Let’s be honest—most of us can’t remember all of our teachers from elementary, middle or even high school. Some stand out, either making a positive difference in our lives or becoming the subject of horror stories told at reunions. Every so often, though, one stands out above the rest. In Tampa, one of the first to do so was Christina Meacham.
“Miss Tina,” as she was affectionately known by friends and former students, arrived in Tampa in the 1880s and soon took a teaching job at Harlem Academy—the city’s only school for Black students. By the time of her death in November 1927 at age 62, Meacham had become the first Black woman to serve as a school principal in Hillsborough County. She was a founder of the county’s Florida Negro Teachers Association branch, co-founder of the Bowman Methodist Episcopal Church (now Tyer Temple United Methodist Church), a foster parent, business owner and property owner with land in Tampa’s Scrub and Central Avenue areas as well as in the white Palma Ceia neighborhood. Remarkably, her estate was valued between $600,000 and $1 million (equivalent to over $19 million to $31 million today) making her one of the wealthiest African Americans in Tampa at the time.
Despite her wealth, Meacham remained dedicated to her role as principal and eighth-grade teacher at Harlem Academy. She lived nearby where she raised four foster daughters. She fought for fair pay for Black teachers while also pushing her students to excel. She was a strong advocate for women’s rights and lectured on the topic.
At her death, she was eulogized by both Black and white leaders. Blanche Armwood Beatty, who taught alongside her and later became Supervisor of Negro Schools in Hillsborough County, was named an executor of her estate. She was also chosen to read the “resolutions, telegrams and condolences” at Meacham’s funeral. The service filled the church and overflowed into the surrounding streets, with schoolchildren given the day off in her honor.
Meacham’s true legacy was measured in the hearts and minds of the thousands of children she helped educate during her 40-year career.
Rodney Kite-Powell is a Tampa-born author, the official historian of Hillsborough County and the director of the Touchton Map Library at the Tampa Bay History Center, where he has worked since 1995.
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