Mary Powell

"But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:5
Mary "Tenia" Jenkins Powell was born in a small town in Mississippi, into a family of leaders and educators who owned and farmed their own land. She inherited their commitment to justice and passion for education. As a child, Tenia and her brothers and sisters attended segregated schools and picked cotton to help support their family, but as she grew older, the Civil Rights Movement brought many changes to their lives.
Mrs. Powell was born August 13, 1949, in Ruth, MS, the daughter of the late Cleophus Jenkins, Sr. and Mandy Ruby Hill Jenkins.
Tenia joined Spring Beulah Church of Christ (Holiness) USA as a youth. She joined the SS Morris African Methodist Episcopal Church in Madison, WI. Her affiliations with Spring Beulah never were relinquished even though she lived out of state. She attended every summer revival service and later after making Pike County her part-time home, she became active with church ministries until her death.
She attended Booker T. Washington High School of Summit, MS until August 1966. Then she helped to integrate the North Pike Schools, where she graduated May 1967. She attended college at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, WI and received her diploma in education and she also received her Master of Arts in Education degree in May 2001.
Tenia saw her family and neighbors risking their lives to defend Freedom Riders; after the Supreme Court ordered desegregation of schools, Tenia was selected by her community, along with several cousins, to be among the first Black students to begin attending the previously all-white high school. She was chosen because adults felt that Tenia's courage, character, and intelligence would enable her to weather the storms of racism in that situation, and to not only survive but to make them all proud. Despite daily harassment and attacks, Tenia and her cousins persevered and graduated.
Tenia entered the University of Wisconsin in Madison, with the goal of continuing her family's legacy of service to humanity through teaching or social work. She graduated with her teaching certification in 1972 and became a social studies teacher at Madison East High School in Madison, WI, where she taught courses on global history and cultures, and also created the district's first classes (in a traditional high school context) in Black Studies, Women's Studies, and African American History.
A new chapter began in 1982 when Tenia moved to Malcolm Shabazz City High School, an alternative program for students who have struggled in traditional settings. At Shabazz, Tenia continued her leadership and innovation, designing classes on a variety of topics, including history, global studies, women's studies and Black studies classes. She also took on a role as the coordinator for services to students of color, working with colleagues and parents to meet students' needs in any way possible. Tenia earned the respect of her colleagues, parents, students, and the community for her great dedication to her students and her constant determination to do all in her power to support their success.



Several of the classes that Tenia designed particularly stand out as lasting contributions to the curriculum at Shabazz. One of these is the "Mirrors of Discrimination" class, which Tenia created and worked with colleagues to develop. "Mirrors" became a required course for all Shabazz students and remains the only required anti-discrimination class in Madison's public schools. Another of Tenia's lasting curricular contributions to Shabazz is "Study Skills for Academic Success," a class she designed specifically to build resilience in students who have struggled academically in the past. While studying for her master's degree, Tenia redesigned the class based on her research, and wrote a handbook to allow the class to continue after her retirement.
"Education for Justice," another of Tenia's landmark achievements at Shabazz, was a series of service learning classes dedicated to social justice. Tenia collaborated with three colleagues on these classes, each of which involved a long-term field trip to such locations as the Mississippi Delta, the Menominee Indian Nation, and the Appalachian Mountains.
Throughout all her years of teaching, Tenia's commitment to her students was also expressed through a commitment to mentoring teacher education students, including at least thirty practicum students and more than sixty student teachers. Tenia wanted to share her experience, knowledge and skills in order to help as many teachers as possible become effective teachers for all students, including students of color. Even during an eighteen-month battle with cancer, Tenia continued to mentor student teachers because this part of her work was so important to her.
Tenia was excited about retirement, not because she planned to slow down at all, but because it would allow her to bring her energy and commitment to new arenas. She moved from Shabazz over to West High School, where she initiated the Pilot Project for African-Centered Pedagogy and Curriculum. Housed in a beautiful room that Tenia redesigned as the Multicultural Academic Achievement Center, the Project included two classes that bring together African American adults and children in a positive setting.
She has served several terms as president of the African American Educators Association, and while her sons were attending West High School, she organized parents there into an advocacy and support group called Parents of African American Students. She worked with Madison Area Family Advocacy and Advisory coalition, which supports African American students and their families throughout the Madison area.
Tenia also co-founded the African American Ethnic Academy, a "Saturday school" for African American students, designed to teach children about their heritage and strengthen their academic skills. In the sixteen years since its founding, the academy has served several hundred children from age three through high school; many of the children return as adults to help teach the next generation.
Among the many awards received include the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award, the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation Fellowship award, and the Umoja Magazine award. Her years of dedicated service to her local, state, and national unions was something Tenia was passionate about. In 2006 the Wisconsin Education Association started giving out the "Tenia Jenkins Activist Award" to noteworthy educators in her name.
After retirement in June 2006, Tenia's community work didn't end. The 2004 mentoring program she began laid the foundation for Dane County United (DCU) to be part of her vision for equality and relevant education. She served on the steering team of DCU to guide the organizing that led to Madison Public Schools' current focus on culturally relevant education. In 2009 she helped to develop the Spring Leaf Foundation in Ruth, MS which helps the community focus on the needs of families.
It has been a long road from the dusty cotton field to the respect and appreciation that Tenia has earned from the whole education community in Madison, and along the way, Tenia's life-long passion for justice and education enabled her to touch literally thousands of lives. As her legacy continues, we salute her with gratitude and admiration.

She is survived by her husband, Dywane T. Powell of McComb, MS; two sons, Charles (Dawn) Stovall of Sun Prairie, WI and Camara (Keona) Stovall of Madison, WI. Two sisters, Beverly (Everrett) Thornton of Tylertown, MS and Gwen (Thad) Nunnery of Ruth, MS. Six brothers, Cleophus Jr (Allie) Jenkins of Madison, MS, Curtis (Bobbie) Jenkins of McComb, MS, Johnny (Marcia) Jenkins of Detroit, MI, Andrew (Linda) Jenkins of Ft Wayne, IN, Roy (Claraetta) and Mike (Cynthia) Jenkins of Ruth, MS. She is also survived by four grandchildren, Tatum, Eriana, Amara, and Armani; two godchildren, Carlas Brown-Smith and Jeffery Brown, and a host of nieces, nephews, family, and friends.