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For years, Sarah Moore Greene pushed for state funded early childhood education. She taught grades 1-8 in a one-room school in Monroe County, TN before moving to Knoxville in 1933 and operating a private kindergarten. Recognizing the potential of very young children for literacy, she continued her pursuit for state funded kindergarten programs. Told repeatedly that the state would not fund education for children under 6 years old, Sarah in 1969, at age 57, ran for, and was elected to the Knoxville City School Board. A major issue in her campaign was state funded early childhood education. Her term of office began in 1970 and in 1973, legislation was passed mandating kindergarten programs in all school districts in the state. Beneficiaries: Children receiving state funded education since 1973.
Even with kindergarten programs in every elementary school, pre-kindergarten programs in some, low literacy rates persist at a high level in Knoxville’s inner city schools. Mrs. Greene asked The Literacy Imperative, Inc., a national faith based non-profit organization based in Knoxville, to affiliate with First Book, an organization with a single mission to give low income families the opportunity to own new first books. In 2004 Mrs. Greene organized First Book-Knoxville. She formed an Advisory Board of leaders from all sectors of the community and serveed as Chair. Her personal goal was that no child enter the pre-kindergarten programs in Knox County Schools at three years of age, without first having books in the home. Through First Book-Knoxville each child receives six books a year so that they can start their own libraries. To date over 7,000 new books have been given to children through a network of seven youth programs that serve at risk families for low literacy.
Sarah Moore Greene’s name is synonymous with “civil rights” and “education” in Knoxville, in Tennessee, and the nation. She was dedicated to the cause of social justice and civil rights all of her life and endured many hardships as a result. She gave unselfish and devoted service to the causes of freedom and quality education for Black people through social, political, educational, religious and civil rights activities. Mrs. Greene served as president of the local branch of the NAACP, NAACP state president, and NAACP national board member for more than 25 years. She made a tremendous impact on education as a teacher and as the first African American to be elected to the Knoxville, Tennessee Board of Education. Ms. Greene was a member of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Weekend Academy, Inc. Designed to help young people retain their love of learning at a time when they might be losing interest in school, Weekend Academy Inc. brings inner-city children to TVA and other academic or corporate settings in Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville, Tennessee, every other Saturday. A Knoxville elementary school was named in her honor, the first for a living person here. During the pre and post “civil rights movement” years, Mrs. Greene was known as a one-woman employment office. Many persons, from all walks of life sought her help, which was freely given, in obtaining employment. Mrs. Greene’s awards include the National Black Caucus of State Legislators Nation Builders Award, the Knoxville Area Urban League
Whitney M. Young Lifetime Achievement Award, the Knox County Mayor’s Pioneer Award for leadership in the desegregation of Knox County’s Schools, Societas Docta, Inc., Nefertiti Award for fostering high educational achievement. Her effective political involvement, social action, educational leadership, have merited numerous certificates of awards as well as recognition from the President of the United States and Members of Congress. Further, she received the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Commission Chair's Award in 2005.
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