Betty Ellison-Harpole, beloved youth educator, Black leader, dies at 85

A longtime educator, Betty Ellison-Harpole, was known for nurturing and uplifting children in school and in the Black community.

Ellison-Harpole was a Minneapolis Public Schools teacher and organizer in the community and in local churches. She died last month at 85.

Born to Ogie Tinsley and James Charles Neal in Memphis, Tenn., Ellison-Harpole was the seventh of eight children. She moved to Milwaukee, where she became a teacher and raised four children. After marrying AME Church Rev. Coleman Ellison she moved to Minneapolis, where she continued teaching in Minneapolis Public Schools, primarily on the North Side.

Ellison-Harpole was known for being a compassionate teacher who believed in the importance of teaching a child and not just the curriculum, said her son, Aneer Rukh-Kamaa, who lives in Maryland.

She often worked with kids whom others may have not had the most confidence in, he said. During benchmark test season, Ellison-Harpole would study with students who failed, and by the end of the year they often scored higher than students in some of the surrounding suburbs, Rukh-Kamaa said.

"She would instill a certain pride in self and a confidence. She would teach her class like that and be very good with kids, especially kids who would in some ways be considered at-risk," Rukh-Kamaa said.

Retired Hennepin County Judge LaJune Thomas Langelooked up to Ellison-Harpole, who was a close friend of Lange's mother.

"She was ahead of our time teaching Black history, being an oral historian so the community would understand both African history, the transatlantic slave trade and history in the United States," Lange said.

She was an icon, even outside of the classroom. She loved to thrift and would often shop at a designer liquidation store called Bank's in Minneapolis, Lange said.

"Betty wasn't Maya Angelou, but she was pretty close in terms of just being exceptional and having a unique sense of style and presence," Lange said.

Ruth-Kamaa was too young to have his mom as a teacher, but he grew up gardening with her. Once he had space of his own in Maryland where he could build a garden, Ellison-Harpole came out to help with the inaugural garden and returned each year. They started plants in little cups, and over the phone she would counsel when the plants were big enough to go into the ground.

"She was instrumental in my life. I did really well in school, and my mother was one of my biggest advocates in terms of helping me have confidence in all the things that I do," Ruth-Kamaa said.

Ellison-Harpole was known for her ability to command a room full of young people or Black leaders. She and Lange's mother organized to save the historic Hosmer Library in south Minneapolis and helped elect the first Black woman to the Minneapolis library board, said Lange.

"I think she liked being busy. Engaging, going out, traveling, going to lectures and community meetings and church," Lange said. "I think she liked the energy of the world."

Ellison-Harpole is survived by her brother Ira Tinsley Neal and four children, Harriett Anita Pickett, Frederick Hughes Birts Sr., Reginald Neal Birts, and Rukh-Kamaa, as well as 12 grandchildren.Services have been held.