Ohio State nav bar

Skip to main content

The Ohio State University

  • Help
  • BuckeyeLink
  • Map
  • Find People
  • Webmail
  • Search Ohio State
  • Home
  • Food
  • Family and Relationships
  • Money
  • Mind and Body
  • Webinars
  • Authors

Family and Consumer Sciences

Live Smart Ohio

Ohio State University Extension

Topics:

The Ohio State University
You are here: Home / Family and Relationships / A Time for Learning: Black History Month and FCS Educator Day

February 15, 2022

A Time for Learning: Black History Month and FCS Educator Day

Some may question the val­­­ue of recognizing only one month or only one week or only one day to be aware of different groups or causes. I appreciate that annual recognitions remind us to continue learning. Carter Woodson is known for his role in promoting what we now celebrate as Black History Month. Almost 100 years ago, Woodson was concerned that, “the public knew very little about the role of African Americans in American history.” His goals were to celebrate heroic Black figures and to, “increase the visibility of Black life and history” during a time when newspapers and books emphasized the negative.

I am not a historian, but our understanding of the past can have an important impact right now. In honor of Black History Month and FCS Educator Day, (February 16, 2022) this post shares the contributions of four Black women who worked in the field of what was historically known as Home Economics and is now called Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS).

Margaret Murray Washington (1865-1925), a classmate of W.E.B. Du Bois and wife of Booker T Washington was called, “one of the greatest women of her century.” Washington was Dean of Women at Tuskegee and she worked on many home economics topics and programs throughout her career. She is known for founding the Tuskegee Women’s Club. One of their social programs was “mother’s meetings” or self-improvement clubs for women in the community. She also worked on national boards, traveled internationally, assisted her husband with his work at Tuskegee, and continued her own career after he died.

Grace Graham Walker house
The Ohio State University Grace Graham Walker house, Home Management, 1937

In Ohio, in the 1930s, the educational experiences of Wilhelminia Styles and Doris Weaver proved that separate was not equal with their studies in Home Economics at Ohio State University (OSU). Like other universities at the time, OSU had a Home Management House where students would live together and practice skills such as household finances, nutrition, and child care, as a mandatory course. Although Styles and Weaver were both students, as Black women, they were not allowed to live in the house or receive credit for that class. Unfortunately, the Ohio Supreme Court did not support Weaver’s right to live in the house. By taking a substitute course, both women graduated from OSU. Styles and Weaver spent part of their careers teaching in the Home Economics Department at Wilberforce University.

Lastly, Gladys Cooper Kidd Jennings celebrated a long and successful career. She has been described as an “educator, nutritionist, mentor, philanthropist.” When her grandmother was an enslaved child she learned to read. Two generations later, Jennings attended college and earned more than one degree. Like Styles and Weaver, Jennings, a 1945 OSU graduate was not welcomed to live on campus. Although she can claim many accolades and “firsts” in her life and career, “the achievements of her students—along with those of her daughter and adult granddaughters—are her greatest legacy.”

Observances like Black History Month and Family and Consumer Sciences Educator Day offer opportunities to learn about people who have contributed to our country and to our history, especially if their stories have been hidden or not acknowledged during their time. Woodson reminds, “We have a wonderful history behind us…and it is going to inspire us to greater achievements.”

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

WRITTEN BY: Patrice Powers-Barker, Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences, Lucas County

REVIEWED BY: Candace Heer, Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences, Morrow County and Misty Harmon, Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences, Perry County

PHOTO CREDITS:

  • The Ohio State University Photo Archives, Home Management House 1937

REFERENCES:

  • About Du Bois. (2022). W. E. B. Du Bois Center. http://duboiscenter.library.umass.edu/about-du-bois/
  • Black History Themes. (2022). Association for the Study of African American Life and History. https://asalh.org/black-history-themes/
  • Bunch, L. (2015). Knowing the Past Opens the Door to the Future: The Continuing Importance of Black History Month. Smithsonian. https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/knowing-past-opens-door-future-continuing-importance-black-history-month
  • Carter G. Woodson. (2021). National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/cawo/learn/carter-g-woodson-biography.htm
  • Chenoweth, R. (2017). 45 Graduate Didn't Let Obstacles Hold Her Back. The Ohio State University, College of Education and Human Ecology. https://ehe.osu.edu/news/listing/45-graduate-didnt-let-obstacles-hold-her-back/
  • Dr. Booker Taliaferro Washington. (2022). Tuskegee University. https://www.tuskegee.edu/discover-tu/tu-presidents/booker-t-washington
  • Home Ec students fight against exclusion. (2013). From Woody’s Couch. The Ohio State University Libraries. https://library.osu.edu/site/archives/2013/02/12/home-ec-students-fight-against-exclusion/
  • Mack, F. (2009). Gladys Kidd Jennings (1925- ) https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/jennings-gladys-1925/
  • Margaret Murray Washington. (2005). Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame. http://www.awhf.org/washington.html
  • Margaret Murray Washington, Educator & Suffragist. (2020). Alabama Department of Archives and History. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXvAcPbsYIA
  • Reed, W. (2018). Being Best. Washington State University Magazine. https://magazine.wsu.edu/2018/08/06/being-best/
  • State, ex Rel. v. Trustees, (1933). https://casetext.com/case/state-ex-rel-v-trustees-2
  • Steward, T. (2012). “All I Want is Opportunity”: Doris Weaver, Wilhelmina Styles, and the Pursuit of a Professional Status. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0zw2c7ks

Categories: Family and Relationships
Tags: Black History Month, FCS Educator Day, history

Avatar for Patrice Powers-Barker
Avatar for Patrice Powers-Barker

About Patrice Powers-Barker

Patrice Powers-Barker, CFLE (Certified Family Life Educator) implements Ruby Green Smiths’ description of Family and Consumer Sciences, “where science and art meet life and practices.” The Mind and Body topic lends well with empowering families to evaluate their daily habits and to make individual as well as family goals to enact mindfulness and abundance. The “science and art” of mindfulness can be practiced throughout different aspects of life - from work and play to eating or parenting and education. Patrice loves spending time with family, treasuring the four seasons of Northwest Ohio and appreciating the abundance of her local community.

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Recent Posts

Loving Kindness chart from self to world

Cultivating Loving-Kindness

Exploring the Heart of It All webinar series presented in Autumn 2024

pages of open book shaped into a heart

Making Every Day Sweet

I will serve 2024MLK

Unite, Serve, and Transform on MLK Day to Create the Beloved Community

Follow Us!

  • Facebook

Footer

Need Assistance?

If you are having issues logging into the site, need assistance with updates, or need to request an alternate format please send an email to the EHE Service Desk at servicedesk@ehe.osu.edu stating the nature of your issue and we will assist you. Thank you.
Are you a Live Smart Ohio Author? Log in here!

Categories

  • Food
  • Family and Relationships
  • Money
  • Mind and Body
  • Webinars

Follow us!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
The Ohio State University
FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCES
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND HUMAN ECOLOGY
COLLEGE OF FOOD, AGRICULTURAL, AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

© 2025 Live Smart Ohio - Family and Consumer Sciences | The Ohio State University - College of Education and Human Ecology | Accessibility | Privacy Policy

%d