Electa Quinney

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Stockbridge Teacher

Karyn Saemann

The inspiring story a young Stockbridge-Munsee girl who followed her dreams and went on to become Wisconsin's first public school teacher.

128 pages, 7 x 9, 59 b&w photos, 1 map
Paperback: $12.95 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-641-2
Ebook: $9.99 | ISBN: 978-0-8020-642-9
Publication Date: 3/11/2014

Reading Level: Ages 8–14, Grades 3–8

BUY

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Description

Electa Quinney loved to learn. Growing up in New York in the early 1800s, she attended elite eastern boarding schools. There she learned how to read, write, and solve tough math problems—she even learned how to do needlework. Electa decided early on that she wanted to become a teacher so she could pass her knowledge on to others. This biography for young readers follows Electa's journey from her youth growing up in New York to becoming Wisconsin's first public school teacher.

It was not a simple journey. Electa was a Stockbridge-Munsee Indian, and her tribe was being pressured by the government and by white people in the area to move out of New York. So in 1828, Electa and others in her tribe moved to Wisconsin. Almost as soon as she arrived in her new home, Electa got to work teaching in a log building that also served as the local church. In that small school in the woods, Electa became Wisconsin’s first public school teacher, educating the children of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians as well as the sons and daughters of nearby white residents and missionaries.

The story of Electa’s life provides a window into Wisconsin during the territorial era and discusses the challenges and issues faced by Native American in the nineteenth century. Through it all, Electa’s love of learning stands out, and her legacy as Wisconsin’s first public school teacher makes her an inspiration to students of today.

Author Bio

Karyn Saemann earned a journalism degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and spent more than two decades as a professional reporter and editor at newspapers in Wisconsin, including as a reviewer of children's books. She has since worked as a freelance writer and editor. Saemann has deep family roots in Shawano County, Wisconsin, with family history there going back to the 1840s. She and her family live in Deerfield, Wisconsin.