![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/yerger-smile.jpg\")
\nBen Yerger smiling at camera (circa 2004). Photo courtesy of the Yerger family.<\/p>\n
How the legacy of educator Dr. Ben Yerger, Ph.D. Education \u201875, lives on through a fellowship, a family, and a new generation of teachers<\/p>\n
On a recent day in her eighth-grade U.S. history classroom in San Jose, Kacie Cosgrove (B.A. History, French \u201824; M.A. Education \u201825) watched her students wrestle with a familiar question: Who gets to tell the story?<\/p>\n
Her students were studying the Mexican-American War when one raised a hand.
\u201cThe textbook is biased,\u201d the student said.<\/p>\n
\nBen Yerger smiling at camera (circa 2004). Photo courtesy of the Yerger family.<\/p>\n
Instead of moving on, Cosgrove invited the class to dig deeper.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d she recalled thinking. \u201cSay more about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The moment captured the kind of classroom she strives to create\u2014one where students question assumptions, examine power, and think critically about the stories they’re told.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe opposite of democracy is fascism,\u201d Cosgrove said. \u201cUnder fascism, people avoid critical thinking. They don’t ask questions. They don\u2019t engage. So I want the exact opposite in my class.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nearly half a century earlier, another educator was pursuing many of those same goals.<\/p>\n
Dr. Benjamin James Yerger (Ph.D. Education \u201875) never met Cosgrove, yet his influence reaches her classroom every day.<\/p>\n
Through the Ben Yerger Fellowship at the UC Berkeley School of Education (BSE), his commitment to educational opportunity continues to support new generations of teachers who are preparing students not only for careers and college, but for participation in a democratic society.<\/p>\n
In many ways, that mission reflects the life Yerger devoted himself to building.<\/p>\n
A Legacy Rooted in Education<\/p>\n
Born in Hope, Arkansas, in 1930, Yerger came from generations of educators. His grandfather, Henry Clay Yerger, was a principal at a high school for Black students, which was later named after him. Yerger\u2019s grandmother, Ella, left a Choctaw reservation to teach at the Yerger High School, where she met and then married Henry Clay. Yerger\u2019s mother taught music, which helped shape the cultural life of her community.<\/p>\n
Education wasn’t simply a profession in the Yerger family, it was a calling.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis main thing was trying to raise students up,\u201d said his widow, Dr. Charlene Harrington (Ph.D. Education; Sociology \u201875). \u201cHe felt that was the way to make their lives better and their family’s lives better, but also to improve society.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Yerger did not begin his career in education. After earning a degree in chemistry, he became the first African American employed at Chevron Research Laboratory. At a time when Black scientists were largely excluded from professional opportunities, it was a remarkable achievement.<\/p>\n
Then Yerger met Malcolm X.<\/p>\n
After attending one of Malcolm X’s speeches in the Bay Area, Yerger had the opportunity to speak with him directly. During their conversation, Malcolm X encouraged him to consider education as a way to serve his community and create opportunities for future generations.<\/p>\n
The exchange changed the course of his life.<\/p>\n
Yerger left industry and dedicated himself to education, eventually helping develop the nation’s first Black Studies program at Merritt College in Oakland, expanding educational opportunities for underserved students, and becoming a respected leader in California’s community college system.<\/p>\n
For Yerger, education and democracy were inseparable because both depended on community. His daughter, Dr. Valerie Yerger (B.S. Conservation of Natural Resources \u201881), remembers accompanying him to community meetings, demonstrations, educational gatherings, and neighborhood events throughout her childhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always had my father\u2019s permission to share the space that he was in,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I had something to say in response to what I heard, there was an opportunity for me to respond. I never felt that I couldn’t express myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Long before she understood concepts like democracy or civic participation, her father was teaching her through example.<\/p>\n
![\"four](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/cosgrove-underground.png\")
\nFour student projects after lessons on Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. (Top left, clockwise): an outline of the United States and arrows showing Underground Railroad locations; an evening scene for the Underground Railroad; a portrait drawing of Harriet Tubman; quilt squares with symbols that were used for the Underground Railroad. Photo courtesy of Kacie Cosgrove.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was something about not having to be different to be with others,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can be who you are with others, while accepting them for who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
She remembers him bringing her to Black Panther events, introducing her to people from different backgrounds, and helping her understand both her own identity and the value of collective action.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn order to have a community, there needed to be a recognition that there were differences and diversity and everybody had a role,\u201d she said. \u201cNo role was bigger than somebody else’s role.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those beliefs guided Yerger during one of the most transformative periods in American higher education.<\/p>\n
As student activism surged in the 1960s and 1970s, he worked closely with students advocating for change and helped institutions respond to demands for greater equity and representation. Reflecting on that period years later, he described it as \u201ca time when students were directly involved in campus decision-making.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a very exciting time,\u201d Harrington recalled. \u201cThey were trying to understand what students wanted and what were the issues that needed to be addressed by the college.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finding a Home at Berkeley<\/p>\n
