Disciplines
African American Studies
Abstract
Mr. Rhoden, a lifelong educator, and advocate for youth, recently retired after a distinguished career dedicated to uplifting at-risk students. Born in Jamaica, he immigrated to the United States in 1954 to join his mother, who had arrived two years earlier and worked as a live-in assistant in Queens.
His early years in New York were marked by hardship and perseverance. Upon arrival, at the age of eleven, Mr. Rhoden and his mother lived with a friend in a shared apartment in the North Bronx. Due to challenges caused by limited space, they later moved to Kelly Street in the South Bronx, sharing space with another of his mother’s acquaintances. Despite the instability, he adapted quickly to life in the Bronx, a neighborhood that was largely Hispanic and Black, with smaller populations of Jewish, Italian, and Irish residents. Mr. Rhoden recalls the community as civil, diverse, and culturally engaging.
He attended Junior High School 52, where he balanced academics with extracurriculars, including basketball and punchball. After three years of shared housing, his mother was finally able to rent her own apartment on Washington Avenue, also in the Bronx. While living there, Mr. Rhoden attended Morris High School, where he not only excelled academically but was also elected captain of the school’s outstanding soccer team. Each day after school, he worked at a local pharmacy, earning two dollars a night which provided him with pocket money.
Two years after graduation from Morris, his mother purchased an impressive home on Throop Avenue—an achievement that marked a turning point in their lives. Mr. Rhoden went on to attend City College, where he studied political science and became deeply involved in the emerging Civil Rights Movement. Troubled by the underrepresentation of Black students, he co-founded the Onyx Society, a pioneering student organization that united African American and West Indian students around shared goals of racial equity and representation, within the school.
Despite early challenges, Mr. Rhoden found City College to be an open and intellectually vibrant environment. Many white students, predominantly Jewish, actively engaged in discussions and activities in pursuit of racial equity within the school. He credits the cross-cultural dialogue and actions for increasing the racial and ethnic diversity at City College. He credits this cross-cultural dialogue with deepening his political and social awareness. He studied under a renowned political science faculty which had a lasting positive impact on his political frame of mind. Shortly thereafter, he acquired a position at JHS 124 which was guaranteed his permanent deferment.
He planned to pursue a career in banking before setting his sights on law school. However, during the height of the Vietnam War, he received a premature draft notice. Determined to continue his education, he successfully fought the notice and obtained a two-year deferment. Upon learning that public school teachers were exempt from the draft, Mr. Rhoden quickly enrolled in the minimum required courses to qualify for the common branch teaching license, which would enable him to teach Math, Science, Social Studies, and English on the secondary school level. He passed the qualifying exam just days before his deferment expired. During this period, he also earned a bilingual license in Spanish. Shortly thereafter, he acquired a position at P.S.124 in the Bronx. This opportunity saved him from participating in the devastating and unjustified Vietnamese War.
What followed was a remarkable career in education. Mr. Rhoden served as a teacher, curriculum developer, and the founder of two academies, each focused on meeting the needs of at-risk youth, for the most part. Through innovative and non-traditional teaching methods, he helped struggling students realize their potential and dramatically improved classroom environments. One of his proudest accomplishments came when he led a team of predominantly at-risk students to victory in the Legal Outreach mock trial competition at Columbia University—an achievement that was featured nationally on NBC Nightly News by Tom Brokaw.
Over the course of his decades-long career, Mr. Rhoden not only changed lives in the classroom but also served as a mentor, role model, and community leader. Today, in retirement, he is exploring a new entrepreneurial venture: launching a unique Jamaican-style beverage that he has spent years perfecting. Mr. Rhoden’s life is a testament to resilience, vision, and the transformative power of education.
Recommended Citation
Rhoden, Everard. April 3, 2006. Interview with the Bronx African American History Project. BAAHP Digital Archive at Fordham.
