Diary of a Harlem School Teacher

by James Haskins

This classic work, long out of print, recounts the experiences of an African American teacher during his first year working in a Harlem elementary school in the 1960s. Though written more than forty years ago, the diary still rings true to the experience of many beginning teachers today. The New York Times Book Review called Haskins's diary "a weapon―cold, blunt, painful" and Look magazine said it "will be read a generation hence as a classic of one aspect of American education." As Herbert Kohl discusses in his new foreword, Diary of a Harlem Schoolteacher is a dramatic reminder of how much educational work there is still to do.

Genres: Nonfiction

161 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2008

About the author

Haskins, James (1941–2005), author of nonfiction books for juveniles and adults, biographer, educator, critic, editor, and educational consultant. Born into a large family in a racially segregated middle-class section of Demopolis, Alabama, where he was not allowed to visit the town's public library, James S. Haskins was deeply affected by the swirl of events related to the mid-century civil rights movement. He received his bachelor's degree in history at Alabama State College, but limited career opportunities in the South in the early 1960s led him to seek employment in New York City. Two years of selling newspaper advertisements and working as a Wall Street stockbroker brought him to the realization that he was better suited for a career in education and thus he applied for a position in the New York City public school system. After teaching music at several locations, he found a job teaching a special education class at P.S. 92. Obsessed with the plight of his inner-city pupils, he was glad to discuss their problems with anyone who would listen, including a social worker who encouraged him to write his thoughts and experiences in a diary. This resulted in the publication of his first book, Diary of a Harlem Schoolteacher (1969), which was widely acclaimed. This initial success attracted the attention of major publishers who approached him to write books for children and adolescents.

An admitted need to reconcile social disparities and a desire to interpret events to young people and to motivate them to read and be influenced by accomplished individuals—particularly deprived youth whom he felt had far too few role models to read about—led him to author more than one hundred books on a diverse array of topics. Written for a general audience of juveniles, his titles include The War and the Protest: Viet Nam (1971), Religions (1973), Jobs in Business and Office (1974), The Consumer Movement (1975), Your Rights, Past and Present: A Guide for Young People (1975), Teen-age Alcoholism (1976), The Long Struggle: The Story of American Labor (1976), Who Are the Handicapped (1978), Gambling—Who Really Wins (1978), Werewolves (1981), and The New Americans: Cuban Boat People (1982).

Haskins launched his college teaching career in 1970 and continued lecturing on psychology, folklore, children's and young adult literature, and urban education at schools in New York and Indiana before landing a full-time professorship in the English department at the University of Florida at Gainesville in 1977. That same year he authored The Cotton Club, a pictorial and social history of the notorious Harlem night club, which seven years later was transformed into a motion picture of the same name directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Among his books intended for adults or college-level readers are The Psychology of Black Language (1973) with Dr. Hugh Butts; Black Manifesto for Education (1973), which he edited; Snow Sculpture and Ice Carving (1974); Scott Joplin: The Man Who Made Rag-time (1978); Voodoo and Hoodoo: Their Tradition and Craft as Revealed by Actual Practitioners (1978); Richard Pryor, A Man and His Madness (1984); and Mabel Mercer: A Life (1988). He has contributed numerous critical essays and reviews to periodicals. Still, he is best known for his biographies, tailored for elementary and high school students. Most of these recount the triumphs of well-known contemporary African Americans, with whom many young people readily identify. The long list of persons he has profiled (often using the pen name Jim Haskins) include Colin Powell, Barbara Jordon, Thurgood Marshall, Sugar Ray Leonard, Magic Johnson, Diana Ross, Katherine Dunham, Guion Bluford, Andrew Young, Bill Cosby, Kareem Adbul-Jabbar, Shirley Chisholm, Lena Horne, and Rosa Parks. Biographies of prominent individuals who are not African American include Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, Shirley Temple Black, Corazón Aquino, Winnie Mandela, and Christopher Columbus.

Reviews

[Brendan Huddleston · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly shocking and tragic diary of a Harlem public school teacher who teaches the classes for developmentally challenged students.

Too often these students are not challenged because of an inability to be “normal”, but more so because of the lack of a “proper” home environment.

This book is in diary format, often with multiple daily entries per page. The diary covers a whole school year and the author included biographies of the 9 children he worked hardest with over the course of the year which was really, really interesting.

This was an extremely powerful book that helped me reflect on my education experiences and helped me further understand the issues that have occurred (and still occur) in inner-city schools on a daily basis.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting, although sad and disturbing, look at an inner-city Harlem school in 1968. The book is a one-year diary of school teacher Jim Haskins who heads up a class for special needs children (then called retarded).
The book is fraught with sad stories of life in the ghetto, with children suffering hard lives while trying to get an education. The school moans under the strain from broken windows that don't seem to get fixed, clogged toilets, continuous break-ins with doors that do not get repaired and secured in a timely fashion, as well as racial tensions between school staff and between teachers and parents. I can only hope that things have gotten better some 52 years later and I did wonder how these children came through life.
I looked up Jim Haskins and found he left the teaching profession soon after this and became a very accomplished person. It seems like he did do some good for the children under his care. This book is an interesting legacy and a valuable historical look at America's limping school system around the time of the Vietnam war.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written and interesting, though heartbreaking.

[Tom Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Started this over a decade ago when I was teaching in a Harlem school. Picked it up again and finished it. I think I needed a little distance.

[Stefanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think Haskins does an excellent job of highlighting many problems with education in our country and how the disparities in education affect children on social, emotional, mental, and physical levels. It is necessary to be aware of these disparities and specific incidences that are occurring in our country. I thought the foreword was thought provoking and provided a great read.

The only issue I took with the diary is that I would have liked for Haskins to propose some ideas. I'm an educator in an urban setting, and I think it would be valuable to read some ways we can combat these horrible instances. I do recognize that isn't the purpose of the diary, but I think it would be valuable anyway as it gives readers a sense of the problems and what it would take to start thinking of solutions.

[Char · Rating 3 out of 5]

informative about the inner-city communities and offers suggestions on how this could be improved but the author doesn't feel the need too.

i read this for a college course but it was interesting and a pretty quick read.