Fannie Richards, the city’s first Black public school teacher, died on this day in 1922. She was 81 years old.
Richards was born on October 1, 1840, to free parents in Fredericksburg, Va. As a child, she moved with her parents to Toronto, Canada, where she was educated.
In 1863, Richards opened a private school for black children in Detroit.
In 1869, she was appointed by the Detroit Board of Education as an instructor at Colored School No. 2. That year, when the Detroit Board of Education was under the leadership of John Bagley — who would go on to become Michigan’s governor — Richards and several relatives protested against the city’s racially segregated school system.
Two years later in 1871, the Michigan Supreme Court ordered the Detroit Board of Education to abolish separate schools for Black and white students.
Richards was then transferred to the newly integrated Everett Elementary School, where she taught for 44 years. It was there that Richards established the first kindergarten class in Michigan.
In 1915, after more than 50 years of service, Richards retired from teaching. Richards is a member of the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame.
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