On this date in 1919, we celebrate the birth of Elizabeth Koontz, an African American educator and politician. Elizabeth Duncan Koontz was born in Salisbury, N.C., and attended that city’s public school system. She graduated from Livingstone College in 1938. Koontz attained her Masters Degree from Atlanta University in 1941, and did further study at Columbia University. A classroom teacher who devoted her entire life to education, Koontz also served as the first Black woman president of the National Education Association (NEA) in 1968.