Uncle Fred’s Army honors retired Black educators

By Vivian Shipe& KNOXVILLE, TN — The combined years of service by the African American educators gathered at the Beck totaled over 600 years. These are the “before” educators. Before you couldn’t teach Black History, before you couldn’t discipline and maintain control of your own class room. These teachers gave correction, education, hugs, advice, and were part of the days when the educator was respected and held in high regard. They were highly& effective, encouraging, empowering, and told their students to roll their shoulders back, hold your head up, walk tall, and conjugate. They were of the old guard , telling the children to remember who they were representing both in the classroom and outside the classroom. When you left their classrooms you could read, write, and do math. They never forgot you and over the years they would see you and remember you.They made a difference in the lives of thousands and thousands of young black children in Knoxville over the years and& Uncle Fred’s Army made sure they knew the positive impact and difference they had made in the lives of their past students during a Chat and Chew luncheon held in their honor at the Beck Cultural...