Thriving in the Midst of Adversity: Educator Maudelle Brown Bousfield's Struggles in Chicago, 1920-1950

Journal of Negro Education, The, Winter 2009 by Danns, Dionne

Maudelle Brown Bousfleld accomplished a successful career as a Chicago teacher and principal in the midst of deep discrimination against African Americans. Her elite status helped prepare her with the necessary beliefs and tools to achieve a number of notable firsts in her life. Her career attainment also dictated that she assist in uplifting her race. She spent much of her life not only building a thriving career, but also serving her people in a number of different capacities.

"We did what we were trained to do, what we were bred to do, what we were born to do." (300, Snyder, 2006)

The narrator in the movie 300 described Spartan men as fierce warriors who were trained from birth to be soldiers by both their families and the larger community in which they lived (Snyder, 2006). Like the Spartan men of 480 BC, we were all born to be, at times bred and trained to be, something on both a conscious and an unconscious level. But is that destiny enough to guarantee mat we will become what we are meant to be in the face of overwhelming oppression? Stephanie J. Shaw (1996) argued that Black women coming of age in the Jim Crow era were socialized by born their families and their communities to become professional workers not only for themselves, but also to instill pride and uplift their communities. This idea of professionalization was infused in Black women through both formal and informal education, imprinting on them a set of behavioral characteristics that would ensure that the women positively represented themselves and their communities.

There was also the Black elite who not only imparted the characteristics their children needed for success in a racist society, but who were also a living witness ofthat success. This meant that some Black children were trained at certain schools, attended certain churches, and participated in certain social organizations (Gatewood, 1990; Graham, 1999). These children also came to expect that the obstacles placed before mem could and would not stop them in their quest for success. Their families provided them with myriad examples of success in the face of oppression.

Maudelle Brown Bousfield's status as a child of the Black elite allowed her to achieve many "firsts" in her life. She was the first Black woman to attend the Charles Kunkel Conservatory of Music in St. Louis, Missouri, the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Illinois, the first dean of a Chicago public school, as well as being the first Black principal in Chicago (Cook, 1996). While diese are incredible accomplishments, if one looks only at the era in which Bousfield lived without analyzing and understanding her background, all that is seen is her success in the fece of overwhelming odds. However, focusing on Bousfield's status as a member of the Black elite helps one to understand how she came to believe in her ability to achieve success, despite the race and gender strikes against her. The Black elite have certain expectations of their children and provide mem with the tools to ensure that their descendants will uphold the legacies of their ancestors (Graham, 1999). Understanding these expectations, elite children are often able to walk in the footsteps of their parents. Maudelle Bousfield must be viewed in the context of this tradition, realizing that it was one of the many ways in which Black Americans thrived in midst of discrimination in the post-bellum era. Being able to achieve professional success does not mean that one does not still have to contend with racial and gender difficulties. Her gender limited her career options because many women of her time became teachers as it was viewed as a public extension of their domestic role (Harley 1982, 1995). Her race determined the type of schools in which she could teach and administrate, as Black educators in Chicago were often restricted to Black schools. Bousfield still faced many career difficulties in spite of her elite status within the Black community.

EARLY YEARS

Born June 1, 1885 to Charles Hugh Brown and Arrena Isabella Tanner Brown in St. Louis, Missouri, Bousfield came of age during the "nadir" after the Republican experiment in Reconstruction ended and legally sanctioned segregation began. Although aware of difficulties that Black America faced, the Brown family's elite status provided them with a small buffer against harshness of the times. Arrena Brown was both the niece of Bishop Benjamin Tanner of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the cousin of Henry O. Tanner, an artist whose paintings of biblical subjects were renown in Europe and the United States. One of his paintings, "The Resurrection of Lazarus," was purchased by the French government in 1897. Arrena Tanner Brown's family was thus considered to be a part of Philadelphia's old elite (Gatewood, 1990). Additionally, Mrs. Brown's parents were both educators in St. Louis. For over 50 years her father taught school and was a principal. Teachers at that time occupied high status in Black communities due to job restrictions mat kept many highly educated Blacks out of most other professions.