DID YOU KNOW THAT WALT WHITMAN TAUGHT SCHOOL IN QUEENS & SUFFOLK COUNTIES?
Walt Whitman, Teacher in 9 School Districts
“Singing the need of superb children” –Walt Whitman
In the summer of 1836, having just turned 17, Walt Whitman began teaching school on Long Island. Like most country teachers, young Walt worked under difficult conditions for very low pay. During his four-year teaching career, Whitman taught in nine different school districts, stretching from Queens through Suffolk counties on Long Island. In Smithtown, he taught 85 pupils in a one-room schoolhouse. Whitman became a fervent supporter of educational reform, and he later wrote newspaper articles on the subject.
