cultural Center focused on the Jeanes Supervisors, a group of Black women educators who revolutionized education in the South in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Courtesy of Harris Public Relations
Melanie Acosta first learned about the Jeanes Supervisors when she was getting her Ph. D at the University of Florida.
“I knew they were special,” said Acosta, an associate professor of education at Florida Atlantic University of the group of Black teachers who revolutionized education in the South in the early 1900s.
Their work was serving the needs of their community and training Black people for vocational skills. Their name comes from Anna T. Jeanes, a white woman philanthropist who earmarked $1 million for eduction for Black people in the South. She established the program with help from Booker T. Washington to train Black teachers to work as educators in rural communities. The teachers, who were called supervisors, did more than just educate. They worked to improve school buildings and grounds, created clubs and organizations to develop Black communities and ultimately sought to enhance the cultural and social lives of Black people in the rural South.
Acosta is holding a workshop about the Jeanes Supervisors on Saturday at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center. The series is a part of the library’s ongoing Black History Saturday School CommuniVersity Series that aims to educate residents on Black history and promote intergenerational learning in a family-friendly environment. Other events in the series include Black educational resistance and literacy, Black generational wealth, and the African American Vernacular traditions.
At her event, Acosta will lecture and facilitate a discussion about the Jeanes Supervisors. Attendees will also analyze historical artifacts and archival data from the A. Quinn Jones Collection which includes program agendas and notes from the late 1800s and early 1900s when Black educators in Alachua County would gather. There will also be an immersive story time for children ages 5 to 12.
In her research into the Jeanes Supervisors, Acosta and her team discovered Blanche Ely, a prominent Black educator in Pompano Beach who was a South Florida Jeanes Supervisor for nearly 40 years.
For Acosta, the Jeanes Supervisors are part of a long tradition of brave Black educators, including her parents. Acosta’s father was an elementary teacher who supported children with disabilities and held the positions of dean and principal, and her mother was a community educator.
During the pandemic, Acosta saw the proliferation of learning communities and educational resources created to benefit Black children and parents. Some of her friends and colleagues even created the Black Parent Support Network to support their local community.
“It brought me back to a piece of myself that was very much committed to and wanting to be in the flow of community,” she said. “I was recently mourning the death of my father, I had just relocated back down south to begin my position at FAU, and I was just wondering and praying and asking, ‘Why am I here? What is my work now?”
Acosta kept wondering and reflecting on how her ancestors responded, lived and thrived in chaos and violence.
“When you ask, God answers,” she said. Soon, with the help of a grant from The Spencer Foundation, Acosta and a team of researchers were digging into the history of the Jeanes Supervisors and their role here in Florida.
Acosta said the Seales Supervisors’ legacy exists today in other teaching organizations such Center for Black Education Development in Philadelphia, the Black Teacher Project in Oakland, Calif., and, locally, the Broward Alliance of Black School Educators. Acosta said these networks are key in keeping Black people connected and support future generations.
“My work is to honor my ancestors and Jeanes Supervisors and reanimate their lives and their work so that we can go to our own well and nurture generations of children in a way that is honorable,” Acosta said.
IF YOU GO:
WHAT: Black History Saturday School CommuniVersity Series: The Jeanes Supervisors of Florida
WHEN: 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 24
WHERE: African-American Research Library and Cultural Center, 2650 Sistrunk Blvd., Fort Lauderdale
COST: Free
Raisa Habersham
Miami Herald
Raisa Habersham is the race and culture reporter for the Miami Herald. She previously covered Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale for the Herald with a focus on housing and affordability. Habersham is a graduate of the University of Georgia. She joined the Herald in 2022.
