A Family Mission to Inspire Curiosity
Tonja Walden is a second grade teacher at Newington Forest Elementary School.
She is also a great-great-great-niece of Frederick Douglass. This has not only been impactful for her life, she works every day to make sure it is impactful for her students.
“The struggles he overcame, his curiosity and desire to learn — it makes me want to do that for kids,” she said. “I think it’s an honor to be a teacher.”
Watch this video to hear more from Tonja about her ancestry, about Black History Month, and her students' reactions to learning about her lineage.
“They can make this world better through what they’re learning from history — from our history, from Black history, from American history,” she said.
