Just 23% of teachers nationwide are men. Just 6% are Black. And fewer than 2% of America's teachers are Black men.
"I instantly thought, 'When did I have a Black male teacher?' And I didn't have one until literally I was all the way in the eighth grade, and he was the only one I had," Smith said. Smith is part of Leading Men Fellows, run by The Literacy Lab. He's one of 18 participants in Atlanta, out of roughly 100 across the country. They spent three weeks in training before starting 10 months in the same classroom. They work five hours a day for $17 per hour. They are eligible for thousands of dollars in college scholarships.
Smith adds,"I used to cry most every night trying to figure out like, 'Why am I here?' I feel like I didn't have a reason to be here. So I just I wanted to do it. I wanted to just escape life."