Isaac Fisher (educator)
{{Short description|American educator}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Isaac Fisher
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1877|01|18}}
| birth_place = East Carroll Parish, Louisiana, US
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1957|08|23|1877|01|18}}
| awards = Guggenheim Fellowship (1926)
}}
Isaac Fisher (January 18, 1877 – August 23, 1957) was an American educator who graduated from Tuskegee Institute, served as principal at Branch Normal College, and taught at several other Historically Black Colleges and Universities. A protege of Booker T. Washington, he advocated vocational education.
Life
Fisher was born in East Carroll Parish, Louisiana, on a plantation called Perry's Place. He was born to former slaves, and was the youngest of their sixteen children. Fisher graduated from the Tuskegee Institute in 1898, and was valedictorian of his class.{{Cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=5082|title=Isaac Fisher (1877–1957)|last=Pruden III|first=William H.|website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas|access-date=2019-04-19}} He succeeded Joseph Carter Corbin as principal of Branch Normal College, from 1902 to 1911. During his tenure, the school concentrated on elementary and secondary education of students.{{Cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=4136|title=University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB)|last=Faison|first=Othello|website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas|access-date=2019-04-19}} He taught at Fisk University and Hampton Institute.
He believed, as did his mentor Booker T. Washington, in industrial education for African Americans.{{Cite journal|last=Wheeler|first=Elizabeth L.|date=1982|title=Isaac Fisher: The Frustrations of a Negro Educator at Branch Normal College, 1902-1911|jstor=40023372|journal=The Arkansas Historical Quarterly|language=en|volume=41|issue=1|pages=3–50|doi=10.2307/40023372}}
His papers are held at the University of Arkansas.{{Cite web|url=https://libraries.uark.edu/specialcollections/findingaids/fisher.html|title=Isaac Fisher Papers|website=University of Arkansas, Fayetteville|access-date=2019-04-19}}
Awards
- 1925 and 1926 Guggenheim Fellowship
Works
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=r9EYAAAAYAAJ&dq=Isaac+Fisher+proceedings+negro&pg=RA6-PA55 "The Negro Problem as we are trying to solve it at Tuskeegee"], Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting of Progressive Friends, The Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting of Progressive Friends, 1891
- Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Presidents of Negro Land-Grant Colleges, 1933{{Cite book|title=Organizing Black America: An Encyclopedia of African American Associations|last=Mjagkij|first=Nina|date=2003|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9780203801192|language=en}}
- [http://www.online-literature.com/booker-washington/tuskegee-and-its-people/6/ A College President's Story]
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/isaac-fisher/ Fisher's biography] at the Guggenheim Foundation
- [http://www.gf.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Unfettered-and-Unrestrained.pdf Essay about Fisher] by Mary E. Kiffer on the Guggenheim Foundation website
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Category:Tuskegee University alumni
Category:University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff faculty