Freda Andrews

Freda Andrews is a daughter of the Northside. Notably, her primary and secondary school education transformed her life immeasurably. Her teachers, especially at Northside Elementary, created a classroom setting that directed individual attention to each student. Fostered by these nurturing teachers, she attributes their dynamic pedagogical methods to her desire to pursue a career in education. She reflects on how her involvement in the Freedom Movement shed light on the potency of change. She references poems and freedom songs that echo this fervent desire to evoke change. She recounts how she incorporated these poems into her teaching curriculum. She expresses that this unconventional style of teaching black history countered the negative stereotypes that were ascribed to her African-American students. She shared that one of her ultimate goals was to instill self-worth in her students. Additionally, she discusses her diverse teaching experiences and her challenges catering to the needs of her students. She states that her resilience was inspired by her key figures in her life like Hilliard Caldwell, Floyd McKissick, and her grandfather. She reflects on their instrumental roles in shaping her character and values. In the interview’s conclusion, she circulates back to her insights on education. Her career exposed the flaws of the education system to her, and she shares her ideal vision for classrooms. She notes that a paradigm shift in how individuals approach teaching their students will reform the school system.

Freda Andrews: I grew up walking to Northside Elementary School because that’s the mode of transportation in those days. And I would cross a little branch everyday going to Northside, which was 20 minutes from my house, if that much. The only difficulty with that sometimes, the little water would rise up sometimes across the creek, and I would be afraid to cross it, but my older siblings were always there to help me. I grew up in Northside elementary school. I went to that school from grade first, because there was no kindergarten, through sixth grade. And the same people that I grew up with, that I went to school with, were the same people that I graduated with – when I did, finally, in the class of 1965. We did everything together. We walked to school together, we played together, we were in the same classes together. And the thing I admire most about Northside, and Lincoln High, and the schools that we were in, not that they were segregated, but because of the fact that we had caring teachers. Teachers who wanted us to be successful. And they cared about us. The one thing young people don’t realize is that a lot of times now it's more like coming at you to greet, keep moving on. We don’t get personal with our students, and we don’t have time for one another. But in those days, the teachers or the principal lived right in the same community that we grew up in. In fact, my principal, Mr. McDougal, lived right behind me. So he would watch whenever we had parties at my house. He would watch to see our behavior because he was strict on, you know, being great in the public [inaudible]. So I would always be embarrassed the next day when I would be sitting in a classroom, and he would, “Ahem!” on the intercom, “Oh, I just want to throw shoutout to a party that I observed the other night,” and he would go on to tell the whole school about my party. You know, I was like [] how well-mannered we were and he would just say that, and it was kind of embarrassing to me, but I learned to get over it because I knew he was, you know, a spy [laughs]. But anyway, as I said, Northside [] Elementary School all the way through middle school and through high school. Because you know, we really didn’t have a middle school, it was just you went from grade one through six and then you went on through the other grades. We didn’t call it middle school, we skipped that part.