This 94-year-old highly educated Detroiter remains turned on by serving his community

From the beginning, efforts to celebrate Black history in America have been built on a message that education has the power to overcome all barriers and obstacles. And Detroit's Elliottorian Business and Professional Women's Club offers proof.

Founded in 1928 by a small group of dedicated and educated Black women from Detroit, the Elliottorians marked the city's first public observance of "Negro History Week" — on Sunday, Feb. 15, 1931 — by hosting a program spotlighting an educator who was the driving force behind the nation's celebration of Black history during February and throughout the year: Dr. Carter Woodson. The son of former slaves, Woodson became the second Black American to earn a doctorate from Harvard University before founding the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, which sponsored the first Negro History Week in 1926.

When Woodson spoke at the Detroit program, in response to an invitation from the Elliottorians, Arthur Divers was only 3 years old and lived more than 800 miles away in Little Rock, Arkansas. But he says the transformative power of education, which Woodson's visit to Detroit represented, was a message he heard often at home during his childhood — and one that continues to guide him today.

“Neither one of my parents (Arthur and Pearl Divers) were educated people — they weren’t even high school graduates — but nevertheless education was put on a high level, as a value,” Divers said last week, speaking from his home in Detroit’s Winship community near DMC Sinai Grace Hospital. The 94-year-old retired educator was determined to better his life through education — earning three master's degrees and a doctorate along the way — and empowered countless Detroit youths to do the same. “If you can get an education, you can get a house and improve your status in life — economically, as well as socially.”

Divers' academic achievements did not come without struggles and sacrifice.

By the time he reached high school, others began to take notice of Divers' dedication to academic excellence. But growing up during the Jim Crow era, he faced boundaries in America's segregated South.

Had Divers grown up in Detroit as a young Black man, instead of the segregated South, he could have possibly attended a high school like Eastern, Northwestern, Northeastern or Cass Tech, which were examples of integrated Detroit high schools that had already produced several illustrious Black graduates even before 1943, when Divers began high school. In Detroit at that time, there also was the old Sidney D. Miller High School, which was often described as “Detroit’s first all-Black high school.” Located at 2322 DuBois, in what was then the historic Black Bottom neighborhood, Miller High School offered college preparatory, commerce and general studies curricula from 1934 through 1957 and had a reputation for producing scholars and standout athletes. While race relations in Detroit during this era were far from perfect, as evidenced by the 1943 Detroit riot, there still were viable options available to Black students seeking a quality high school education.

For Divers, however, the so-called “separate but equal” laws in the South left him with only one option: Little Rock's all-Black Dunbar High School. But Divers said this lone option gave him everything he needed to succeed, including a steady dose of encouragement.

“It (Dunbar) was considered one of the best high schools in the state and all of the teachers there were college educated,” explained Divers, whose high school was named after the celebrated poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. “And for some reason, one of the teachers took an interest in me, and at the parent conference she told my mother: 'You should have your son read; have him read newspapers and any and everything else you can find, because I see talent in him!’ "

The teacher’s recommendation and his mother’s support paid off; Divers went on to graduate third in a class of 116 students. His academic record, along with a recommendation from the Dunbar principal, earned Divers admission to Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal College. Once there, Divers excelled, so much so that even people outside of Arkansas began to learn about him after he was listed in the 1953 “American College Student Leaders” publication.

At first it appeared that Cleveland would be the city where Divers would make his mark on the worlld. Upon graduating with honors from Arkansas AM&N with a degree in history and political science, Divers was accepted into the Case Western Reserve University School of Law. However, during his first year, Divers realized that rigorous coursework combined with the many hours he needed to work to support himself was keeping him from doing what he had always strived to do —– his best.

Divers did not return for a second year of law school, instead finding his footing through a sales position with the Charles Chester Shoe Manufacturing Co. Divers became so successful at selling shoes in Cleveland, that the company offered him a job as the branch manager of a new Detroit office, where Divers would train his own sales staff. He accepted the assignment, and experienced initial success in his new hometown. But everything changed with the 1958 recession that suddenly put more than 250,000 Detroiters — mostly autoworkers and those who were supported by their incomes — out of work.

