Joyce Gilchrist Pierce (center) discusses her career as a teacher while C. Adrienne Rhodes holds the microphone during the Preserving Black Haddonfield History Project publishing celebration and community workshop on Feb. 22.
As a young woman, Joyce Gilchrist Pierce was a dedicated, trailblazing educator – paving the way for teachers of color as the first African American tenured instructor in the Haddonfield school district.
Now in her “golden years,” she is still graceful, dignified and jubilant. On Feb. 22, she was at the Markeim Arts Center for a publishing celebration and community workshop. Pierce wrote about her life in the foreword of the newly released Volume III of “Narratives from Historic Haddonfield’s African American Community,” and it was read aloud by Haddonfield board of education President Jaime Grooket.
Pierce then received a bouquet of flowers from C. Adrienne Rhodes, founder of the Preserving Black Haddonfield History Project and a round of applause from the more than 50 people in attendance.
“For most of my career, I was the only Black educator in Haddonfield’s elementary and middle schools,” Pierce wrote. “People regularly stopped by my classroom. I sensed they were there to see the ‘Black teacher.’ I made it easy for them by teaching with the door open, so anyone who wanted to observe was free to do so.”
There were obstacles, but Pierce overcame them with perseverance, dedication and a belief that her students were eager to learn.
“Most of my former students tell me they had a good time in my class,” she noted. “I enjoyed their sense of wonder and appreciated them for bringing their whole selves with them to school.”
Upon graduation from West Virginia State University in 1959, Pierce taught for one year in Camden and then eight years in East Brunswick, where she was a Black teacher in a mostly White district. She started working in Haddonfield in 1968 and decorated her classroom, but it was vandalized on back-to-school night at Elizabeth Haddon Elementary School.
“My husband helped me re-decorate,” she recalled. “I carried on with my head held high.”
And carry on she did, teaching Haddonfield students for the next 38 years while living in Lawnside, where she was elected to council and was the first female acting mayor to oversee the finance, police, fire and recreation departments.
“My advice to other educators of color? Keep teaching!” Pierce stated emphatically. “Let them walk into the wall to avoid you. If someone does not wish to know you, put a smile on your face and hold your head up high. If you love to teach, TEACH.”
“This is the third in a series of our anthologies,” Rhodes said of “Narratives from Historic Haddonfield’s African American Community,” for which she was executive editor. She worked with editor Stacey Brown-Downham, an elementary literacy interventionist at J. Fithian Tatem who was named the Camden County Teacher of the Year in 2024 and who is the club advisor of the Preserving Black Haddonfield History at the high school.
Students who interviewed the subjects in the book included Isabella Arno, Catherine McCarron, Mackenzie McMillan, Julia Matanovic, Brendan Lewis-Coker, Molly Patton, Milo Downham, Tommy Grookett and Phoebe Rynkar, while helping with production were associate editors Valarie Costanzo, Jaime Grookett and Jacqueline Incollingo.
Life stories told in the publication included those of Khayriyyah Chandler; Donna Stewart-Cruz; Gregory DeShields; Kristi Korzec; and the Rev. Dr. Anthony Talton, who delivered the invocation at the beginning of the Markeim event.
“Today, we are celebrating our commonalities,” Rhodes explained. “We want to build a strong community that is interracial and intergenerational. If we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem.”
The next speaker at the event was social worker Natasha Bryant, who asked everyone to answer questions in the “Reset your S.E.L.F.” challenge workbook she distributed.
“This workbook will be your guide in intentionally creating a life that cultivates fulfillment and goal execution,” Bryant pointed out. “Start unapologetically living your best life as your best self. Find your passion, your purpose, your strength. Who are you at the core? What is your brand?
“Make sure your goals align with your core values and passions,” she added. “Passions are things you can talk for hours about. Are you taking steps to find out who you truly are?”
