- Hattie Beverly
Hattie Beverly (1874 – 1904) was the first
African American schoolteacher inGrand Rapids, Michigan .fact|date=April 2008Biography
The second of four daughters, Beverly was born in December 1874 in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin , daughter of John W. Beverly, an African American butcher/ businessman, and Johanna Mina "Minnie" Ruesink, a Dutchimmigrant . When Beverly was one year old the family moved from to Grand Rapids, Michigan.fact|date=April 2008In 1895 Beverly graduated from
Grand Rapids Central High School majoring inPreparatory English . At this time Grand Rapids had acadet program to train unmarried women to teach in its schools. Beverly entered this program after high school, graduating in 1899. When it became time to hire her for a teaching position some members of the school board wondered whether anAfrican American should be permitted to teach, and it appeared that she may be denied.fact|date=April 2008 After her proponents prevailed, she was hired at Congress Elementary School in June 1899.In February 1902 she married Major E. Robinson. Since married women were not permitted to teach, she resigned her position at Congress School. About that time she contracted
tuberculosis which worsened after the birth of her daughter, Ethel. In 1904 she traveled to a sanitarium inLas Vegas, New Mexico where she succumbed to the disease at 30 years of age.fact|date=April 2008Legacy
Beverly's nephew John Burgess, son of her youngest sister Ethel Beverly, became the first African American
bishop in the Episcopal Church in 1970.fact|date=April 2008Every year the
Grand Rapids Community College awards a Hattie Beverly Education Award to an outstanding African American educator in the Grand Rapids area.fact|date=April 2008In the fall of 2000 the Hattie Beverly Tutoring Center was created. It serves Grand Rapids's Southeast Side (specifically the
Madison Neighborhood ).fact|date=April 2008External links
* [http://www.hattiebeverly.org The Hattie Beverly Tutoring Center]
* [http://www.ruesink.org/genealogy/ruesink/ps01/ps01_371.htm John W. Beverly]
* [http://www.ruesink.org/genealogy/ruesink/ps10/ps10_173.htm Johanna Mina "Minnie" Ruesink]
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