Marietta Johnson
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Marietta Johnson was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1864 and moved with her family to Fairhope in 1907, where she would become famous as the founder of one of the best progressive schools in the world, which she called The School of Organic Education. Mrs. Johnson had been a teacher in the normal system in Minnesota and had radical ideas on education reform. She felt that children should live natural lives, study the outdoors and not be forced to read at too young an age. In her "organic" school, tests were not administered, homework was withheld until high school, and grades were unknown. She required hand crafts and folk dancing along with the traditional academic curriculum. Her school was a magnet to young teachers and to artists, and was instrumental in building the reputation of Fairhope as an artists' colony. She was in great demand as a lecturer, and after John Dewey's favorable review of her school in 1913, she achieved a worldwide recognition as a leader in the Progressive Education movement. She was responsible for the founding of many schools based upon her philosophy; however, her heart was in Fairhope, and her school there was the center of her activities. She died in 1938, but her school in Fairhope is still in operation.
