Issue #1080: Today In Black History, Wednesday, September 30, 2026
When Rod Paige was sworn in as the seventh U.S. Secretary of Education in January 2001, he became the first African American to hold the post—a man who began his own schooling in the segregated classrooms of rural Mississippi. Over a career that ran from the football sidelines to the president’s Cabinet, Paige pressed one idea above all: a child’s color or zip code should never decide what that child can learn. He died on December 9, 2025, in Houston, at age 92.
Rooted in Monticello
Roderick Raynor Paige was born June 17, 1933, in Monticello, Mississippi, to two public school educators. Growing up under Jim Crow, he saw how little the state invested in its Black students and how much teachers like his parents gave anyway. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Jackson State, served in the U.S. Navy from 1955 to 1957, and later attended Indiana University, where he earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in physical education.
From Coach to Dean
Paige first made his name in athletics, as head football coach at Jackson State from 1964 to 1968 and at Texas Southern University from 1971 to 1975. Coaching taught him discipline, preparation, and a habit of measuring results — lessons he carried into school leadership.
In 1984, he became dean of Texas Southern’s College of Education, a post he held for a decade. There he founded the Center for Excellence in Urban Education, focused on the city schools serving Black and Latino children.
Remaking Houston’s Schools
Paige joined the Houston Independent School District board in 1989, and in 1994 the board named him superintendent of one of the nation’s largest districts. He ran it like a turnaround: performance contracts for administrators, incentive pay for teachers, more charter schools, and accountability tied to results. He also created the nation’s first accredited school district police department. Rising scores drew national attention, and in 2002 Houston won the first Broad Prize for Urban Education.
The record drew scrutiny, too. A 2003 state audit found that some Houston schools had underreported dropouts, raising questions about how much of the “Houston miracle” held up.
In the Cabinet
President George W. Bush, who knew Paige’s work from his years as Texas governor, chose him to lead the Department of Education. Paige oversaw the rollout of the No Child Left Behind Act, signed in January 2002. The law required annual testing and, crucially, required states to report results by race, income, disability, and English proficiency, so gaps could no longer hide inside averages. Paige called closing those gaps the civil rights issue of our time.
His tenure had sharp edges. In 2004, he called the National Education Association a “terrorist organization,” then apologized. Critics said No Child Left Behind leaned too heavily on testing and punished struggling schools; supporters credited it with forcing honest attention on children who had long been overlooked. He left office in 2005.
Later Years
Paige kept writing and speaking. He published The War Against Hope (2006) and, with his sister Elaine Witty, The Black-White Achievement Gap: Why Closing It Is the Greatest Civil Rights Issue of Our Time (2010). In 2016, at 83, he returned to his alma mater as interim president of Jackson State University, serving into 2017. “I am a Jacksonian,” he said, “and I am interested in JSU being the greatest it can be.”
Legacy
“Rod worked hard to make sure that where a child was born didn’t determine whether they could succeed in school,” President Bush said after his death. Whatever one thinks of standardized testing, Paige changed the question American schools must answer — not just how students are doing on average, but how every group of students is doing. For a boy from segregated Monticello, insisting that every child be counted was personal.
Sources
Rod Paige, first Black to serve as U.S. Secretary of Education, dies at 92, The Grio
Rod Paige, education secretary who defended No Child Left Behind, dies at 92, The Boston Globe
Rod Paige, education secretary, dies, Mississippi Today
Rod Paige, nation’s first African American to serve as Secretary of Education, dies at 92, Scripps News
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Today In Black History
In 1896, Booker T. Washington, the founder and first principal of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, gave his famous “Compromise Speech” at the Cotton States Exposition.
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy federalized the Mississippi National Guard to escort James H. Meredith to the University of Mississippi campus.
In 1966, the African nation of Botswana gained its independence from the United Kingdom.
In 1975, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fought in the “Thrilla in Manila.” Ali won the fight.
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