"Of surpassing worth" —Marcus Foster (1923-1973)
The heart of this special episode is the Back-to-School Address to Oakland, California faculty and staff by Superintendent Dr. Marcus A. Foster, given in the fall of 1973. You will hear a singular voice in U.S. education urging teachers, administrators, and support staff to keep students at the center of their work—while also honoring the complexity of the challenge. Foster’s words are poignant not only because they still ring true today, but because they were offered just weeks before he was assassinated: this is one of the last public speeches by a visionary educator who worked his way up from teaching science in a four-room, wood-frame school through the ranks of building and district leadership. I have access to this rare recording as a gift from the estate of my late aunt, Dr. Gail Roth Meister, who worked for the Oakland district at the start of her five-decade career in education, and with kind permission from the family of Dr. Foster to share it with a wider audience.
For the last segment of the episode, I am joined by Dr. John P. Spencer, author of the definitive biography In the Crossfire: Marcus Foster and the Troubled History of American School Reform (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012) to reflect on key themes from the speech and discuss Foster’s important place in the history of U.S. education. (Photo: Marcus Foster Education Institute)
Dr. Foster reinforcing the theme of PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE in an elementary school classroom. He may have had a loving word with the boy standing on the left after the picture was taken. (Photo: Marcus Foster Education Institute)
TRANSCRIPTS
In addition to the standard transcript of the full episode, a PDF of Foster’s speech alone is available for download. (I’d base some professional development conversations on it if I were running a school these days!)
Dr. Foster in front of Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary in Oakland, California during the school’s construction in 1970. (Photo: The Oakland Tribune Collection, Oakland Museum of California)
IN MEMORIAM
This episode celebrates the legacy of Marcus Foster, but I also wish to dedicate it to my aunt Gail Roth Meister, who taught me so much. Within the first minute of his address, Dr. Foster refers to the “outstanding summer program” that the district was able to mount with the assistance of SB 90, the California State Senate Bill that provided funding. Among those contributing to that summer program was my aunt Gail, consulting with the Oakland schools at the start of her career. Fortunately for all of us, a copy of the audio of Dr. Foster’s 1973 speech stayed with her through the five decades of education consulting she was just beginning. A few years after her work in Oakland, Aunt Gail earned her Ph.D. in Educational Policy Analysis from Stanford. In 1986 she moved to New Jersey with my uncle, the Rev. J. W. Gregg Meister, and my cousin Miriam. As a consultant skilled in coaching, facilitation, qualitative research, program design, and evaluation, she often worked with schools in the Philadelphia area, where Dr. Foster had spent most of his career. Like Dr. Foster, she was a brilliant educator who is deeply missed.
Dr. Gail Roth Meister, 1947-2022. (Photo: J. W. Gregg Meister)
EPISODE NOTES
Today’s episode includes a post-speech segment with historian John P. Spencer, author of In the Crossfire: Marcus Foster and the Troubled History of American School Reform (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012). Chair of the Education Department at Ursinus College, Dr. Spencer specializes in the history of education, school reform, urban education, and the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Dr. John P. Spencer (Photo: Ursinus College)
Thanks to Professor Spencer, I learned that one of Marcus Foster’s favorite songs in his youth was the Billy Strayhorn composition “Take the A-Train.” This fact was not published in his book, but he kindly consulted his notes from the many oral history interviews he conducted as part of his research on Foster’s life when I asked him about possible directions for underscore and transition music in the episode. My brother John Horn (co-star of the My Brothers, Teachers episode from 2017) was generous enough to record a half-dozen takes of the jazz standard on his keyboard despite a very busy work week. Here he is whaling on another of his axes:
John Horn (Image: Glenn Murray)
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH CORRECTION (courtesy of Dr. Marsha Foster): There were two prominent AME ministers named William Decker Johnson who made important contributions in the late 19th and early 20th century. Because they shared the same name, they are sometimes confused. Although the other William Decker Johnson (1869-1936) did serve as the 42nd Bishop of the AME Church, Alice Johnson Foster's father—Marcus Foster's grandfather—William Decker Johnson was born free in Maryland in 1842. A graduate of Lincoln University who earned his A.B. in 1868, his A.M. in 1871 and his D.D. in 1880, he held appointments in Washington, D.C., Florida, and Georgia, serving as a Methodist minister for more than 33 years. From 1884 to 1896, Dr. Johnson served as Commissioner and Education Secretary for the AME Church. In 1904 he became president of Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina, serving until 1908. He and his family returned to Athens, Georgia, where he died in 1909.
I refer at the very end of the episode to Dr. Foster’s influence on the alternative education program called Project ‘79, where I spent many of my best moments as a teacher and administrator. The 2018 episode about Project ‘79 is available here.
SPECIAL THANKS
Many people support this podcast in one way or another, through conversations, emailed suggestions, books, articles, music, and more. Some are able to contribute financially, which helps me get that Metro pass for the A train, when a given episode demands it. Gifts of even a few dollars from folks like you help with everything from transcription assistance to purchasing copies of research materials like In the Crossfire: Marcus Foster and the Troubled History of American School Reform by John P. Spencer, deployed in today’s episode. There are two easy ways to donate—a one-time gift of any amount, or a monthly continuing contribution.
Current supporters include: Aaron Bartley, Gilberto Belaval, Mary Rappl Bellanti, Raj Bhandari, Melinda Bihn, Gretchen & David Brand, Jenni & Robbie Brand, Jake Brown, Heather Carson-Wake, Patty Cruice, Ryan Daly, David Davis, James Duggan, Dave Eisenberg, Phillip Ellis, Anna Falicov, Errick L. Greene, Jonathan Hiam, Gregory Horn, Janice & John & Ava & Brooke Horn, Robyn Lee Horn, Greg Jackson, Kevin Johnson, Zack Kramer, Tim Lear, Janet & Robert Lee, Kristen Lee, Tom Loughlin, Susan Lytle, Carol MacVey, Linda B. Matt, Ellen McLaughlin, J. W. Gregg Meister, Miriam Meister, Sarah & Peter Meister, Dwight Nolt, Julia Olff, John Opera, Monica & Rowland Richards, Gail & Frank Richeson, Friends of Diana Rochford, Stacy Rodgers, Elizabeth & Terry Rowlands, Paula A. Roy, Emily Style, Marue Walizer, John B. Webb, Keith Zemsky, Vana Zervanos
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