UTPB exhibit honors black history and local educators

Books, records, and colorful African masks and clothing mark local and national black history for the upcoming month in a display at UTPB’s Mesa Building.

Joanna Hadjicostandi, a University of Texas of the Permian Basin professor and the display organizer for the past 10 years, said part of her inspiration came from looking at the items’ historical context.

“It also comes from the basic statement that people with no past have no future,” Hadjicostandi said.

While some of the exhibit showcases items from Africa and the more distant past, Hadjicostandi’s exhibit on local educator Arlene Campbell acknowledged more recent accomplishments.

Recognized by the Ector County Historical Commission and various other groups, Campbell was also committed to teaching black history, Hadjicostandi said.

“She was a smart lady,” former colleague 84-year-old Lula Mae Washington said, adding, “She had a way with children.”

Black history in Odessa reaches back to the late 1930s, when people started moving to the area with the hopes of working in the oilfields, Hadjicostandi said.

However, when blacks weren’t accepted into oilfield work, many went into the service industry and later, many black teachers came to West Texas to work in the schools, Hadjicostandi said.

Washington was one of those teachers.

She first taught in district in 1966, where she said she initially brought her own supplies and decorations for her classroom.

At her old teaching job in North Texas, Washington said black teachers were provided the used books from the white students and teachers were not given requisition forms for supplies. When she moved to ECISD, Washington continued the practice, although she said that later on the district provided requisition forms.

Although lacking some things, she said they were able to make do.

One Christmas, Washington said, she and her colleagues found a large tumbleweed; they spraypainted it pink and put greenery on it in place of a Christmas tree.

As the district took tentative steps toward integration, Washington said she was moved to Zavala Elementary where she was the only black teacher on the staff.

Coming from East Texas, where Washington said she was used to some level of integration, she was unfazed about teaching white students and working with her white colleagues.

Her colleagues included her in different activities and Washington said she wasn’t going to let them treat her any other way.

When she took photos with her coworkers, Washington said that if she sat on the edge of the group she could be cut out of the picture, so instead she made sure to get in the middle.

“I would make sure they could see my black face,” Washington said, with a laugh.

During the hiring process, Washington said she was asked whether she would have a problem teaching children of other colors.

“I said, ‘I was taught you don’t teach color, you teach children.’ ”

And she took her attitude of acceptance to the classroom.

Washington recalled using the metaphor of a box of Crayons to explain that message to her students.

“They all live in the same little box and don’t complain,” Washington said. “I taught them that’s the way God wanted us to be.”

@OAhealth