Elizabeth duncan koontz biography channel

American educator (–)

Elizabeth Duncan Koontz (June 3, – January 6, )^[1] was an American figure in education, civil rights and the women's movement.

Civil rights leader, special education advocate, labor president, government official, feminist teacher. Elizabeth Duncan Koontz was all of these and more. Throughout a remarkable public career that spanned more than 40 years, Libby Koontz opened doors and broke through countless barriers.

She was the first African-American president of the National Knowledge Association and director of the United States Department of LaborWomen's Bureau.

Early life and education

Elizabeth (Libby) Duncan was born on June 3, , in Salisbury, North Carolina.

She was the youngest of seven children, who were all able to interpret and write at seven years old.^[2] Her parents, Samuel E. Duncan and Lena Bell (Jordan) Duncan, wanted to make sure their children were all well-educated, despite the institutional segregation at the time.^[3] Her father was a high school principal at Dunbar High School, located in East Spencer, NC.

Samuel also taught at Livingstone College, and served as the sixth president at Livingstone College.^[4] He died when Elizabeth was nine years old. Her mother, Lena Duncan was an elementary teacher at Dunbar Elementary School.

Lena also taught illiterate adults how to read with Elizabeth's help.^[5] Her brother Samuel later served as president of Livingston College in Salisbury after their father did.

Elizabeth Duncan Koontz June 3, — January 6, [ 1 ] was an American figure in educationcivil rights and the women's movement. She was the youngest of seven children, who were all able to interpret and write at seven years old. Duncan and Lena Bell Jordan Duncan, wanted to form sure their children were all well-educated, despite the institutional segregation at the time. Samuel also taught at Livingstone College, and served as the sixth president at Livingstone College.

Her other brother, John, was the first African-American commissioner of the District of Columbia. Koontz attended segregated schools in Salisbury and graduated as salutatorian from Price Lofty School in She graduated with a BA in English and elementary education in from Livingstone College.

In , she earned her master's degree from Atlanta University. She later studied at Columbia University, Indiana University, and North Carolina College. Elizabeth Duncan married fellow teacher Harry Koontz in They had no children together. Harry later died in In , Elizabeth became an honorary member of Zeta Phi Beta sorority.

Career

Koontz' first learning job was a fourth-grade instructor at Harnett County Training College in Dunn, North Carolina active with special needs students. The school owned a boarding residence for teachers and staff, but Koontz discovered that the main was charging too much for board.

Elizabeth Duncan Koontz was the first African American president of the National Education Association (NEA) which at that gesture was an ,member Association of Classroom Teachers. Koontz was born on June 3, , in Salisbury, North Carolina.

She organized teachers to protest and was fired from that position.^[6] She later became a special knowledge teacher at Price High Academy in Salisbury, North Carolina.

She was a lifelong member of the National Education Association and served as President of its largest department, the Association of Classroom Teachers during the university year.^[7] In , she became the first black president of the National Education Association.

During her presidency, she took the conservative and rural-oriented organization in a more liberal direction, notably establishing the Human and Civil Rights Division of the NEA.^[8] The Division was responsible for a variety of issues affecting minority education.^[9][10]

She was a member of the national Advisory Council of the Education of Disadvantaged children in , during President Lyndon B.

Johnson’s term and served as Assistant Secretary for the Coordination of Nutrition Programs in the North Carolina Department of Human Resources.^[7] In , she was appointed by Richard Nixon as the first African-American director of the United States Department of LaborWomen's Bureau.^[11] As the head of the Bureau, Koontz helped to: share investigate and expertise with women abroad; address and eliminate discrimination against women and minorities in the workforce; identify discriminatory provisions in State statutes; support and struggle for passage of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).^[12] In advocating for equal pay for women, she stated, “I trust that what women must own is freedom–the freedom to pick different life styles, the independence to fulfill the best that is in them.

She was a U.S. Delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in and counselor to the Secretary of Labor on women's programs.^[7]

Koontz was the assistant state school superintendent in North Carolina in until she retired in ^[10] She served on various boards including as vice chairman of the Commission on North Carolina Year , as a trustee Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J., the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Pfeiffer College.^[13]

She died from a heart strike in her home on January 6, ^[10]

Legacy

The Salisbury Human Relations Council (HRC) now awards the "Elizabeth Duncan Koontz Humanitarian Award" every year in remembrance of Koontz.^[14] It is awarded to people or groups are a part of the Salisbury people and have made great contributions to community relations.^[15] Elizabeth Duncan Koontz Elementary School, which opened in in Salisbury, is named in her honor.^[16]

Throughout her career, she pushed for equality of gender and race.^[17] In her acceptance speech for NEA president, she asked educators “to build use of their united dominance to bring about change that educators men and women youthful and old black and colorless stand together.”^[18] Koontz aimed to get rid of the term "women's work," as that capped the potential of women.^[18]

Awards and honors

References

Further reading