Katherine Stewart Flippin facts for kids
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Katherine Stewart Flippin (1906-1996) was a special educator in San Francisco. She helped children with special learning needs. Katherine was the only daughter of McCants Stewart, who was a lawyer.
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Early Life and Family
Katherine Flippin was born Mary Katherine Stewart in Portland, Oregon. Her parents were McCants and Mary Weir Stewart. Before finishing high school, she started working in a department store. She worked there for about fifteen years.
Katherine Stewart married Robert Browning Flippin. He was a community activist who worked to help his community. He later became the leader of the Booker T. Washington Community Service Center. In 1918, Katherine and Robert moved to San Francisco.
Helping Children Learn
After she got married, Katherine Flippin went back to school. She finished high school and then earned two college degrees. She studied early childhood education at San Francisco State College. This means she learned how to teach and care for very young children.
While studying, she also taught at the college's nursery school. In 1949, she became a professor there.
Special Education Programs
Katherine Flippin created a special program called Aid for Brain-Damaged Children, Inc. This program was a new way to help children who had brain injuries. It focused on how these children learned differently, especially with seeing and hearing. She also taught at the Northern California School for Cerebral Palsied and Others. This school helped children with Cerebral palsy, a condition that affects movement.
Working with Head Start
In 1966, Flippin became a coordinator for the Head Start program in Pacifica, California. Head Start is a program that helps young children from low-income families get ready for school. From 1968 until she retired in 1972, she was the director of Cooper's Corner Child Care Center.
Community Involvement
Katherine Flippin was very active in her community. She was a former president of Kappa Delta Pi, an honor society for education. She was also an active member of the NAACP. The NAACP works for equal rights for all people. She also helped with San Francisco Consumer Action and the Children's Home Society.
In 1967, Katherine Flippin gave her father's important papers to Howard University. This helped preserve his history and work. Her aunt, Carlotta Stewart Lai, was also an important educator. She taught in Hawaii for about forty years.
