Ep. 44 Educators Educating Educators

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Today best friends Milena and Megan cover American geographer, geologist and educator Zonia Baber & African American concert soprano and founder of the Harlem School for the Arts, Dorothy Maynor. This episode is inadvertently dedicated to our favorite High School English teacher, Mrs. Burnett

Zonia Baber

Some women are ahead of their time – Zonia Barber is one of them. Born in 1962 as Mary Arizona Baber, she went by the way cooler name of Zonia. Deciding early on to pursue an education, Zonia dedicated herself to the pursuit of geography, geography and teaching the two in accessible, hands on ways.
Today Milena profiles the educational advances Zonia made and how we’re still catching up to the progressive ideas she advocated over a 100 years ago.

Zonia pictured in 1895, collecting fossils at Mazon Creek, Illinois

Dorothy Maynor

This episode Megan steps out of her visual arts comfort zone with concert soprano Dorothy Maynor. A natural singer as a young girl, Dorothy pursed her interests with 110% commitment. It’s unsurprising then to learn the impacts Dorothy made not only in professional American concert singing, but in also producing educational resources for underserved communities.

Today we profile the educational support Dorothy received in Jim-Crow era America, the impact of racism on her career, and how retiring early only offers time for a second career.

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  • Hampton University – HBCU, were Dorothy received encouragement to professional pursue a music career
  • Robert Nathaniel Dett – Choir director at Hampton University, gave Dorothy her first professional solo performances and later wrote compositions just for her
  • Serge Koussevitzky – Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1939, gave Dorothy her big break
  • Spirituals – Musical precursor to Gospel music, traditional folk music developing on plantations. Dorothy sang Spirituals in addition to classical European compositions
  • Harlem School of the Arts – School that Dorothy founded in 1965
  • Recordings of Dorothy preforming can be found HERE & HERE

As always, music by EeL