Teacher Recognition
AAERO Recognition of Outstanding Teachers program honors teachers for their outstanding performance while teaching at schools with majority African American enrollments. Teachers can be nominated by students, peers or parents. Take a look at our teacher recognition awards at Teresa C. Berrien Elementary School in Fayetteville, NC as one example of the teachers we honor through this program.
Somebody Had To Do It
The “Somebody Had to Do It” project is a multidisciplinary research project documenting the experience of the first African American children to attend formerly all‐White schools. This project, which seeks to identify and interview all of those who desegregated formerly all‐white schools in the U.S., is housed at the Jonathan Jasper Wright Institute for the Study of Southern African American History, Culture and Policy at Claflin University (Orangeburg, SC). Details are available at the project’s website (http://somebody.claflin.edu).
AAERO Memorial Awards
AAERO Memorial Awards celebrate admirable characteristics and accomplishments of loved ones by giving financial contributions to the education of African American students. We have created a number of memorial awards to honor cultural treasures of our community who have passed on. Please read about some of the men and women we honor with these awards.
If you are a student, we would love to have you apply for one of these awards.
Conversations with Treasures of Our Heritage
AAERO Conversations with Treasures of Our Heritage is a series of oral history forums at which elders are interviewed and their history and memories recorded in the presence of community members of all ages. The program has three goals:
- to document the experience and perspectives of African American people
- to increase awareness among younger generations of the history, experiences, and perspectives of African Americans, during the twentieth century
- to provide educational materials
We interview African American elders (80 years of age or older) in a 2-part (in-home and public) process during which they share their memories and expeiences. We conduct the public interviews in churches or historic sites in the city of Fayetteville, North Carolina. Take a look at some project highlights.
We are expanding this program to assist others in documenting the stories of elders outside of our immediate area. If you are interested in a "Conversations Kit" or would like to have us come do a Conversation in your area, please email us at
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