But Divers was not ready to leave Detroit, and in order to stay, he needed to focus once again on education.

“People didn’t have the money they normally had (during the recession) so they slowed down on buying shoes —work shoes, dress shoes, all that kind of stuff, haircuts, too,” Divers recalled. “The salesmen couldn’t make the kind of money they were used to, so they started quitting. And I said: ‘I better find something else,’ so I went over to Wayne State.”

With his transcript in hand, Divers headed to Wayne State University’s College of Education office, where a path was laid out that would enable him to become a certified teacher in Detroit. Divers completed the requirements — which included 20 additional credit hours, two stints of student teaching and, for Black teaching candidates from the South, a speech class so that they could be understood in the classroom — at Cass Tech and Jefferson Intermediate School. In addition, Divers said he had to undergo a psychological test and criminal background check.

But for a man who once overlooked his fear of heights to work a summer job as a window washer to help pay for future classes, none of the requirements were too intimidating. In 1959, after working as a substitute teacher, Divers received his appointment from the Detroit Board of Education to join the staff at Foch Intermediate School as a social studies teacher.

Divers' first full school year as a teacher in Detroit was not exactly easy, and, unlike his experiences as a student, when he was consistently praised for his mastery of coursework, the school officials that evaluated his first year expressed doubts about his ability to become a successful teacher. However, his situation began to change when he was transferred to Jefferson School, where he had been a student teacher.

“Some people were saying that maybe I was in the wrong field, but the principal at Jefferson, who was French, was a fair man,” Divers recalled about his return to the school, located at 950 Seldon St. “He said: ‘I see you had some problems over there (at Foch), but I’m going to give you the encouragement and the support you need, and we’ll see what happens.’ Lord have mercy! That’s all I wanted to hear, and I took off flying after that!”

And fly he did during his 43 years as a teacher and later a counselor for Detroit's public schools. During that time, he continued his own educational journey, which included earning two master’s degrees and a doctorate degree from the University of Michigan. He also revealed that he earned a third master’s degree — this one from the state of Michigan in social work — for the accumulation of field work he performed through the years. The added credentials contributed to him becoming the first Black person to serve as a counselor at Osborn High School, where he would later retire in 2001. But there was a moment early in Divers’ career as an educator that speaks to anyone who visits the home he shares with his adoring wife of 62 years, Bernice. This moment is captured by a framed page from the March 21, 1964, edition of the Michigan Chronicle. On it, an announcement was made to the community that courses in “History and Heritage of the Negro” were going to be taught during night school sessions at select Detroit high schools. Divers was instrumental in making Black studies more accessible to Detroit students.

“Black folks turned out at every high school, all kinds of people,” said Divers, who also is the father of three adult children (Arthur, Sheri and Sheldon Divers). “That galvanized people. And once that happened, and they saw how the people came out, they decided to put it (Black studies) in the regular program. That’s how Black history, Black literature, all of that, was introduced into the curriculum for Detroit Public Schools."

In retirement, Divers has continued to work passionately with his community in support of a variety of causes and organizations, including his beloved Winship Community Association, which he has been the president of since 2003.

Willie Cambell, treasurer of the Winship Community Association, let it be known that he has no plans of leaving Divers’ side when it comes to serving their neighborhood.

“He is a remarkable gentleman and sometimes he amazes me, but I’m used to it now because age is absolutely no factor for Arthur Divers,” said Cambell, who revealed that he — like many of the students Divers empowered in the classroom — has learned much from the education champion through the years. “Arthur Divers has great integrity and instincts, and he is determined and committed to ensuring that there is progress in the Winship community and across the city of Detroit.

"Giving up is not in the vocabulary of Arthur Divers."

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and lifelong lover of Detroit culture in all of its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at: stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 94-year-old Arthur Divers has never given up on serving Detroit