Oregon Head Start Association

Charles Eugene Beatty - Head Start UnSung Hero
The City of Ypsilanti Michigan may be known for its University or its Water Tower or its Greek Heritage, but in Early Childhood Education it is known for High Scope. Important to know, though, there would be no High Scope without one man – Charles Eugene Beatty – Principal of L.C. Perry Elementary School 1940 – 1970.

Mr. Beatty, called “Chief” by those who knew him best, was a champion in many ways that led ultimately to his leadership in the community and championship of education, Early Childhood Education and Head Start, specifically.

Mr. Beatty was born in Detroit Michigan in 1909, where he attended Northeastern High School. He was an outstanding athlete, lettering in track and field each year. He was the first high schooler to win four events at consecutive Michigan High School Athletic Association Track and Field Championships (1927 and 1928). He established a new USA standard in the 220 yard low hurdles, and he was named the 1928 Michigan High School track and field athlete of the Year.

As a student, at the then Michigan State Normal College, now Eastern Michigan University, Mr. Beatty had the fastest time in the world for the 440, in 1931. The next year he won the NCAA 400 meter with again the fastest time in the world, at the point. In the Olympic trials, with Jessie Owens – a few weeks later, he fell at the last hurdle while leading and was not qualified for the historic Olympics. He did, however, win the Penn relays hurdles for three years straight. Definitely a trail blazer who never gave up.

After his competing days ended, Mr. Beatty entered into the field of education. He taught at Harriet Street Elementary School, which was the segregated, all Black elementary school in Ypsilanti. In 1940, he became the first Black school principal in Michigan; thus, opening doors for others to follow in this area.

At Harriet Street School, Mr. Beatty, actively engaged parents – as teachers in the classroom, as decision makers, in parent conferences and PTA, and as the teachers for the younger children who were at home with them. As a resident of the Harriet Street area, he was an active part of building school community relations and using “The School” as a catalyst for community growth development and building. It became known, simply as “The School” – not because it was the only school, but because of Mr. Beatty it was the only one that mattered and children and adults knew what you were talking about as true community involvement happened here.
• Immunization clinics were held at “The School”
• Preschoolers in “The School” working/playing/learning with their parents in the empty classroom
• Community meetings were held at “The School”
• Wedding receptions were held at “The School”
• Civil rights meetings and rallies at “The School”
• Friday night teen dances were held at “The School”
• Voting was done at “The School”
• Community basketball and baseball games were held at “The School”
• Breakfast was served at “The School” (long before there was CACFP or free breakfast programs)

All of these “innovative” things predated any mandates or pedagogy supporting developmentally appropriateness for young children. They were, however, the daily mindset of Mr. Beatty in his own pioneering/trailblazing way to insist on best practices for the education of his community. Best practices were in – health, community partnerships, family involvement, community involvement, nutrition, parent empowerment, mentoring of children and parents, selecting and hiring teachers from the community (at that time Black teachers were left out of the teacher ranks by a system that did not support hiring the teachers reflective of the community). His own wife drove in to Detroit – 30 miles away to teach for over 40 years.

With this mindset, it was no wonder that when the graduate student Dave Weikert, began work at what was now L. C. Perry School, the ground work was already set for what would become known for decades as the Perry Preschool Project – 1962. This school was formerly Harriet Street School, and was renamed for another community pioneer – Dr. Lawrence C. Perry – a dentist, who provided dental care for the entire community – whether they could pay or not. Dr. Perry was the first African American to serve on the Ypsilanti School Board and in fact on any school board in Washtenaw County.

Mr. Beatty actively recruited and had his teachers recruit parents to participate in the project and assured them it was a good thing to do. As the leader of the committee of elementary education leaders, Mr. Beatty, brought his experiences and work within this community to bear as they discussed possible changes to teaching methods, the importance of family and community in school success and health and nutrition, all as factors in early education. All of these things were already embedded practices for the Principal of Harriet Street School – now L.C. Perry Elementary School – home of the new Perry Preschool Project. His methods as a teaching core had already proven successful at Harriet Street School and at Perry – even before the Perry Preschool Project was part of the building.

After being the catalyst for the Perry Preschool Project, Mr. Beatty continued as Principal of Perry Elementary School on the segregated south side of Ypsilanti where he continued to live – as did most of the teachers he hired. He worked his entire career for the Ypsilanti School District, retiring in 1974. Throughout this time he supported Head Start, as the fulfillment of his dreams and educational work. He later served as an Ypsilanti School Board member, an avid Golfer and golf mentor for children from the neighborhood, a community leader and mentor, and always the committed educator for his community and thus for the world who now use his work as a barometer to judge the value and success of Early Childhood Education.

He was an unsung hero, who was often heard to say “You can do anything you want to do, as long as you don’t mind who gets the credit for it”.

I find it important that we mind and that he – Mr. Charles Eugene Beatty gets the credit for his role as a primary pioneer in the development of the Head Start Program in the United States. Without his visionary work there would have been no Perry Preschool Project, no High Scope and no longitudinal study to show what he just intuitively knew – long before best practices, developmentally appropriate, brain research and pre-literacy development.

In 1976, he was inducted into the Eastern Michigan University Athletic Hall of Fame. In 1985, Mr. Beatty was also inducted into the Michigan Education Hall of Fame. He was awarded the Washtenaw County Bar Association annual Liberty Bell and Patriot award in recognition of his history of community service and his long – standing commitment to instilling respect for the law in his students, in April 1991. Many other honors were also his during his lifetime as well as posthumously.

Mr. Beatty died on February 26, 1998. Dave Weikert eulogized him as “a visionary pioneer in Early Childhood education and most responsible for the successful development of Head Start…”

Mr. Charles Eugene Beatty one who made a difference that is still being felt…an unsung hero of Head Start – all over the country.