Uncrowned Community Builders

Freddie Fordham is a career educator. She was an elementary school teacher for 35 years. In addition to her passion for teaching and working with children, a central theme that has characterized her life is "community service". Throughout her adult life, she has been active in her church and other community organizations. She is also a dedicated wife and mother.

Freddie was born in 1939 in Clarksdale , Mississippi to Gid and Alberta Harris. She was the second oldest of four children. Her parents were sharecroppers. When America became involved in WW II, many southern black sharecroppers began moving to cities like Kansas City , Chicago , St. Louis , etc., to take jobs in the "war industries". A family friend, who had found work in Kansas City , wrote a letter to Freddie's father and informed him that they were hiring at the Sunflower Ordinance Plant in Kansas City , Kansas .

Although her father hadn't harvested his crops for that year, some friends took him to the train station in Memphis and he left Mississippi . He never returned. After he got situated in Kansas City , Gid Harris sent for his family and the family moved to a poor area of Kansas City , Kansas called Armstrong. The year was 1944. During the next decade life was hard, but Gid and Alberta Harris persevered.

Freddie's father went from the Sunflower Ordinance Plant to the Rock Island Railroad. Her mother worked in a laundry. The Church was central to the Harris family. In Armstrong they were active members of St. Peters A.M.E. Church . Urban renewal forced the Armstrong community to relocate, and the family became active members of Grant Chapel A.M.E. Church . Freddie was an outstanding student. She progressed through the Kansas City , Kansas School System and was a 1957 honor graduate of Sumner High School .

In the fall of 1957, Freddie enrolled as a freshman in the Kansas City , Kansas Community College. In 1959, she transferred to Emporia State College, where she majored in Elementary Education. In 1960 she married Monroe Fordham , also a student at Emporia State College. She earned her Bachelors Degree in 1961. In 1962 she accepted her first teaching job with the Wichita , Kansas Public Schools. She taught first grade in Wichita for 8 years. During that time, she earned a Masters Degree in 1964 in education from Emporia State College.

In 1970 Freddie moved with her family to Buffalo , New York . She taught for one semester at the Buffalo State College Campus School before accepting a job with the Buffalo Public Schools. She was assigned to teach fourth grade at the B.U.I.L.D. Academy . At that time B.U.I.L.D. Academy was "an experimental" school. The school was a test to the parameters of the Black Nationalist demand for "community control". In addition to her teaching assignment, Freddie became active with the B.U.I.L.D. community organization. She was a member of the B.U.I.L.D. Academy Policy Board, and a member of the B.U.I.L.D education committee. She remained at the B.U.I.L.D. Academy for 27 years. In 1974 the B.U.I.L.D. Academy staff nominated her for the New York State Teacher of the Year Award. That same year, Freddie earned a second Masters Degree in Reading from the State University of New York at Buffalo . In 1984 she received the Jayne Kadney Rand Award from Buffalo State College for her work as a supervisor of student teachers.

In addition to her teaching, "community service" has been a hallmark of Freddie's life. She taught Sunday school for 16 years at Bethel AME Church and was Sunday school superintendent for 10 years. She assisted with the youth choir and was president of the Bethel AME Federal Credit Union for eight years. She also assisted several seniors from the congregation, taking them shopping and to appointments and church functions. After joining her daughter and granddaughter in First Shiloh Baptist Church in 1997, she was active in the seniors ministry.

Moreover, since her retirement in 1998, she has assisted her husband, Monroe, in organizing, indexing and preparing local history papers for microfilming. She has worked with the Papers of Rev. J. Edward Nash, the Robert Traynham Coles Papers, The Buffalo Civil Rights Organization Papers, etc.

Freddie is married to Monroe Fordham . The couple has 3 children and 6 grandchildren.