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In the years before her tragic death, Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU) President Elizabeth Davis championed childhood literacy and educational equity, especially in her advocacy for funding that places at least one librarian in every District public school.
That’s why, in their unveiling of the WTU’s recently refurbished free library, teachers’ union members, District public school librarians and We Act Radio staff members celebrated the life and legacy of Davis, for whom they renamed the free library.
For years, the free library became a source of literature for passersby in Eastern Market, where WTU headquarters is located. Davis, who served as the WTU president between 2013 and 2021, had the free library installed in 2017.
While speaking about Davis, WTU President Jacqueline Pogue Lyons said the rededication ceremony not only recognized Davis’ role in bringing the free library to the WTU office, but reaffirmed WTU’s mission of tackling illiteracy and better equipping teachers in their mastery of the Science of Reading.
“President Davis understood and strongly supported [childhood literacy]. When she got the free library, we put books in it and some of our community members would leave books,” Pogue Lyons said.
Pogue Lyons, an early childhood educator and former WTU vice president, succeeded Davis in 2021. Regina Bell, a former legislative committee chair with experience as a school librarian/media specialist, currently serves as WTU’s general vice president.
In taking the helm, Pogue Lyons said she would carry on Davis’ work and legacy to ensure that District public school students receive a quality education. Since then, the WTU has been focused on childhood literacy.
“We’re really disturbed that some of our students aren’t faring well,” Pogue Lyons said. “If they aren’t given the foundation in reading by the end of second grade, they’ll never get the support they need to become literate. [That’s why] I’m glad that We Act Radio agreed to fix the library.”
A Ceremony in Honor of a Legend
On Monday, WTU and We Act Radio co-hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the steps of the WTU headquarters for the newly refurbished free library. At the event, which commemorated School Library Month, Pogue Lyons provided remarks, as did We Act Radio co-founder Kymone Freeman and Virginia A. Spatz, co-host of a We Act Radio’s Education Town Hall and project manager of the Charnice Milton Community Bookstore.
The free library, painted red, looks like a schoolhouse. A wooden latch has a transparent center with a clear view of several books and a quote by Davis that says “Education is liberating!” On the top is a red, white, and blue sticker designating the free library as part of the Charnice Milton Community Bookstore, which We Act Radio launched in 2019 in memory of the slain Capital Community News and East of the River Magazine reporter.
In 2017, Davis and Spatz collaborated on the installment of the free library, which Spatz’s sister initially purchased for her as a gift. In speaking about the project, Spatz said that the free library would serve commuters standing at a bus stop near WTU headquarters and residents in the surrounding community, including Potomac Gardens Apartments.
Years later, Davis appeared on an episode of Spatz’s “Community thru Covid” program. As Spatz recounted to the Informer, Davis engaged in conversation with then-American Association of School Librarians president Kathy Carroll about the ever-pressing need for librarians to connect students relegated to their homes with supplemental reading material.
That would not only be the last time Spatz and Davis spoke, but, in part, the impetus for the free library’s repair and rededication.
“The event brought together the resources of the teachers’ union, the Charnice Milton Community Bookstore and We Act Radio,” Spatz said. “We said that we would work together and keep plugging away for students to get what they needed. That suits Liz’s legacy because it brings together people in the community, which is what she was doing up until the day she died.”
The Mission Continues
Davis died in a car accident in 2021 on Easter Sunday.
In 2013, Davis entered her role as WTU president with the goal of challenging school closings and the design of the IMPACT teacher evaluation system. She carried out that mission by balancing politics and activism, along with often establishing grassroots rapport among teachers and students. In total, she served more than 40 years as an instructor, with stints at John Philip Sousa Middle School and what was then Jefferson Junior High School.
At the time of her death, Davis had been in the throes of a battle with D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) about proposed budget cuts that would have significantly reduced the teaching staff at nearly 50 schools located east of the Anacostia River. She also led the WTU in challenging DCPS and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s insistence that schools reopen at the height of the pandemic.
Upon teachers’ and students’ full return to in-person learning, the WTU has solidified Davis’ legacy. With the financial support of the American Federation of Teachers, the local teachers’ union has given away free books of choice to students. It has also taken steps to secure professional development opportunities for teachers in the Science of Reading.
School librarians have also enjoyed much success, thanks in part to Davis’ tireless support and activism. Months after Davis’ death, the D.C. Council approved a budget that secured one librarian for each District public school and increased compensation for tens of thousands of early childhood educators.
However, efforts to make that funding permanent through the Students’ Right to Read Amendment Act fizzled.
K.C. Boyd, a school librarian who was on the front lines of those efforts, said Davis taught her to ask questions and hold school officials and politicians accountable to their word. She added that Davis’s dedication to the cause garnered her respect, and at times disdain, among city officials and DCPS central office figures alike.
In speaking about the Elizabeth Davis free library, Boyd commended WTU for furthering its commitment to childhood literacy. At Jefferson Middle School Academy in Southwest, Boyd has seen young people check out physical copies of books by the numbers, and reading assessment scores increase as a result.
For Boyd, closing the literacy gap means going back to the basics, including infusing a love for independent reading in children. She told The Informer that the late Davis would be in agreement about such a concept.
“Liz fought extremely hard for all children, and she was laser focused on children across the Anacostia River because she didn’t want them left behind,” Boyd said. “With all the craziness in the District, you wondered if children were being put first and you had someone who did it. To be an independent reader, you have to pick up a book and read. Liz embedded in the Washington Teachers’ Union how important it was for children to do that.”