Thomas A. Fleming papers

Collection

Identifier: 02.TAF

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Thomas A. Fleming papers contain materials related to Fleming's teaching career, his work as an administrator at Eastern Michigan University, and his personal papers and research files. The collection is arranged into two series: OFFICE FILES and PERSONAL PAPERS.

The OFFICE FILES series has three subseries, one for each stage of Fleming's teaching career. The Eastern Michigan University subseries is comprised of files associated with his work in Academic Affairs; certificates of recognition; membership, agendas, and meeting minutes of task forces and committees; conference proceedngs; events; newsletters; presentations; programs and initiatives;and reports. The High Scope Educational Research Foundation subseries holds materials illustrating Fleming's work as a field consultant, including reports and workshop planning. The Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD) subseries contains materials from Fleming's tenure as a teacher at the WJ Maxey Boys Training School and the Washtenaw County Juvenile Court School Reform Program. These files include correspondence, curriculum, and student-created newsletters entitled The Hustler and The Jailbird Jive Machine, which served as a combination newspaper and showcase for student writing and art. Also included are meeting minutes, information on alternative education and the Roberto Clemente Alternative School in Ann Arbor, MI, and Fleming's teaching resume from the Maxey School. This series holds the records of Fleming's 1992 Teacher of the Year Award - application materials, clippings and press, correspondence, a VHS with news coverage of the award presentation, and student and colleague testimonials. There is also a file of Fleming's work with the University of Michigan Minority Affairs Adisory committee.

The PERSONAL PAPERS series contains files related to Fleming's ministry, certificates of tribute issued by the Governor of Michigan;0 conferences and events; correspondence; news articles; an interview audio recording; Fleming's work with the Miliken Award; military records; NAACP meetings; photographs; service awards; speaking engagements with supporting documents such as arrangements and scripts; Fleming's academic transcript from William Tyndale College; and his personal writings. A large part fo this series is a subseries of Research Files. Fleming was an avid reader and a collector of news articles, magazines, newsletters, and zines related to his interests. The majority of these files focus on Black Americans and their experiences in education and society. Also present are files related to goings on in Southeast Michigan and general research into teaching methodology. Notable materials include The Conveyor, a newsletter focused on Black social issues in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor and Right On, a newsletter of the Ann Arbor Model Cities Program, a federal program focused on comprehensive physical and socioeconomic improvements to the country’s most impoverished neighborhoods, with meaningful community participation in planning. The Model Cities experiment was to develop new anti-poverty programs and alternative forms of municipal government. Model Cities represented a new approach that emphasized social programs as well as physical renewal, and sought to coordinate the actions of numerous government agencies in a multifaceted attack on the complex roots of urban poverty.

Dates

Creation: 1954-2010

Creator

Fleming, Thomas A. (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Researchers are asked to request materials 24 hours prior to visiting the the University Archives.

Biographical / Historical

Thomas Fleming was born in Reading, Pennsylvania and raised in Detroit by his grandparents, Gordon and Carrie Bell Starks. He attended the Detroit Public Schools until age sixteen, when he quit school to join the National Guard.

He served in the U.S. Army for six years, with tours in France and Germany. During this time he discovered a deep desire to learn to read in order to understand the teachings of the Bible. Fleming returned to the United States determined to complete his education. He attended night school, earned his G.E.D., and enrolled in the Detroit Bible College (later renamed William Tyndale College). At the same time he began working with teens in his Detroit neighborhood and formed a boys club at his church. He worked as an attendant at the Pontiac and Ypsilanti State Hospitals, graduating from D.B.C. in 1964 with a Bachelors of Religious Education, and was licensed for ministry.

While working with troubled adolescents at the State hospitals, Fleming became interested in the special needs of this population. He continued his education at Eastern Michigan University, graduating in 1968 with a M.A. degree and teaching certification in Special Education. His student teaching experience took place at the WJ Maxey Boys' Training School in Whitmore Lake, Michigan, where he was subsequently employed as a teacher of Social Studies and English for two years.

In 1970 Fleming joined the High Scope Educational Research Foundation, serving as field consultant to schools in Chicago and New York City. In 1972, he became a teacher on the school program staff of the Washtenaw County Juvenile Detention Center, and eventually assumed the responsibilities of head teacher. In that capacity he worked for more than twenty years with hundreds of delinquent and neglected youth teaching history, government, and life skills. He also worked closely with juvenile court personnel, police, school and agency officials, community volunteers, foster grandparents, and student teachers.

Fleming has also served the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti communities in other ways. He has spoken to numerous groups on the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. He has been active in Christian ministry as a preacher and Bible teacher. He served on the Minority Affairs Advisory Committee at the University of Michigan and on various boards such as the Packard Community Clinic and the Turner Geriatric Clinic. In September 1991 Tom was named Michigan Teacher of the Year, In 1992 he was awarded the Crystal Apple and named National Teacher of the Year by President George H. Bush in a White House ceremony. In 1993 he was granted an Honorary Doctorate of Education by Eastern Michigan University. That same year he was appointed Special Assistant to the Provost at Eastern Michigan University, in which capacity he represented the Provost in a variety of activities on campus and in inter-collegiate affairs. During Fleming's tenure he was a mentor for many students and was involved in a variety of activities such as teacher recruitment, EMU-sponsored charter schools, and in fund development projects. He served on the 2002 President's Commission on Special Education/No Child Left Behind. Fleming retired from EMU in 2003.

Thomas A. Fleming passed away on November 4, 2010 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Extent

5.4 Linear Feet (8 archive boxes, 1 halfsize archive box, 1 oversize box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Thomas A. Fleming held the position of Special Assistant to the Provost at Eastern Michigan University from 1993 until he retired from EMU in 2003. The Thomas A. Fleming papers represent his work as an administrator at EMU, an educator at both the WJ Maxey Boys Training School and the Washtenaw County Juvenile Dentention Center, as well as his research interests in Black American social issues and matters of education. Fleming was a collector of local Black newspapers and zines from Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor and education-focused newsletters. He won Michigan Teacher of the Year in 1991 and National Teacher of the Year in 1992. His papers represent a specturm of his work in education and local matters.

Related Materials

Related materials include The Fleming Collection, established in the summer of 2006 from a grant EMU received from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to promote literacy and diversity. Browse The Fleming Collection