| cover story |
He was the closest thing I’d ever had in regard to a male figure I could go to for advice. I could talk to him about school — history and English. He knew all kinds of music. I changed my behavior and became more disciplined, mostly from my exposure to him. Cortland Moten, on inspiring coach and teacher
CALL ME
MISTER New JSU program to increase number of black male teachers in elementary schools
C
ortland Moten wasn’t a bad kid; he just needed a little direction. Raised in a single-parent home, Moten rarely saw his father. Most of his male role models were uncles, cousins, his grandfather and the guys he knew from his tight-knit neighborhood. Moten admits he wasn’t always respectful at school. He’d crack jokes in class or horseplay with other athletes. That all changed when he met Coach Lintrail Dukes at Forest Hill High School in Jackson, Miss. Dukes demanded respect, and it was a demand that stuck with the impressionable young Moten. “I never had that before,” Moten says. “He was the closest thing I’d ever had in regard to a male figure I could go to for advice. I could talk to him about school — history and English. He knew all kinds of music. I changed my behavior and became more disciplined, mostly from my exposure to him.” With firsthand knowledge of how a black male teacher could make a difference in a youth’s life, Moten decided to become an educator. And, thanks to Jackson State University, he’ll get the financial, academic and mentoring support he needs to reach his goal. Moten, 19, is part of the first cohort of the JSU Call Me MISTER program, designed to provide academic and financial support to black men who want to become public elementary school teachers in Mississippi. The need is great — both in Mississippi and nationwide. Less than 2 percent of public school teachers in the U.S. are black men. In Mississippi, around 2.4 percent of its public elementary school teachers are black men. In a few years, at
by shelia byrd
jacksonian | 19