Mrs. Agnes Chavis was inducted into the NCAE's Educational Hall of Fame
One of our nations greatest champions for Native Children is memorialized for her service to education. This week, Mrs. Agnes Chavis was inducted into the NCAE (North Carolina Assocation of Educators) Educational Hall of Fame. NCAE names educators and staff members posthumously to the Hall of Fame in recognition of outstanding careers in public education or service to the Association.
The daughter of a teacher, Mrs. Agnes, spent 47 years as an educator. She began her teaching career as one of eight teachers in a tiny impoverished school that served 324 poor and predominately tenant farmer children. She and her colleagues would solicit books, magazines, and newspapers from the community and purchase school supplies with their own money.
Mrs. Agnes, as she is known to us, was a member of the Lumbee Tribe of N.C. Her legacy of service is seen daily in the lives of our tribal members across the state, but her reach in education for American Indian Children impacted students all across the U.S.
NCAE spotlighted Mrs. Agnes as a strong advocate for Indian education on national and local levels. In 2005, she was the recipient of the National Education Association’s (NEA) Leo Reano Memorial Award for her leadership in resolving social problems. She served as a council member for the National Advisory Council on Indian Education, served on the North Carolina Task Force on American Indian Educators, and was chair and treasurer of the NEA American Indian/Alaskan Native Caucus. She was also the first chairperson of the North Carolina State Consortium on Indian Education. During her career in education, she was a long-time member of NCAE, the Robeson County Association of Educators, NEA, and the Robeson County Retired School Personnel.
Thank you to NCAE for honoring Mrs. Agnes and sharing her story. She lives on in the hearts of our Tribal members and the children she taught, but now teachers across the state will see and hear how she went the extra for children.
