Fannie was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia on October 1st
1840, daughter of a noble black father from Guadeloupe and educated in London
and a free black woman from Toronto. In Virginia the law forbade anyone to “sit
or stand to teach a black”. Fannie and her older siblings attended a
clandestine school in a private home where teachers often reclined on couches
while instructing so as not to be in violation of the law as it was
written. They also kept wood splinters
available so they could pretend to be teaching the children to make matches if
observed.
In 1851 after her father died, the family moved to Detroit
where Fannie attended local schools and graduated from normal school in
Toronto. She did postgraduate work in
Germany where she was introduced to the new concept of Kindergarten in 1863 she returned to Detroit and began to
teach at Colored School 2, becoming the
first full time professional black teacher in the city. At this time whites received twelve years of
education while blacks received only six.
Fannie led the crusade for desegregation which ended up in the Supreme
Court. A favorable decision was rendered
and Fannie and her pupils cheered and danced.
Fannie taught for more than forty years in Detroit’s Everett Elementary
School, part of that time as the city’s first kindergarten teacher.
The artist Carl Owens presented a portrait of Fannie to the
Detroit Historical Commission and the Detroit Public Library presented an
exhibition about her work. The mayor of
Detroit declared October 1, 1975, Fannie Richards Day.
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