Blanche Euturpe General Ely (December 7, 1904 — December 23, 1993) was born in Reddick, Florida, the daughter of Deacon John General and Sarah Enock General. Her mother died when she was an infant, and she was raised by her father and her stepmother Amanda General. She graduated from

Fessenden Academy The Fessenden Elementary School is a historic school established previously known as Fessenden Academy in the outskirts of Ocala, Florida, between Martin and Zuber. It is part of the Marion County Public Schools district. On September 29, 1994 ...

Ocala Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County within the northern region of Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 63,591, making it the 54th most populated city in Florida. Home to ...

, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at

Florida A & M University Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a public historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida. Founded in 1887, It is the third largest historically black university in the U ...

, and a Master's Degree in Educational Administration and Supervision,

Teachers College A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. She also held a Bachelor of Science in "Life Instructions", from a program jointly sponsored by Florida A&M University and

Benedict College Benedict College is a private historically black college in Columbia, South Carolina. Founded in 1870 by northern Baptists, it was originally a teachers' college. It has since expanded to offer majors in many disciplines across the liberal arts ...

. In 1923, after brief spells teaching at Ojus Elementary School in

Hialeah Hialeah ( ; ) is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. With a population of 223,109 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Hialeah is the sixth-largest city in Florida. It is the second largest city by population in the Mi ...

and Deerfield Beach Elementary, she was named principal of the Pompano Negro Grammar School. When its two-room wooden building was destroyed in the

1926 Miami hurricane The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 was a large and intense tropical cyclone that devastated the Greater Miami area and caused catastrophic damage in the Bahamas and the U.S. Gulf Coast in September of the year 1926, accruing a US$100 mill ...

, she spearheaded efforts to raise money, get matching support from the

Rosenwald Fund The Rosenwald Fund (also known as the Rosenwald Foundation, the Julius Rosenwald Fund, and the Julius Rosenwald Foundation) was established in 1917 by Julius Rosenwald and his family for "the well-being of mankind." Rosenwald became part-owner of S ...

, and a much larger, 6-classroom

Pompano Colored School The Pompano Colored School, also known as the Pompano Beach Colored School, was located at 718 NW Sixth Street, Pompano Beach, Florida. Pompano's first school for colored students, a two-room wooden building on the 400 block of Hammondville Road (to ...

opened in 1928. The school was later renamed for her. She was behind four new schools, and recommended principals and names for them: Pompano Migrant School (aka Golden Acres), Coleman Elementary School, Markham Elementary School, and Sanders Park Elementary School. She retired in 1970, "when a federal desegregation order closed the lanche Elyhigh school." She and other community leaders filed suit, and the school was reopened as an integrated school in 1974. Blanche General Boyd, a widow, married Joseph Ely about 1937. Her husband, Dr. Joseph Alegenon Ely (†1984), was born in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

, son of Reverend Lawrence Ely, one of the founders of Florida Normal Baptist Institute in

Live Oak, Florida Live Oak is a city in northern Florida and it is the county seat of Suwannee County, Florida, United States. The city is the county seat of Suwannee County and is located east of Tallahassee. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census ...

(today

Florida Memorial University Florida Memorial University is a private historically black university in Miami Gardens, Florida. It is a member of the United Negro College Fund and historically related to Baptists although it claims a focus on broader Christianity. History ...

), from which Joseph graduated. Joseph was also a graduate of

Morehouse College , mottoeng = And there was light (literal translation of Latin itself translated from Hebrew: "And light was made") , type = Private historically black men's liberal arts college , academic_affiliations ...

and Columbia University. He is reported to have spoken "at least seven languages". He was principal of Colored School Number 11 in

Dania, Florida Dania Beach (Dania until 1998) is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 31,723. It is part of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010 census ...

(since 1998, Dania Beach). When it was replaced in 1924 by Broward's first school building built for negro students (today the Old Dillard Museum), he was its first principal. The 10-room two-story building had an inscription over the front door that read "Colored School". In 1930, Ely had the school renamed in honor of

James H. Dillard James Hardy Dillard (October 24, 1856 – August 2, 1940), also known as J. H. Dillard, was an educator from Virginia. The son of slaveholders, Dillard was educated at Washington and Lee University and held a variety of teaching positions. In 1891 ...

, a white philanthropist, educator, and promoter of education for black children. Originally it ended at grade 6, but by the time Ely left the school in 1937, it had an enrollment of 600 and a high school. He became principal at what is today

Crispus Attucks Crispus Attucks ( – March 5, 1770) was an American whaler, sailor, and stevedore of African and Native American descent, commonly regarded as the first person killed in the Boston Massacre and thus the first American killed in the Amer ...

Middle School, in Hollywood, FL; it was an elementary school when he arrived, but he expanded it into one of Broward County's three high schools for black students (the others were Dillard High in Ft. Lauderdale, and Blanche Ely High in Pompano Beach). He remained there until his retirement in 1963. The Elys sponsored the first federally-funded lunch program in Broward County. They are buried together in Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens North,

Pompano Beach, Florida Pompano Beach ( ) is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is located along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Fort Lauderdale. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. As of the 2020 ...

Legacy

Ely Educational Museum The Ely Educational Museum, 1500 NW 6 Avenue, Pompano Beach, Florida is located in the Blanche & Joseph Ely House. (The address is sometimes given as 595 NW 15th St.; it is on the corner of the two streets.) The Elys were teachers and leaders in th ...

, Pompano Beach *

Blanche Ely High School Blanche Ely High School is a high school located in Pompano Beach, Broward County, Florida. The school is named for Blanche Ely, former principal and social activist. In addition to Pompano Beach, Ely serves a portion of Deerfield Beach and ...

, Pompano Beach

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ely People from Pompano Beach, Florida African-American schoolteachers Schoolteachers from Florida American women educators African-American history of Florida American school principals People from Marion County, Florida Florida A&M University alumni Teachers College, Columbia University alumni Benedict College alumni 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century American people