78 Photo Essay: Sybil Howell Ingram

Retired Teacher

Words by Justin Hunter | Image by Blakeney Clouse

Mrs. Sybil Ingram is a treasure and a testimony of the Jasper City school system. 

“I think I was inspired to become a teacher by both of my parents, who were teachers at Walker County Training School. It was the all-black school before integration,” says Mrs. Ingram.

WCTS was also the school Mrs. Ingram attended until the sixth grade. Her parents then enrolled her at Central Elementary School, what is now Jasper Jr. High, a year prior to integration. 

“I was one of two black students in my class at that time,” she says. 

Despite the academic adjustments, cultural challenges, and social difficulties facing her as a 12-year-old African American in a nearly all-white school, she found a way to flourish. 

“Most of the difficulties came about because of the unknown. I didn’t know the white students, and they didn’t know me. Some of those students who held negative opinions of me when I started school ended up becoming some of my best friends by graduation.” she explains.

Initially majoring in sociology after graduating from Walker High School in 1974, Mrs. Ingram switched majors and obtained her associates degree in education from Walker College in 1976 and her bachelor’s in education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) three years later. She returned to UAB 12 years later to earn a master’s degree in health education with an idea she might leave the classroom for the corporate world. She couldn’t leave her kids. 

Ultimately, helping others was always her goal. She might have been a social worker but a hiring freeze on state employees during the 1970s led her in another direction. “My college advisor asked, ‘Do you want to go into social work?’ I said, ‘Well, no. My second choice would be teaching. I would then be able to help my students,” she says. 

For 38 years, Mrs. Ingram invested in the lives of thousands of students and hundreds of families as an educator in the Jasper City and Walker County School Systems. Over the course of her career, she taught biology, health, and physical education. She also poured herself into coaching the Walker Viking Jr. Varsity and Varsity cheerleaders for 28 years. “I was able to inspire lots of students because that was the joy of teaching,” she says. Teaching at my alma mater was great. “My verse was Nehemiah 8:10: The joy of the Lord is my strength. It wasn’t always smooth sailing, but I truly enjoyed working with children.”

Even though she left the classroom at the end of the 2018 school year, Mrs. Ingram sowed her life into schools she served. The students who came under her tutelage are now seeing the  harvest of that dedication. 78