Marietta Pierce Johnson (18641938) was an educational reformer and

Georgist Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that, although people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from land—including ...

. Johnson was born in

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center o ...

, and moved with her family to

Fairhope Fairhope is a city in Baldwin County, Alabama, United States, located on the eastern shoreline of Mobile Bay. The 2020 Census lists the population of the city as 22,477. Fairhope is a principal city of the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley metropolita ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

, in 1902. In 1907, she founded a progressive school called the School of Organic Education (now the Marietta Johnson School of Organic Education). Johnson had been a teacher in the regular school system in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

and had radical ideas on education reform. She felt that children should live natural lives, study the outdoors and not be forced to read at too young an age. In her "organic school", tests were not administered, homework was withheld until high school, and grades were unknown. She required hand

craft A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale prod ...

s and folk dancing along with the traditional academic curriculum. Her school was a magnet to young teachers and to artists, and was instrumental in building the reputation of Fairhope as an artists' colony. Encouraged and funded by friends in the small experimental community of Fairhope, Alabama, Johnson began her revolutionary school on a ten-acre campusteaching, writing, training teachers in her method. Her little school attracted national attention, and she was one of the founders of the

Progressive Education Association The Progressive Education Association was a group dedicated to the spread of progressive education in American public schools from 1919 to 1955. The group focused on pedagogy in elementary schools through the twenties. The group turned towards p ...

. Johnson was in great demand as a lecturer and, after

John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the f ...

's favorable review of her school in 1915, she achieved worldwide recognition as a leader in the Progressive Education movement. She was responsible for the founding of many schools based upon her philosophy; however, her heart was in Fairhope, and her school there was the center of her activities. A speaker of great power, she was able to persuade audiences and educators of the validity of her philosophy, and her school attracted a number of intellectuals to Fairhope to enroll their children in The School of Organic Education. Johnson believed in classes without final examinations, homework, or failure. The school reached its zenith in the 1920s, in part because of John Dewey's book and its reference to Johnson and her school. Through the great depression, two world wars and Johnson's death in 1938, the Organic School has never closed its doors and is still operating in Fairhope. Three buildings of the school were listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1988 as

School of Organic Education The Marietta Johnson School of Organic Education was a school founded by Marietta Johnson. The School of Organic Education facility was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The listing included three contributing buildings: ...

. With .

References

External links

Official website
* Old * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Marietta 19th-century American educators 20th-century American educators 1864 births 1938 deaths Educators from Alabama Educators from Minnesota People from Fairhope, Alabama People from Saint Paul, Minnesota Progressive education 19th-century American women educators 20th-century American women educators