Thursday Thinking by YoTrip for 2/21/13-A True Educator Lucy Craft Laney(Vol.2, Iss.3)
A True Educator Lucy Craft Laney
Miss Lucy Craft Laney has gone down in history as one of the state of Georgia‘s most influential educational leaders. As a child of Georgia she is in league with other outstanding black hero’s from Georgia such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil Rights Leader and Dr. Henry McNeil Turner, the first black chaplain in the U.S. Army and the first black in the Georgia Legislature. Miss Laney’s contributions in the area of education are a tribute to perseverance, dedication and unwavering faith. http://www.lucycraftlaneymuseum.com/about_laney.htm
Lucy Craft Laney (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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| Lucy Craft Laney |
She was born on April 13, 1854, one of ten children, to Louisa and David Laney during slavery. Her parents, however, were not slaves. David Laney purchased his freedom about twenty years before Laney’s birth; he purchased his wife’s freedom sometime after their marriage. Laney learned to read and write by the age of four and could translate difficult passages in Latin by the age of twelve, including Julius Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic War.
The school was chartered by the state three years later and named the Haines Normal and Industrial Institute. Originally Laney intended to admit only girls, but several boys appeared and she could not turn them away. Laney began her lifelong appeal for funding for her school by traveling to a meeting of the General Assembly of the Northern Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis in 1886. She addressed the assembly but received only her fare home. She did, however, obtain the confidence of a lifetime
Miss Laney started the first black kindergarten in Augusta, Georgia and the first black nursing school in the city, the Lamar School of Nursing. Many people were influenced by the work that Miss Laney did at Haines. Ms. Mary McCleod Bethune who worked with Miss Laney for a year was so impressed by Miss Laney’s accomplishments that she went to Florida and founded Bethune-Cookman College for Blacks. This outstanding institution continues to thrive and produce thousands of African American students.
After a life of selfless dedication to the education of her people, which focused on the education of her people, Miss Laney died on October 23, 1933. Thousands of people came to her funeral. Her body was buried on the corner of the lawn of the Haines & Normal Industrial Institute. Miss Laney’s spirit lives on and her strong legacy continues to this day.
- Laney museum donates art to career magnet school (chronicle.augusta.com)
- School district on par with state in AP exam success (chronicle.augusta.com)
