Roberta Byrd Barr (1919-1993) was a civil rights leader, educator, and journalist. Born in Tacoma, Barr returned to Seattle in 1959, attending University of Washington and working as a teacher at Jefferson Elementary School, and then as librarian at John Muir Elementary. When Seattle teachers and parents boycotted the city’s public schools and demanded desegregation in 1966, Barr headed the alternative Freedom School, a temporary free school for African American students, at the YMCA.
From 1965 to 1972, Barr moderated the television show “Face to Face,” featuring discussions with guest speakers and the audience on race, desegregation, education, equity, and other topics often overlooked in the media. Barr was appointed vice-principal at Franklin High School in 1968, and principal at Lincoln High School in 1973, the first woman to serve as principal of a Seattle Public School.
In this photo, Roberta Byrd Barr, then vice-principal at Franklin High School, speaks at a rally of music educators in support of a proposed $30 million Seattle Public Schools levy. Music programs throughout the district faced deep cuts if the levy failed, including termination of elementary school music programs. Milton Katims, the director and conductor of the Seattle Symphony, shown here at left, also spoke in support of the levy. At right is Julie Olson, a student at Ballard High School, and behind Barr is Neal Porter, president of the Metropolitan Music Educators Association. The school levy was approved in the May 18 election.
Caption information source: "Music Leay 4, 1971, p. 3. Caption information source: "Barr, Roberta Barr (1919-1993)" by Mary T. Henry, HistoryLink.org Essay 306.
