Maryland

• Maryland Progressive State Colored Teachers Association (1886 ~1896)
• Maryland State Colored Teachers Association (1896 - 1937)
• Maryland Education Association (1937 - 1951)

In the late 1880s, the Maryland Progressive State Colored Teachers Association was formed to advocate for the employment of Black teachers in Baltimore’s Black schools. The Association worked closely with other Black civic associations concerned with the educational advancement of Black children, such as the Maryland Educational Union. Since the Reconstruction era, Baltimore had been an active site for the training and development of Black educators. The Baltimore Normal School (present day Bowie State University) served as a hub for Black teacher training in Maryland as well as a catalyst for the expansion of Black educational opportunities in the state. In 1883, Colored High School (later named the Frederick Douglass High School) was established as the state’s first Black high school. Over a decade later, Black councilman Dr. John Marcus Cargill successfully authored a city ordinance authorizing Black educators to teach in Black schools.

The Maryland Progressive State Colored Teachers Association held semi-annual meetings from 1886 until at least 1894. The ordinance regarding the appointment of Black teachers to Black schools expanded job opportunities and ensured job security for Black educators in Baltimore and, later, throughout the state. By the late 1890s, this advocacy had helped lay the groundwork for a more formal statewide organization. The Maryland State Colored Teachers’ Association (MSCTA) was established in 1896 in Baltimore, Maryland and held its first annual meeting in 1898. The MSCTA officially incorporated in 1899 with the purpose of supporting the professional development of Black teachers of Maryland, promoting education for Black children, and encouraging the study of arts and sciences.

The MSCTA engaged in a variety of activities, including the professional growth of teachers, legal advocacy for equal rights for Black teachers, and support for the continued expansion of Black education in the state. Annual meetings were well attended by teachers throughout the state, and in the early 1900s some county school boards gave Black educators the day off to attend the annual convening. Prominent African American leaders, such as Mary McLeod Bethune and Kelly Miller, and national education office holders spoke at MSCTA meetings throughout the early 20th century.

In addition to serving as a hub for the professional development of Black educators in Maryland, the MSCTA engaged in two highly visible campaigns for educational equality in the state: extending the school year for Black students and equalizing salaries between Black and White teachers. Historical newspapers publicize these efforts as early as 1915, evidencing that advocacy for equal civil rights was a core part of the MSCTA’s mission early in the Association’s history. In 1922, the MSCTA successfully aided in the passage of a law requiring an 8 month school year for all school children.

The campaign for salary equalization was a more difficult task, however. Despite advocacy for a race-neutral salary floor throughout the 1920s, state lawmakers failed to pass such a bill. In 1937, the MSCTA changed its name to the Maryland Educational Association (MEA). By this time, the Association engaged in a multifaceted campaign to equalize Black education in the state. With the support of the NAACP, Black teachers from the MEA sued county school districts over the issue of salary inequities. Serving as a named plaintiff in litigation was a dangerous proposition for Black educators as it invited potential retribution from White school officials; however, Black teachers took this risk in order to secure equal rights for Black teachers and students.

Several leaders of the MEA, including Enolia P. McMillian, Jesse L. Nicholas, and Dr. George B. Murphy, were actively involved in the salary equalization campaign during the 1930s. Their legal advocacy led to settlements guaranteeing equal salaries in Calvert County and Montgomery County. While these settlements represented a victory for Black teachers in those counties, they did not set a legally binding mandate across the state. As a result, when Thurgood Marshall represented Black teachers in Anne Arundel County in their salary equalization suit, he was committed to bringing it to trial. Walter Mills, principal and teacher at Parole Elementary School, bravely served as the named plaintiff for the case, which he won in 1939. Not only did Mills’s case set a precedent for the equalization of salary minimums throughout the state, it also led to the passage of a 1941 state law requiring an equal salary floor for Black and White teacher salaries.

The salary equalization victory enabled the MEA to expand its advocacy efforts on other pressing issues of educational inequality in the state. One such area was the need for more Black high schools and support for Black teachers in the rural counties of the state. Additionally, the MEA was actively involved in adapting curriculum and pedagogy for the changing world of the mid-20th century.

In 1951, the Maryland State Teachers Association, a union representing White teachers in the state, dropped the “whites only” clause from its constitution, opening the organization to Black teachers. Shortly thereafter, Elmer T. Hawkins led the merger between MEA and the MSTA. The MEA’s merger with the MSTA marked the formal end of separate teachers’ associations in Maryland, though the professional and legal groundwork the MEA laid for equal educational opportunities continued to shape public education for Maryland’s Black children in the decades to come.

• J.H. Lockerman (1899…)
• Dr. D.S.S. Goodloe (1916 - 1917)
• George B. Murphy (1918 - 1920)
• Thomas H. Kiah, A.M. (1921 …1922)
• Phineas E. Gordy (1923…)
• L.S. James (...1926 …)
• Herbert Wilson (1927…)
• Jesse L. Nicholas (1929...1931…) (served as Secretary for 13 years)
• Carington L. Davis (...1933…)
• Enolia Pettigen McMillan (1936...1939…)
• W. Cato Anderson (...1941)
• George C. Grant (1942…)
• Elmer T. Hawkins (1944...1951…)