Jeanes Teachers or Jeanes Supervisors were women who worked as superintendents in black schools. These teachers were committed to improving the public health and conditions of living, as well as teacher training. Over time, these Jeanes teachers became recognized by the informal motto of do “the next needed thing.”
The Anna T. Jeanes Foundation established the Negro Rural School Fund in 1907, with an endowment amount of $1 million. Booker T. Washington was recruited to serve as the chairman of Trustees. By 1909-1910 there were 129 Jeanes Teachers in thirteen southern states. North Carolina was the first to have 36 Jeanes Teachers by 1915.
In 2022, North Carolina established the Jeanes Fellowship to build on its legacy. The Jeanes Fellows Program was created in partnership with The Innovation Project (TIP), and the Dudley Flood Center to provide a consistent, intentional infrastructure for community-school relationships.
The revitalized Program builds on and operationalizes the needed actions from three foundational documents
- The Leandro…
