February 2, 1997

County's First Black Teacher Had A Thousand Children

Benjamin Joshua Baker, Charlotte County's first black educator, had a thousand children but none bearing his name. They were his students who revere his memory through periodic reunions of the Baker Academy at Punta Gorda.

Benjamin was born of former slave parents at Live Oak, Fla., in 1872, only seven years after the Civil War. His mother and father could read and write -- a rare talent among African-Americans in those days. Education for slaves was prohibited because they tended to want freedom.

The little fellow learned to read and write from his parents, but he was 10 years old before a segregated school was established at Live Oak. Nevertheless, he applied himself diligently to his studies and at age 19 passed the state examination for teachers at Lake City.

For the next 12 years Baker taught in small Suwanee County "colored" schools. His relocation to Punta Gorda is recalled by Mrs. Bernice Russell, an historian and one of three generations to obtain their elementary education from him.

"Albert Gilchrist, who became Governor of Florida, engineered right-of-way and trackage for the Florida Southern Railway from Bartow Junction to Punta Gorda in 1885-86," says Mrs. Russell. "He employed five black surveyors and foremen of a railroad gang who settled down in Punta Gorda when the job was finished.

"Among those who established a new life here were Dan T. Smith, Sam Kenedy, Columbus Reese, Alex Stephens and S.P. Andrews. Kenedy bought a lot, and as a property owner signed the articles of incorporation for Punta Gorda on December 27, 1887. Other blacks who signed the charter were Elihu Justice, E.C. Jackson and O.B. Armstrong.

"General Gilchrist was a prominent civic leader much interested in advancing education for all Punta Gorda children. When he was elected state representative in 1903, he appointed Dan Smith to the DeSoto County board of education -- then including what is now Charlotte County.

"Gilchrist sent Mr. Smith to an educators' convention at New Orleans to find an African-American teacher. There Mr. Smith met Mr. Baker, a 31-year-old bachelor, and talked him into coming to Punta Gorda. "A two-room wood-frame 'colored school' was built on East Marion Avenue 'near the beach' at the foot of Cooper Street. That's where my father, Richard Andrews, went to school.

Baker's Academy

"After a few years, enrollment outgrew the original school, and a four-room building was constructed at the southeast corner of Mary and Showalter streets, now the playground of the Cooper Street Recreation Center. It was known as 'Baker's Academy.' This is the school I attended.

"All of us loved Mr. Baker. He was a quiet man who exemplified high moral character and maintained order. There was no rowdyism, nor was there any graffiti on the walls. He was firm, but we knew he loved us too.

"Mr. Baker lived in a small cottage on Charlotte Street just east of Nesbit Street. On the way to school each morning, he broke off a switch from some bush or tree with which he enforced discipline. He didn't have the switch when he came home, having broken it on those who misbehaved.

"Shortly after arriving here he married Tina Dwight, but she died. He then married Mary Richardson from Mariana, Fla. She also died. He never had children of his own.

"He was a very religious man but never joined a church. As an African-American leader -- looked up to by the community -- he did not want to show favoritism to either of the two 'colored' churches. "He attended Sunday school and morning worship alternately at St. Mark Baptist and Bethel African Methodist Episcopal churches, then evening service at the other.

"As Mr. Baker grew feeble with age, the work load on him began to tell. He had a nervous breakdown in 1940, so the school board retired him at age 68. It seemed to break his heart because it was his whole life. He died two years later," says Mrs. Russell.

An obituary notice on the front page of the Punta Gorda Herald reported Baker's death briefly:

"Benjamin J. Baker, former colored school principal, died July 22, 1942, in the state hospital at Chattahoochee where he was taken about a month ago for treatment of a mental disorder.

"The colored school here is known as 'Baker's Academy,' a tribute to the service of Baker to the people of his race for more than 45 years here and at Live Oak.

"He was retired about two years ago with a pension under provisions of the Florida Teacher's Retirement Act and had been in failing health for some time.

"Funeral plans are not known this week, but it was understood internment would be at Live Oak."

Baker's career actually spanned 49 years. The teacher's retirement act became effective in 1939, and Baker was the first educator to be accorded its benefit.

Three months after his death, a new school for African- American children was opened on Charlotte Street a block away from Baker's home. It was named Baker Elementary School in his honor.

The new school continued as a segregated facility teaching grades one through seven. Black senior-grade students were bussed to Dunbar High School at Fort Myers until Charlotte County schools were integrated in 1964. Baker Elementary then concentrated on Head Start and pre- school development classes.

The Baker Academy Alumni Association carries on Benjamin Baker's precepts of devotion to education and morality. The group is his enduring monument.

By Lindsey Williams, columnist for Sun Coast Media Group newspapers

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Photo courtesy of Charlotte Harbor Area Historical Society

Benjamin Baker, right, was the first African- American teacher, and principal, in Charlotte County. He is shown here with teachers John Reddick and Lucille (Allen) Rora.