Among the drivers in Sara Liston Spurlark’s life were (1) the importance of education, (2) the ability to use education to adapt as times change, and (3) the obligation to give back to the community. These principles were embedded in her through examples set by her parents and her ancestors before them and they guided her throughout her lifetime. The importance of those principles was readily apparent when she was born in 1923, a little over 50 years after the official end of slavery, and they are still critically important today.
Mrs. Spurlark’s paternal Grandfather, Huey Lord Byron Liston, was an inspiration to her. Enslaved when born in 1864, he was not able to attend school beyond the 3rd Grade. Nevertheless, he continued his own education by studying pamphlets provided by the United States Department of Agriculture. He used this knowledge to successfully cultivate the farmland in South Carolina that his previously-enslaved Grandfather, Harry Liston, had purchased in about 1865. Huey L.B. Liston, Mrs. Spurlark’s Grandfather, also applied keen business skills to expand the size of his own Grandfather’s property tenfold."
Determined that his son and Mrs. Spurlark’s father, Hardy Liston, Sr., receive a broader education, Huey Liston set aside crops to pay for his education past the 5th grade classes provided for African Americans in South Carolina. Mrs. Spurlark’s father continued his education and earned a B.A. in 1911 from Biddle University (now Johnson C. Smith University one of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in Charlotte, North Carolina).
Hardy Liston went on to attend the University of Chicago where he entered thinking that he would participate in a graduate level program but was instead required to retake his undergraduate courses. He not only graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Science in 1925 but also received a Master’s degree in 1928. The Great Depression ended Hardy Liston Sr.’s pursuit of a Ph.D., but he went on to serve as the Dean of Knoxville College in Knoxville, Tennessee and later became the President of his alma mater Johnson C. Smith University, where he served until his death in 1956. In 1952, he was recognized by the University of Chicago with a Public Service Alumni Award.
Mrs. Spurlark’s maternal grandparents also served as inspiration for their families. They were born in 1849 and 1859, had been enslaved, and also prioritized the education of their 7 children including Mrs. Spurlark’s mother, Estelle Hoskins Liston. Mrs. Liston received a degree from Barber Scotia College, a college for African American women, in 1911 and taught for many years in schools in Charlotte and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. During her childhood, Mrs. Spurlark’s parents often opened their home to students attending the HBCUs where they worked and assisted them in getting an education by providing lodging and access to work to assist in payment of tuition.
The experiences of her parents and what she saw growing up on HBCU campuses were powerful forces in Mrs. Spurlark’s development. Educated on or near the HBCU campuses where her parents worked, in elementary and high school, she was taught primarily by African American teachers who believed in their student’s potential. She went on to attend Knoxville College in Knoxville, Tennessee for two years and graduated from Hampton University in 1944. She then received a Masters’ Degree from the University of Connecticut in 1947 in Home Economics where her biochemistry focused thesis was “The Ascorbic Acid and Thiamine Contents of Meals Served in a State Institution”.
Mrs. Spurlark came to Chicago in 1947 to attend the University of Chicago, her father’s alma mater, as a PhD candidate in biochemistry. However, her career took a “turn” in 1955 when she left the University to focus on her family, including her three children then five years old or younger, and her own health. A shortage of teachers in math and science led her to take a "temporary" job as a high school chemistry teacher. At the time, the Chicago Public Schools was implementing plans to desegregate the schools by re-assigning teachers so that the faculties were integrated. As a result, Mrs. Spurlark was assigned to Kelly High School, located in a predominantly Irish and Polish blue-collar neighborhood that also had a few African American students, and where the academic expectations for many children were limited by their parents' experiences and cultural background. While teaching at Kelly and at other schools in Chicago, continuing the example provided by her parents, Mrs. Spurlark always encouraged her students to reach for higher goals and she and her husband, Royal E. Spurlark, Jr., an attorney, helped students in need of financial and other resources to achieve their dreams of a higher education.
Like her forebearers, Mrs. Spurlark was a dedicated lifelong learner. She took courses, while continuing to teach, and completed a third-quarter course at the University of Chicago in computer math as well as courses in school administration. This was before computers were de rigueur as they are today. Mrs. Spurlark was prepared when the Chicago Board of Education realized it needed computer experts to help with school scheduling and she took on the project for the district. Later Mrs. Spurlark began to focus on curriculum development, and her initiative and these experiences led to a wider range of career opportunities.
Mrs. Spurlark was a resident of Hyde Park/Kenwood from 1959 until her death in 2012. Early on, she was involved in the planning of a new high school for Hyde Park/Kenwood. The planning and successful establishment of Kenwood High School (now Kenwood Academy) was a remarkable accomplishment, considering the area already had Hyde Park High School which had been one of Chicago’s premier high schools and in the late 1950s had produced more Ph.Ds. than any school in the U.S.
Before Kenwood was built there was debate about whether to make Hyde Park High School into a huge complex modeled on Evanston Township High School or to build a new and separate school to keep the environment relatively small. After much discussion, it was decided that a separate school would be constructed.
Mrs. Spurlark was a part of the faculty when Kenwood High School (now Kenwood Academy) first opened in 1966 and taught Biology and Chemistry and headed the Science department. A few years later, Mrs. Spurlark became one of Kenwood’s Assistant Principals responsible for curriculum development and programming. In 1979, Mrs. Spurlark was appointed Principal of the William H. Ray Elementary School and remained in that position until she retired from the Chicago Public Schools in January 1990.
Never one to sit still, Mrs. Spurlark rejoined the University of Chicago as a lecturer and as a founding member and Co-Director of the University's new Center for Urban School Improvement, now the Urban Education Institute. The Institute was formed to provide support for Chicago Public Schools including mentoring principals, creating, and supporting leadership teams and developing literacy programs. Mrs. Spurlark remained in that role until her last retirement in 2005 at the age of 81.
During her career, Mrs. Spurlark also served in numerous board and leadership roles including with the McCormick Theological Seminary, the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, the South East Chicago Commission, and the Chicago School Finance Authority. While teaching and working in and around schools, Mrs. Spurlark estimated that she had encountered at least 10,000 students who she had the privilege to tutor, mentor or inspire to higher academic achievement. Mrs. Spurlark remained active in the community for several years after her retirement. She died at the age of 88 on February 12, 2012.
The Sara Spurlark Award was established by parents of the William H. Ray Elementary School and Kenwood Academy at the time of her retirement from the Chicago Public Schools in 1990. Each year an awards committee chooses a Kenwood Academy senior (or seniors) to receive an award of up to $5,000 in Mrs. Spurlark's name. Its purpose is to continue her legacy of support to young people in furthering their education, pursuing their academic dreams, and contributing to their community.
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