Elizabeth "Libby" Schmoke Randolph (March 18, 1917 – December 4, 2004) was an American educator. She was a leader on school desegregation in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in the 1970s, and president of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, a national professional organization. She was also a regional director of Alpha Kappa Alpha. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools administrative headquarters is named the Elizabeth Schmoke Randolph Building, in her memory.
Elizabeth Schmoke Randolph | |
|---|---|
 Elizabeth Schmoke, from a 1936 issue of The Crisis | |
| Born | Elizabeth Garland Schmoke March 18, 1917 Farmville, North Carolina |
| Died | December 4, 2004 (aged 87) Charlotte, North Carolina |
| Occupation | Educator |
| Relatives | Kurt Schmoke (nephew) |
Early life and education edit
Elizabeth Garland Schmoke was born in Farmville, North Carolina, the eldest of six children born to John Hagen Schmoke and Pearl Beatrice Johnson. Her father was a carpenter and plasterer born in Georgia, who died in 1932; her mother was a teacher. Her nephew is politician Kurt Schmoke.[1][2]
Schmoke graduated from Shaw University in 1936, and earned a master's degree in English literature at the University of Michigan. She earned an advanced certificate in School Administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1958. She was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha.[3]
Career edit
Randolph was a teacher and school principal in Charlotte.[4] She helped launch the district's public kindergarten program,[5] and federally-funded Headstart program.[6] She was associate superintendent for curriculum in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in the 1970s,[7] when school desegregation was still in contentious progress there.[8][9] She was vice-president of the North Carolina Association of Educators. She was elected president of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), a national professional organization, in 1978.[10][11]
Randolph was named WBT's Charlotte's Woman of the Year in 1979.[12] She retired from school work in 1982, but in retirement stayed active as chair of the board of trustees of North Carolina A&T State University, a trustee of her alma mater, Shaw University, and many other community and church positions.[13] She also received honors from the Charlotte Urban League,[14] Alpha Kappa Alpha, and Links Incorporated.[15] She gave an oral history interviews to the Behind the Veil Oral History Project of the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies, and to the Levine Museum of the New South, both in 1993.[16][17] Randolph was a member of The Links, and a regional director of Alpha Kappa Alpha.[3]
Randolph edited a photo book, An African American Album: The Black Experience in Charlotte Mecklenburg (1992).[1]
Personal life and legacy edit
Elizabeth Shmoke married John Daniel Randolph. He died in 1963.[18] She died in 2004, aged 87 years, in Charlotte.[13] The Charlotte Observer noted at the time that "the long-time educator left her mark in innumerable ways on Charlotte, this region and the state."[5]
The administrative headquarters of CMS in Charlotte is named for her,[1] as is a community room at the Allegra Westbrooks Regional Library.[19] In 2018 she was posthumously awarded the Flame Bearer Award by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference of Alpha Kappa Alpha.[20]
References edit
- ^ a b c "1616 Patton Avenue". McCrorey Heights. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
- ^ "Guest Speaker". The Charlotte News. 1984-06-08. p. 19. Retrieved 2022-02-23 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Zatella Turner Receives Gold Plaque from AKA's". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1964-10-31. p. 6. Retrieved 2022-02-23 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Founders Day Program Set". The Charlotte Observer. 1972-05-19. p. 61. Retrieved 2022-02-23 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "A life well-lived; Educator Libby Randolph set bar high for civic service". The Charlotte Observer. 2004-12-16. p. 10. Retrieved 2022-02-23 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Monts, Vivian (1969-05-15). "Headstart Gets Federal Funds". The Charlotte News. p. 68. Retrieved 2022-02-23 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Interim Supervisory Board". The Charlotte Observer. 1976-08-20. p. 10. Retrieved 2022-02-23 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Celebrating and preserving CMS legacy". Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS). Retrieved 2022-02-23.
- ^ Minchin, Timothy (2011-03-25). After the Dream: Black and White Southerners since 1965. University Press of Kentucky. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-8131-2988-4.
- ^ Randolph, Elizabeth S. (May 1978). "Maximizing Human Potential (presidential address)" (PDF). Educational Leadership: 601–608.
- ^ "Charlotte Teacher will Head U.S. Group". The Charlotte Observer. 1976-07-09. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-02-23 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "fact sheet for Elizabeth Schmoke Randolph". Charlotte's Woman of the Year. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
- ^ a b "Elizabeth Schmoke Randolph Obituary". Charlotte Observer, via Legacy.com. December 16, 2004. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
- ^ Meadows, Bob (1996-03-10). "Others' Helper; Urban League to Honor Pioneering Educator". The Charlotte Observer. p. 256. Retrieved 2022-02-23 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Area Links select Women of the Year". Baltimore Afro American. March 30, 1971. p. 9. Retrieved February 23, 2022 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
- ^ "Elizabeth Schmoke Randolph interview / Behind the Veil / Duke Digital Repository". Duke Digital Collections. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
- ^ Greeson, Jennifer (July 13, 1993). "Elizabeth Randolph oral history interview 2". J. Murrey Atkins Library, UNC Charlotte. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
- ^ "Obituary for John Daniel Randolph". The Charlotte News. 1963-12-05. p. 13. Retrieved 2022-02-24 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Baron, Melanie (February 19, 2018). "Honoring Elizabeth S. Randolph". Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
- ^ "Mid-Atlantic Alpha Kappa Alpha honors members". Salisbury Post. 2018-04-26. Retrieved 2022-02-23.