Lost Voices

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• Ancella Bickley

• Memphis T. Garrison

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• Maudella Taylor

EDUCATION

I thought in terms of working with children as a teacher because my minister's wife was a teacher and... I will always cherish the memory of my first day in school and my first grade teacher. To me she was the most beautiful person in the world and I guess that is really where my interest of working with children early in life has been.

In addition to her teacher's influence, Maudella's mother further encouraged her choice of occupation. Taylor's teaching career spanned thirteen years, beginning in a two-room school in the Virginia hills. Taylor recalls those early years: I didn't have anything but benches in my school. One side of the wall was painted black and that was my blackboard. However, after years of teaching, Taylor did not feel that she was serving children to the best of her abilities. I think the last year I taught school I had forty-four children. Well that was forty-four personalities to deal with and I felt that I had to know just a little bit more about them than I was getting in there. Taylor was dissatisfied with the educational background provided for African Americans and believed the children of her community were "losing out". Also, the connection between family and schools had greatly diminished in Taylor's view. This displeasure prompted her to create an environment which was more community integrated and which addressed the family as a totality, in order to enhance all aspects of child development.

Biography | Family and Church | Race and Region | Effect on Community