Mary Arizona "Zonia" Baber (August 24, 1862 – January 10, 1956), was an American

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

and

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

best known for developing methods for teaching geography. Her teachings emphasized experiential learning through field work and experimentation.

Education and teaching career

As Baber's hometown of Dudley, just east of Kansas, IL, did not offer education beyond elementary school, she moved 10 miles to

Paris, Illinois Paris is a city in Edgar County, Illinois, south of Chicago and west of Indianapolis. The population was 8,291 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat and largest city of Edgar County. History Paris was established in 1826 on land donated by ...

to attend high school where she lived with her uncle. After high school, she attended "

Normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, 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 s ...

" to train as a teacher. Baber started her career as a private school principal from 1886–1888. She then took a job teaching at Cook County Normal School (now split into

Chicago State University Chicago State University (CSU) is a predominantly black public university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1867 as the Cook County Normal School, it was an innovative teachers college. Eventually the Chicago Public Schools assumed control of t ...

and

Northeastern Illinois University Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) is a public university in Chicago, Illinois. NEIU serves approximately 9,000 students in the region and is a Hispanic-serving institution. The main campus is located in the community area of North Park wi ...

), where she served as the head of the Geography Department from 1890 to 1899. She taught the interdependence of structural geography, history and the natural sciences. These courses focused on primarily geography, continental study, meteorology, and mathematical geography. While teaching, Baber also took classes in geology, including the first class that accepted women. She earned her Bachelor of Science in 1904. From 1901 to 1921 Baber worked as an associate professor and head of geography and geology in the Department of Education at the University of Chicago. At the same time she was the principal of the

University of Chicago Laboratory Schools The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (also known as Lab or Lab Schools and abbreviated as UCLS though the high school is nicknamed U-High) is a Private school, private, co-educational Day school, day Early childhood education, Pre-K and K� ...

. When it came to teaching, Baber preferred to focus on field work—enabling her students to act and discover rather than memorize facts. Baber's teaching methods are still used today.

The student discovers too late that ordinary unrelated knowledge is not power; that only scientific knowledge—unified, related experiences—are valuable.

Baber promoted field trips and first-hand experience rather than the memorization of facts and definitions, but she also worked to improve conventional learning aids. During her time as chairwoman of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), she created a committee to scrutinize textbooks in order to replace antiquated or inappropriate phrases and concepts with ones intended to stop the perpetuation of negative prejudices. In 1920, Baber published "A Proposal for Renaming the Solar Circles in the Journal of Geography". The north and south solar tropics, traditionally referred to as the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer, Baber proposed the name be changed to The Northern Tropic and The Southern Tropic. Today both terms are accepted in the world of geography, though no official change was made.

Geographic Society and advocacy work

In 1898 Baber co-founded the Geographic Society of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. She served as the President and was involved with the Society for 50 years. In 1948 she received a lifetime achievement award. Zonia Baber was passionate about social issues throughout her life. As a feminist and anti-imperialist, she joined as well as initiated many efforts to fight against sexism, racism, and intolerance. She was an advocate of

women's suffrage in the United States In the 1700's to early 1800's New Jersey did allow Women the right to vote before the passing of the 19th Amendment, but in 1807 the state restricted the right to vote to "...tax-paying, white male citizens..." Women's legal right to vote w ...

, and in 1926 she represented the women of

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

in the extension of suffrage to the region. As previously mentioned, Baber served as chairwoman of the

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...

, as well as a member of the executive committee of the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...

's (NAACP) Chicago branch, and as chair of the Race Relations Committee of the Chicago Women's Club Baber also traveled extensively—both for her professional career and for her advocacy work—to attend international conferences and events. One such occasion was when she traveled with a WILPF delegation to Haiti in 1926.

Design

In 1896, Zonia Baber designed a new school desk with features specifically for the teaching of geography and other sciences. Unlike a regular school desk, Zonia's featured trays and compartments meant to store learning supplies. Having these trays and compartments meant that students using her desk would always have their learning supplies at hand.

Selected works

Source: *(with Wallace W. Atwood) 'Geography,' ''The Elementary School Teacher and Course of Study'' 1, p. 42 (1900). *(with Wallace W. Atwood) 'Geography,' ''The Elementary School Teacher and Course of Study'' 1, p. 130 (1900). *(with Wallace W. Atwood) 'Geography,' ''The Elementary School Teacher and Course of Study'' 1, p. 183 (1900). *(with Wallace W. Atwood) 'Geography,' ''The Elementary School Teacher and Course of Study'' 1, p. 284 (1900). *'Geography,' ''The Elementary School Teacher and Course of Study'' 1, p. 788 (1901). *'Geography,' ''The Elementary School Teacher and Course of Study'' 2, p. 48 (1901). *'Geography,' ''The Elementary School Teacher and Course of Study'' 2, p. 108 (1901). *'Geography,' ''The Elementary School Teacher and Course of Study'' 2, p. 194 (1901). *'Geography,' ''The Elementary School Teacher and Course of Study'' 2, p. 346 (1902). *'Field work in the elementary school,' ''The Journal of Geography'' 4, p. 18 (1905). *'The scope of geography,' ''The Journal of Geography'' 4, p. 386 (1905). *'A lesson in Geography—From Chicago to the Atlantic,' ''The Elementary School Teacher'' 7, p. 458 (1907). *'The teaching of the geography of the continent of Eurasia,' ''The Elementary School Teacher'' 7, p. 519 (1907). *'Conservation of important geographical areas for educational purposes,' ''The Journal of Geography'' 11, p. 287 (1913). *'Lost opportunities in teaching geography,' ''The Journal of Geography'' 14, p. 296 (1916). *'The oceans: our future pastures,' ''The Scientific Monthly'' 3, p. 258 (1916). *'A proposal for renaming the solar circles,' ''The Journal of Geography'' 19, p. 245 (1920). *(with E.G. Balch) 'Problems of education,' in ''Occupied Haiti'', ed. E.G. Balch, NY: The Writer's Publishing Company, p. 93 (1927). *'Peace Symbols,' ''Chicago Schools Journal'' 18, p. 151 (1937). *'Moral Issues,' in ''The Negro Problems of the Community to the West'', Report of the Commission on Intercommunity relationships of the Hyde Park-Kentwood Council of Churches and Synagogues, p. 28 (1940). *''Peace Symbols'', Chicago: Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (1948).

Education and teaching career

Geographic Society and advocacy work

Design

Selected works

See also

References

Further reading