In 1970, Yerger arrived at UC Berkeley to pursue a doctorate in higher education. There he met Harrington, a fellow doctoral student who shared his commitment to educational opportunity and community engagement.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loved Berkeley,\u201d she said. \u201cHe just thought it was the best thing that ever happened to him, going back to school and getting his doctorate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two would spend nearly four decades together, united by a belief that education could change lives and strengthen communities.<\/p>\n
After Yerger’s passing in 2014, Harrington established the Ben Yerger Fellowship to ensure that his commitment to students would continue.<\/p>\n
Today, the fellowship helps aspiring educators enter a profession that Yerger believed is fundamental to a healthy democracy.<\/p>\n
Teaching Students They Belong<\/p>\n
For Yerger Fellowship recipient Riechal Zonelysse Paras Martinez (M.A. Education \u201826) currently enrolled in the Berkeley Teacher Education Program (BTEP), educating like democracy depends on it begins with understanding whose stories made your own possible.<\/p>\n
A Filipina American educator whose parents immigrated from the Philippines, Martinez said learning about Yerger\u2019s legacy inspired her to think differently about history, community, and the people she considers her ancestors.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so cool to be accepted in BTEP and then in the fellowship,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause he was the first person to create a Black Studies course in the U.S. outside of historically Black colleges.\u201d<\/p>\n
That history resonated deeply. As she has developed her understanding of ethnic studies and social justice, Martinez said she has begun redefining what ancestry means.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy ancestors are people that have allowed me to be successful in America,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I think that includes a lot of Black activists. That includes so many people that have fought for educational rights and just human rights in general.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"big](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/cosgrove-voices.jpg\")
\nA student project on amplifying Black voices during and after the Civil War. Photo courtesy of Kacie Cosgrove.<\/p>\n
The idea mirrors a lesson at the heart of Yerger’s own career: democracy depends on people understanding not only themselves, but their connections to one another.<\/p>\n
Originally, Martinez planned to become a medical doctor. But after taking courses in ethnic studies as an undergraduate, she found herself transformed by what she was learning about race, power, and history.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to dedicate my life not to an individualistic pathway,\u201d she said. \u201cThe community is literally what brings me life and it’s what brings me joy.\u201d<\/p>\n
That path eventually led her to BTEP, where she found herself learning from Black faculty and engaging deeply with Black educational traditions. Today, as she prepares to begin her teaching career, Martinez thinks often about the students whose histories remain absent from many classrooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m reminded every day that students don’t even know their history,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are so many systems and barriers in place where they are not allowed to learn it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martinez\u2019s journey reflects the very legacy Yerger spent his life building: educational spaces where students can see themselves, understand others, and recognize their place in the broader community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact of democracy is to remind us that we’re not alone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Passing it On<\/p>\n
More than a decade after his death, Ben Yerger’s influence continues through the fellowship that bears his name and through educators like Cosgrove and Paras, who are preparing the next generation of students to participate in civic life.<\/p>\n
The connection between them reflects something Yerger understood well: education is never confined to a single classroom or generation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s this guy, and I\u2019ve never met him, but he deeply impacted my ability to become a teacher,\u201d Cosgrove reflected on the fellowship. \u201cIn education, everything’s inherited.\u201d<\/p>\n
The phrase could just as easily describe Yerger’s own life.<\/p>\n
He inherited a tradition of educational leadership from the generations who came before him. He passed those values on to his family, his students, and the institutions he helped shape. Today, they live on in classrooms he never saw and in students he never met.<\/p>\n
His daughter still encounters people eager to tell her stories about her father’s impact.<\/p>\n
![\"ben](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/yerger-family.png\")
\nBen Yerger (seated, left) with family members. Photo courtesy of the Yerger family.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pride that I have for my dad,\u201d she said, \u201calong with the responses that I\u2019d get, have been unmatched by anything else in this world.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked what she remembers most about him, however, she doesn’t mention his degrees, his leadership positions, or the programs he helped build. Instead, her answer is simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt safe with my dad.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than a decade after his passing, Ben Yerger’s legacy lives on in classrooms where students are encouraged to question, participate, and see themselves as part of a larger community.<\/p>\n
In other words, classrooms that educate like democracy depends on it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How the legacy of educator Dr. Ben Yerger, Ph.D. Education \u201875, lives on through a fellowship, a family,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[139452,143,145,144,139450,139451],"class_list":["post-370688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-faculty-excellence","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-research-berkeley","tag-uc-berkeley-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}