Barbara Dobbins

Barbara Dobbins

Barbara Dobbins was born on January 9, 1941, in Martin, Tennessee. The third of ten children, she began working in the cotton fields at age eight to help pay for school. She could not afford college, but on the night of her high school graduation, she received a Rotary Club scholarship that made it possible for her to attend Tennessee State University. She earned her B.S. in Home Economics in just three years while working as a live in nanny. In 1963, she became one of the first Black teachers at Whitthorne Middle School in Columbia. She went on to serve there as a teacher, department head, and ultimately vice principal. She retired in 2000 after 38 years in education.

Honored September 2025