Betty Fairfax was an educator, counselor, and philanthropist with the
Phoenix, Arizona high school district.
Biography
Betty Harriet Fairfax graduated with her Bachelor of Science from
Kent State University in 1940. Four years later, she graduated from
Western University with her master's in education, and then completed post-graduate work at
Teachers College, Columbia University. She worked in the Cleveland public school district before she was recruited by the
Phoenix Union High School District to work at the
Carver High School, a segregated school. When schools desegregated, Fairfax became one of the first Black teachers at Phoenix Union High School.[1]
In 1985, Betty, along with her sister
Jean E. Fairfax, founded the Dan and Betty Inez Fairfax Memorial Fund to expand educational opportunities for African American and
Latinx students.[2]
2009: The Phoenix School District named a new high school the
Betty H. Fairfax High School.[3] As of 2021, it was the only school in the district named for an educator.[4]
2020: With Jean Fairfax, inducted into Arizona Women's Hall of Fame
^Jones, Rhonda D. (2008). "Fairfax, Jean E.". In Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.; Higginbotham, Evelyn Brooks (eds.). The African-American National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press.