A Message from Brian Buckley, Founder and Executive Director of the Barbara Henry Courage in Teaching Award (c. August, 2021)
In the middle of February 2021, I was teaching elementary school at Soaring Heights PK-8 in Erie, Colorado. I was an elementary school special education resource teacher. This was my second year teaching during the COVID-19 epidemic and every single day I wondered how I could bring unique educational experiences to my students. My students, who had been shifting between in-person, online, and no visitors inside the school building since March, 2020.
Then it dawned upon me. The United States had been experiencing brutally painful incidents of racism and the conversation on race in the USA had turned into a non-dialogue. Steps of progress for a more inclusive society had been erased by verbal attacks and legislation seeking to keep people of color outside the workings of an equitable society.
And, March 4th was approaching.
Exelauno Day back in the oldest school in continuous existence in North America. The Roxbury Latin School in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, founded in 1645. On this day every year, selected students declaim—in Greek and in Latin—famous speeches from the classical era. For six straight years, from 1981 to 1986, Barbara Henry's youngest son (and my classmate) Courtney riveted faculty and students alike with his oratorical fireworks and theatrics. One year, the sleeves of his dress shirt were suddenly pulled and torn from the body of his shirt. Cicero and Cato and Seneca lived again through dear Courtney's exclamations.
Barbara and I thus planned, in memory of Courtney's blazing rhetoric, to have her speak to and answer questions from the 4 classrooms (Mrs. DeJana, Ms. Hogan, Ms. Baron and Mrs. Ligon) of 5th grade students at Soaring Heights. And so she did. From 8:30 AM until 9:30 AM on the morning of March 4th, 2021, Barbara had 120 students gripped and all ears, as she retold her experiences of being the only teacher to show up for work at William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. To teach the first grader, Ruby Bridges.
Barbara mentioned the US Federal Marshals outside her classroom everyday. Barbara described the side door she eventually had to use to get into the school in the morning, because of the hatred of the crowds out front. She mentioned the otherworldly courage and bravery of Ruby Nell Bridges, who withstood the verbal assaults and taunts every day she walked up the stairs to school. Barbara did fear for her life as she entered and departed school
each day.
Barbara also mentioned the wonders of working with Ruby and the delight of teaching 1 student in her classroom and all the talents already possessed as a 1st grader. Ruby has since stated, "I had never seen a white teacher before, but Mrs. Henry was the nicest teacher I ever had. She tried very hard to keep my mind off what was going on outside. But I couldn't forget that there were no other kids." Mrs. Henry shared that the principal was also not happy that Ruby decided to come to Frantz Elementary.
Mrs. Henry brought memories of that racism and the injustice that segregation preserved to my students directly, viscerally, powerfully, and unforgettably. For the rest of the day students kept coming up to me saying such things as: "I cannot believe those adults treated a first-grader like that. That is so wrong; Who were those hateful people? Ruby just wanted to go to school like their kids; Where did Mrs. Henry get her courage?; How did Ruby do that everyday?"
Most profoundly, several students thought, "I hope I have that courage someday."
Thus the idea for the Barbara Henry Courage in Teaching Award was conceived. After several phone calls with Barbara, which I will never ever forget the rest of my life, she agreed to allow us to honor her, Ruby and teachers in this way. Barabra recently wrote, expressing her full appreciation for teachers around the globe, "Courage is always present for a worthy teacher."
This story must be honored. Annually. The Board and I plan on preserving the force of this story, in a small way, by honoring teachers who display similar courage around the world. We begin that work in earnest, in 2021.
Warm Regards,
Brian Buckley, Ed.M & M.A.
Executive Director
The Barbara Henry Courage in Teaching Award
Then it dawned upon me. The United States had been experiencing brutally painful incidents of racism and the conversation on race in the USA had turned into a non-dialogue. Steps of progress for a more inclusive society had been erased by verbal attacks and legislation seeking to keep people of color outside the workings of an equitable society.
And, March 4th was approaching.
Exelauno Day back in the oldest school in continuous existence in North America. The Roxbury Latin School in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, founded in 1645. On this day every year, selected students declaim—in Greek and in Latin—famous speeches from the classical era. For six straight years, from 1981 to 1986, Barbara Henry's youngest son (and my classmate) Courtney riveted faculty and students alike with his oratorical fireworks and theatrics. One year, the sleeves of his dress shirt were suddenly pulled and torn from the body of his shirt. Cicero and Cato and Seneca lived again through dear Courtney's exclamations.
Barbara and I thus planned, in memory of Courtney's blazing rhetoric, to have her speak to and answer questions from the 4 classrooms (Mrs. DeJana, Ms. Hogan, Ms. Baron and Mrs. Ligon) of 5th grade students at Soaring Heights. And so she did. From 8:30 AM until 9:30 AM on the morning of March 4th, 2021, Barbara had 120 students gripped and all ears, as she retold her experiences of being the only teacher to show up for work at William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. To teach the first grader, Ruby Bridges.
Barbara mentioned the US Federal Marshals outside her classroom everyday. Barbara described the side door she eventually had to use to get into the school in the morning, because of the hatred of the crowds out front. She mentioned the otherworldly courage and bravery of Ruby Nell Bridges, who withstood the verbal assaults and taunts every day she walked up the stairs to school. Barbara did fear for her life as she entered and departed school
each day.
Barbara also mentioned the wonders of working with Ruby and the delight of teaching 1 student in her classroom and all the talents already possessed as a 1st grader. Ruby has since stated, "I had never seen a white teacher before, but Mrs. Henry was the nicest teacher I ever had. She tried very hard to keep my mind off what was going on outside. But I couldn't forget that there were no other kids." Mrs. Henry shared that the principal was also not happy that Ruby decided to come to Frantz Elementary.
Mrs. Henry brought memories of that racism and the injustice that segregation preserved to my students directly, viscerally, powerfully, and unforgettably. For the rest of the day students kept coming up to me saying such things as: "I cannot believe those adults treated a first-grader like that. That is so wrong; Who were those hateful people? Ruby just wanted to go to school like their kids; Where did Mrs. Henry get her courage?; How did Ruby do that everyday?"
Most profoundly, several students thought, "I hope I have that courage someday."
Thus the idea for the Barbara Henry Courage in Teaching Award was conceived. After several phone calls with Barbara, which I will never ever forget the rest of my life, she agreed to allow us to honor her, Ruby and teachers in this way. Barabra recently wrote, expressing her full appreciation for teachers around the globe, "Courage is always present for a worthy teacher."
This story must be honored. Annually. The Board and I plan on preserving the force of this story, in a small way, by honoring teachers who display similar courage around the world. We begin that work in earnest, in 2021.
Warm Regards,
Brian Buckley, Ed.M & M.A.
Executive Director
The Barbara Henry Courage in Teaching Award
