Uncrowned Community Builders

Bettye McDaniel Blackman is a former Vice-President and Ferry District member of the Buffalo Board of Education. Throughout her career, Mrs. Blackman has diligently pursued the education of children.

She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from Howard University in 1947 and a Masters Degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1960. She attended Canisius College in 1968 as a post-graduate student in counseling.

Mrs. Blackman and her husband, Dr. George were married on December 27, 1947 after she graduated from Howard University.

She first taught business courses at the William Penn Business Institute in Philadelphia. Coming to Buffalo in 1954, she began teaching business courses at East High School in February, 1956. Mrs. Blackman was the first African American, female secondary school teacher in the district. She became a school counselor in 1967, retiring in 1985. In 1989, she became a Head-Start Evaluation Consultant with Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families; and in 1994, joined the staff of the Research Foundation of the State University of New York at Buffalo's Academic Talent Search as a counselor.

Mrs. Blackman served as a founder and secretary of the Buffalo Negro Scholarship Foundation. The Foundation, under the leadership of her late husband, Dr. George E. Blackman, presented its first scholarships in 1961, and continued over the years assisting more than five hundred students financially as well as educationally. Mrs. Blackman has served on numerous boards and committees including Treasurer of the New York State Council of Large City School Boards; Member, Advisory Minority Issues, New York State School Boards Association; New York State Task Force on the Teaching Profession; Board Association's Ad Hoc Committee on Public School Choice; and the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, Board of Ethics. In addition she served on Lay Committees at Rosary Hill (Daemen College); Buffalo General Hospital, School of Nursing; and the Admissions Committee, the State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Dentistry.

Her hobbies included music, reading dancing, skiing, boating, bridge and poker, and stamp and coin collecting.

Mrs. Blackman's spiritual beliefs began at an early age, as the daughter of a Baptist minister. She continued in her faithfulness and joined St. Philips Episcopal Church in the 1960s, where she was a devoted member until her death.

Some of the many awards received by Mrs. Blackman include the Education Award (1989) from the National Conference of Christians and Jews; the Citizen of the Year (1989) award from The Buffalo News; the Bridge Builders Historical Award (1990) from Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.; a 1990 award from the National Committee for School Desegregation; and the Outstanding Intercultural Relations Education Award (1988) from Quality Integrated Education.

Her membership affiliations include the Buffalo Chapter of Girl Friends, Inc.; the Harriet Tubman 300's; Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.; and St. Philip's Episcopal Church.

Her husband of 39 years died in 1986.

Survivors include her son, George E. Jr.; two brothers, Dr. A.T. McDaniel and the Rev. Paul McDaniel; a sister, Rosa Hill; a foster brother, George Smalls Sr.; two grandsons; and a special friend John Gomes.