By Victoria Green
NASHVILLE, TN — Family and friends came from near and far to celebrate the 80th birthday of Gloria Haugabook McKissack, she arrived in style, Lewis & Wright’s Limousine Services was used for her transportation to the home of such a gracious host, Rene’ Whittaker. Pastor Howard Jones, Jr. beautified us with an opening prayer. Poet Henry L. Jones presented McKissack with a poem written just for her, and she received expressions of love from family and friends. Oh! Let us not forget the delicious food, caviar, shrimp, salmon, cake, champagne, and much more.
A beautiful flower was born on Aug. 31, 1943. A native of Detroit, MI. After graduating from Central High, she decided to enroll in a southern HBCU, Tennessee A&I College, now Tennessee State University, instead of accepting a scholarship to Wayne State University, then predominantly white. It was 1960 and the Freedom Riders had taken place and Greensboro N.C. had started a sit-in movement. She almost immediately became an active participant in the Nashville Sit-In Movement. She did not hesitate when recruited by expelled Freedom Riders to join the Student Non-Violent Coordination Committee, better known as SNCC. SNCC students under the leadership of John Lewis risked their education and lives to end discrimination, not only at lunch counters but restaurants, hotels, public parks, theaters, and places of employment. McKissack still suffers from a back injury when a brick was thrown at her and others seeking safety at First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill.
McKissack received degrees in American History, African American Studies, and Curriculum Design from Tennessee State University. She continued with advanced studies at Wayne State, University of Northern Colorado, and Wake Forrest School of Law. As an educator she played a significant role in the desegregation of Nashville public school system, serving on several desegregation committees. She was the first African American hired to teach at the newly integrated West End Middle School in 1968. Years later she was appointed department head of Nashville’s first court-ordered magnet school, Hume Fogg as Social Studies Department Head. She spearheaded the teaching of African American and Holocaust Studies, formed Student Political Action groups, and Student United for Racial Equality (SURE), even when it was unpopular.
McKissack retired from Metro schools after thirty- two years of dedicated service. During this time, she also became an adjunct professor in the History Department at TSU. Because of her outstanding reputation, she was selected to represent Tennessee at the Martin Luther King Center for Social Change in Atlanta, GA, to write and implement a national curriculum guide to teach MLK’s philosophy of non-violence in the nation’s schools.
As founder and former national chair of “Lighting the Path for Girls” McKissack has sponsored youth trips to significant civil rights historical places and events that include Montgomery, AL, Memphis, and the 50th Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington D.C. under her leadership of Les Gemmes, Incorporated. She led five buses to the 50th anniversary of the March on Selma which made global news.
Now retired, Professor McKissack still does research, speaking engagements, tours, and community service. She has received various awards and honors. She continues to live a life of dedicated service to others.
