• Rubi Reyes •
• Originally published January 31, 2009 at 11:50 p.m., updated January 31, 2009 at 11:50 p.m.

His photo album lay on the top of the glass coffee table, and with every turn of a page another story was told.

In 1963, Calvin Singleton Sr., 74, was the first black teacher at Patti Welder High School, teaching woodworking.

He had previously taught woodworking at F.W. Gross High School in 1959 before integration.

"I was given the students that nobody wanted to teach," Singleton Sr. said. "But I never judged a child by what the other teachers said."

He stared long and hard at a picture of a group of black teenagers with shovels with C. O. Chandler Victoria school district superintendent.

"Those are my boys and Mr. Chandler," he said.

They were breaking ground for the future shop class at F.W. Gross school, he said. Singleton Sr. also taught math at the school and was assigned to teach the students with the lowest grades.

"I had to get on their level and learn slang," Singleton Sr. said. "From then on, we were able to communicate and they were able to learn."

At Stroman High School, Singleton worked alongside Elliot Johnson and Leon English, a football coach and the first black teacher at Victoria High School.

"These were some of the first guys to have a positive affect on African-Americans in Victoria," said Calvin Singleton Jr., pointing to a black and white photo of the three men.

Singleton Sr. faced racism when began working at Patti Welder.

"For two weeks I walked into that office and said 'hi' to the secretary and everyone there, but no one would respond," Singleton Sr. said.

So he began to make crafts for the secretary. First a wooden bowl for her paper clips and rubber bands, and then a glossy wooden vase. He placed it on her desk with a single rose one morning before she arrived.

"She finally spoke to me and asked me why I did it. I told her, 'so your desk would look nice,'" Singleton Sr. said with a laugh.

He admits that he had to take a different approach when teaching the white students that had never been taught by a black man.

"I had to let them think they were teaching me," Singleton Sr. said. "Once I was able to do that, then they were ready to listen and learn from me."

As he looked back at the photo album and asked his son to turn the page, out came another story about his students, and the dressers and tables they created.

"Look, there's Jimmy Wyatt and all them other boys," he said.

He treated each student fairly and taught them to see themselves in a positive light.

"If you let the students know they are important and that they can accomplish things, they will," Singleton Sr. said.

Along with teaching the students that others claimed were unteachable, he was the first woodworking teacher at Stroman High School.

"Because of all the barriers he broke and everything he has accomplished, I am able to do my job," Singleton Jr. said.

He is the principal at Patti Welder.

Throughout the segregation at F.W. Gross and integration at Stroman, Singleton Sr. says that he was never called any racial slurs.

"Of my 38 years of teaching, I was never disrespected. I was always addressed as Mr. Singleton," he said.

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