Wilma Beason Jenssen — “An Iowa Teacher Blossoms in Harlem”

Wilma Beason Jenssen was Mrs. Beason, teaching in Harlem’s Public School 92, when she was featured with student Kime Holman in this 1966 LOOK magazine photo essay, “Life Without Father.” Photographer Bob Adelman wrote, “Kime’s school, buried in the Harlem ghetto, is as segregated as any of its Mississippi counterparts.” Jenssen, who was raised in the midwest and now lives in Guilderland has, at age 92, published her life story, “An Iowa Teacher Blossoms in Harlem.” In this week’s podcast, she talks about the changes happening in Harlem in the 1960s and happening nationwide today with calls for social justice. As a single mother of three children, she helped bring about change in their Harlem housing project as a leader in the tenants’ association while at the same time she worked to be a change agent in her job as a teacher. “It was a heady time. We had the power to do a lot of good and did,” said Jenssen. One word, she said, describes the ability to bring about change: Tenacity. Later, after moving to the Capital Region, Jenssen worked for change integrating special-needs students into regular classes. Looking at what some of her students have accomplished as well as reflecting on her own life, Jenssen says, “You keep plugging at something and people around will put out a hand.” — Photo courtesy of Bob Adelman Estate and Library of Congress Photo Archive

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