Say the name Harrison Howard and watch teachers and alums smile.
Recently I had the opportunity to interview retired Fieldston history teacher Dr. Harrison Howard, on the place of social justice work in his career. Howard, a veteran of the Poor People’s Campaign, began teaching at Fieldston in 1980 (he retired in 2015) and was known across the community for his enthusiasm and dedication towards political activism, justice, equality and racial equity. His apple picking and rafting expeditions are legendary to alums. The apples gathered would be sold to assist community programs in the South Bronx. The bus trips themselves were terrific lessons in civic engagement, citizenship, political philosophy and history. Harrison was also known for leading voter registration drives and “get out the vote” buses in hotly contested parts of New York and Pennsylvania. Currently, Dr. Howard is a founder of HEP, the Harlem Empowerment Program, an educational enrichment and tutorial program that is beginning to develop a wider reach in New York City and the world.
Dr. Howard said: “HEP’s contact this summer with Father Nestorio Agirem Babazi, the Ugandan priest of Saint Angla Merici in the Bronx, has opened up new prospects for our organization. With Father Nestorio’s help we have recruited two of his parishioners for the GED/TASC high school diploma program, two others for job counseling and forty six parishioners, who are immigrants from the Dominican Republic and French West Africa, for ESL courses.”
HEP will be recruiting at 114th Street and Madison on August 15th, and the summer program they now support, in PS 146 at 106th Street and First Avenue, is now attended by about 120 elementary school children trying to catch up on their math and English skills.
Dr. Howard noted, “ I am so proud of our staff which includes a Fieldston grad, Tim Warren, who was a First Form student of mine in 1980.”
“Harrison taught everyone,” colleague Bob Montera said, “and he taught them brilliantly, in the classrooms as well as ‘in the field.’ Anthropology, the fundamentals of political science, a passion for language study, Ancient and Medieval history, and a wide range of electives. Harrison was incredibly inventive, dedicated and curious. He was an inspiring presence.”
Howard first taught Form III students in a world history class that included the late Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the French Revolution. Colleagues would joke that Howard, who revelled in rich details and analysis, rarely got past Napoleon. To his students, it really didn’t matter, because the “journey itself” was more valuable than reaching the final destination.
Howard went on to enhance the diversity of courses for juniors and seniors with electives in Latin America, the Middle East, China, Japan, India, Europe (post 1945), and the US Since 1940. In 1987 he and Bob Montera created and team taught the African Studies elective which is still in the catalogue today.
While teaching at Fieldston, Howard believed Form III students should not solely learn about European History in their World History Classes, but that African and other global histories needed to be included in the curriculum. He was instrumental in creating the “distance requirement”, a requirement that students must take one elective in Non-European or U.S. History. This was somewhat similar to the Adler Requirement that was put into effect last year in the aftermath of the Students of Color Matter movement. Classes in the 1990s like Native American Studies, Science and History and A History of the Working Class were all part of that initiative. Dr. Howard was 40 years ahead of his time.
After Fieldston Harrison set about learning German, travelling, scaling glaciers in Italy and then committing himself to HEP.
At HEP he often taps into his long-standing friendships. “Karima Smith and Peter Suhr are terrific job counselors and Farrah Hamilton Maxwell and Tim Warren have had increasing success in the GED/TASC zoom classes. I am blessed to have two incredible co-consultants, Fatima Sekoure from Mali and former Fieldston psychologist Jay Elkin.” Harrison notes, with a sly wink, “We also have interns, including my grandson, Dylan Howard, whom I pay directly to avoid charges of nepotism. Dylan uses his knowledge of Chinese to team up with Chinese-American non-profits whose clients, whom we hope to enlist in our free English classes and job counseling.”
Dr. Howard’s determination to create plans for change has inspired a generation of Fieldston colleagues and students alike. He was essential towards diversifying the narrative we learn in history courses at Fieldston today. Howard showed me how fighting for what you believe in can truly impact your community. But he also speaks to a more immediate kind of participation: “We have had Fieldston interns in the past, and I urge Fieldston students who would like to earn community service with us, or, simply learn more about us, to call Peter Suhr at 1- 631-988-8069 or email him at ps2828@gmail.com He needs helpers to research job opportunities that fit the needs of our clients’ career aspirations, to investigate other non-profit organization with whom we can team up, and to contact the few organizations in New York who help ex-convicts, whose aid from these organizations has expired after two years. We would give them help in finding employment.”
Dr. Howard concluded with, “HEP is an organization where one can fulfill Felix Adler’s motto of deed not creed, so we would truly welcome Fieldston volunteers to help us to help others.”
Harrison Howard is not only a learned man; he’s a person with a wonderful temperament who graces any room he enters. It would be hard to overstate how his presence enlivened Fieldston and stitched together the community.