First Grade

Ms. Gretchen Washington / Mrs. Gretchen Holmes

When interviewed Arthur Meadows, former student, said “I remember all of my teachers but the ones that had the greatest influence on me and I remember the most is Ms. Washington...that is where I learned to read and write very well.” 

Troy Hampton describes his “best teacher,” Ms. Washington of first grade. Hampton describes his time with Ms. Washington: “she would always play this song what Elvis Presley had out, right? 'You Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog', right? [laughter] And we would all be in the classroom dancing and barking, right? But, one day she came in, we said, 'we want to hear 'Nothing But a Hound Dog.'' She said [shakes head], 'can’t do it no more.' I said, 'well, what’s wrong, Ms. Washington?' Cause she was super nice. She said, 'Elvis Presley supposedly- I don’t know if he said it or not, supposedly said it- all colored people can do for him is buy his records and shine his shoes.' She went 't-k' [mimes snapping record in half]. So, no more Elvis Presley. I remember that we used to get up there, dance around and go, 'oh ho, gee,' bark like a dog, ‘cause 'nothing but a hound dog.'"

Kim Edmonds said "my first-grade teacher, Miss Gretchen Holmes.  And then a lady that I'm sure everybody's heard about now…like I said, my first-year teacher, she was amazing because she was an elderly lady by the time got to be in her class, and she had taught several students before.  You know, I was lucky enough to have her as a teacher, okay?"

Dr. Mickey Hickman said "Ms. Holmes - and later, I don't know if you use Ms. Holmes first and then became Ms. Washington, or she was Ms. Washington, came, and so, my teachers were always constantly changing their names - was my first great teacher.  I remember, what I remember about first grade is Dick and Jane and Spot and Sally and Puff, and Mom and Dad. Those were the books that we read, how we learned to read.  It wasn't any such thing as phonics then.  We just learned words, and so I was able to do that."

Ms. Mary T. Baker 

Marva Hickman describes the rhythm band and second-grade teacher. Hickman said, “Ms. Baker was the lady that did the rhythm band...that was kind of our special music for the class or the students in the school.”

Julius Fuller did not personally have Ms. Mary T. Baker, but he describes her class as a perimeter class. Mr. Fuller said “Ms. Mary T. had the first grade, and she taught the music. So if you did well enough to go to second grade, you’d go straight from Ms. Washington’s class to Ms. Dieber’s class, but if you didn’t progress to Ms. Washington’s class, you’d go to first-grade class, which was Ms. Mary T. Baker. So I didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time [with her] except when we’d have the rhythm band, and I think I had to play sticks, I think it was. You didn’t have any real instruments. You had like sticks, a little triangle, a bell, and she would play the piano. She would coordinate these songs, make a rhythm out of it.”

Douglas Patterson recalls his time in first grade with Ms. Mary T. Baker: “she was a teacher that was, for that time, we could tell, very well-educated, and she was a kinda sophisticated lady, and she was not only a teacher, but she was an integral part of the church that I first attended, the Methodist church. She taught us a lot about manners. That’s one thing I really remember about her, that she taught us how to have good manners, how to say ‘yes sir’ and ‘no sir,’ ‘yes ma’am,’ and ‘no ma’am.’ And I remember times when we went to the cafeteria for lunch, she would come in the cafeteria, and she would just walk by the students and she would watch us eat. And sometimes, if we didn’t hold the knife or the fork, if somebody didn’t know how to use their utensils, she would come say, ‘you don’t cut that meat like that; that’s not the right way to use a knife and a fork.’ And she would show us how to cut the proper way, how to hold our fork or your spoon when we ate. And she would tell you how not to fill your mouth full of food when you eat. She taught us things like that, and so I was so grateful.” Patterson describes how impactful those lessons were to him when he integrated into Pulaski High School. He said “I just remember times going into the lunchroom and never being around nobody but my own color when I went through elementary school. When I got in high school, now I’m around all these people that are not of my color, and you’re thrown into that situation of learning; you’re thrown into that situation of being together, eating together, being in classes together. I did many sports and so being in the locker room together, you had to learn some ways how to get along in a different way than what you were used to growing up. And I look back at times when I went to the lunchroom, not feeling intimidated sitting down and eating around a lot of people that were not of my color, my origin, and being able to feel comfortable that, looking back on some of the learning I got in elementary school, how that helped me to have confidence in what I did in high school.”