Wednesday, December 19, 2007
SCHOOL HONORS
Facilities named
The Youngstown City School Board honored three individuals by naming school facilities after them:
Dr. MARTIN LUTHER KING Jr.
Slain civil rights activist and leader.
Born Jan. 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Ga.
Educated as a Baptist minister.
Became involved in the civil rights movement at an early age and became the most visible figure in the struggle for the rights of members of his race.
Presented with the Nobel Peace Price in 1964.
Assassinated April 4,1968, in Memphis, Tenn., while there to lead a protest march for striking garbage workers.
His birthday was made a national holiday in 1986.
WILLIAM HOLMES MCGUFFEY
Known as “America’s Schoolmaster” through his creation of the McGuffey Eclectic Readers.
Born in 1800 near Claysville, Pa.
Grew up in Coitsville Township, Mahoning County.
Penned his first “McGuffey Reader” while a professor at Miami University of Ohio between 1826 and 1836.
The “McGuffey Reader” had more than 122 million copies printed, serving as the primary reading book in American schools for decades.
Served as president of Cincinnati College, Ohio University and Woodward College.
Died in 1873.
National historical marker placed at family homestead in Coitsville in 1966.
EMANUEL N. CATSOULES
Youngstown schools superintendent from 1978 to 1992, fourth-longest tenure in the district’s history.
Spent 28 years in the school system.
Born 1934 in Youngstown.
Was the son of immigrant parents and couldn’t speak English when he went to first grade.
Served as a city councilman and was a community activist.
Died in 2004 at age 70.
Sources: Martin Luther King biography, William Holmes McGuffey Historical Society, Vindicator files