Our School History
Asa G. Hilliard Elementary School was erected and opened in 2015.
Our school is named after the eternal Asa G. Hilliard, an avid African-American educator, historian, and professor.
Asa G. Hilliard
Asa G. Hilliard Elementary School (formerly Mount Olive Elementary) was renamed in memory of Dr. Asa Grant Hilliard III, a Georgia State University college professor and former San Francisco State University dean who died in 2007. Dr. Hilliard was married for nearly 50 years to the Honorable Patsy Jo Hilliard, former mayor of East Point, GA and former school board member for the South San Francisco Unified School District.
Born in Galveston, TX on August 22, 1933 to Asa G. Hilliard II and Dr. Lois O. Williams. Dr. Hilliard graduated from Manual High School (1951) in Denver, CO. He received a B.A. from the University of Denver (1955) and taught in the Denver Public Schools before joining the U.S. Army, where he served as a First Lieutenant, platoon leader, and battalion executive officer in the Third Armored Infantry (1955-1957). He later received his M.A. in Counseling (1961) and Ed.D. in Educational Psychology (1963) from the University of Denver. In pursuit of his education, Dr. Hilliard worked in many occupations including as a teacher in the Denver Public Schools, as a railroad maintenance worker, and as a bartender, waiter and cook.
The professional career of Dr. Hilliard spans the globe. He was on the faculty at San Francisco State University; consultant to the Peace Corp in Liberia, West Africa; superintendent of schools in Monrovia, Liberia; and returned to San Francisco State as department chair and Dean of Education. At the time of his death, Dr. Hilliard was the Fuller E. Calloway Professor of Urban Education at Georgia State University in Atlanta where he held joint appointments in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education.
Dr. Hilliard was a Board Certified Forensic Examiner and Diplomate of both the American Board of Forensic Examiners and the American Board of Forensic Medicine. He served as lead expert witness in several landmark federal cases on test validity and bias, including Larry P. v. Wilson Riles in California, Mattie T. v. Holliday in Mississippi, Deborah P. v. Turlington in Florida, and also in two Supreme Court cases, Ayers v. Fordice in Mississippi, and Marino v. Ortiz in New York City. Dr. Hilliard has lectured at leading universities and other institutions throughout the world, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Geographic Society.
As a distinguished consultant, Dr. Hilliard has worked with many of the leading school districts, publishers, public advocacy organizations, universities, government agencies and private corporations on valid assessment, African content in curriculum, teacher training, and public policy. Several of his programs in pluralistic curriculum, assessment, and valid teaching have become national models. Dr. Hilliard designed the approach and selected the essays that appeared in The Portland Baseline Essays (Portland, OR) which represent the first time that a comprehensive global and longitudinal view of people of African ancestry has been presented in a curriculum.
In 2001, Dr. Hilliard was enstooled as Development Chief for Mankranso, Ghana and given the name Nana Baffour Amankwatia, II, which means "generous one." Dr. Hilliard spent more than thirty years leading study groups to Egypt and Ghana, as part of his mission of teaching the truth about the history of Africa and the African Diaspora. He co-chaired the First National Conference on the Infusion of African and African- American Content in the School Curriculum in Atlanta. Dr. Hilliard was a founding member and First Vice President of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations and a founding member of the National Black Child Development Institute. Dr. Hilliard was also a key advisor for the African Education for Every African Child Conference, held in Mali and sponsored by the government of Mali.
Research & Writings
Dr. Hilliard has authored more than a thousand publications including journal articles, magazine articles, special reports, chapters in books, and books. Some of his publications include The Maroon Within Us: Selected Essays on African American Community Socialization (Black Classic Press 1995); SBA: The Reawakening of the African Mind (Makare Publishing 1997), and African Power: Affirming African Indigenous Socialization in the Face of the Cultural Wars (Makare Publishing, 2002), to name a few. He also co-wrote Teachings of Ptahhotep: The Oldest Book in the World by Asa G. Hilliard, III. Williams, Larry. Damali, Nia Hilliard (Paperback - 1987) Blackwood Press and Young Gifted and Black: Promoting High Achievement Among African American Students (Beacon Press, 2004). Additionally, he edited Testing African American Students, Nos 2 and 3: Special Issue of the Negro Educational Review Julian Richardson Assoc. Pub. (December 1990).
Awards
He has received hundreds of awards and recognitions from many prestigious organizations and institutions including the Morehouse College "Candle in the Dark Award in Education," National Alliance of Black School Educators "Distinguished Educator Award," American Evaluation Association, President's Award, Republic of Liberia Award as Knight Commander of the Humane Order of African Redemption, New York Society of Clinical Psychologists Award for Outstanding Research, Scholarly Achievement, and Humanitarian Service, Association of Black Psychologists Distinguished Psychologist Award, Association of Teacher Educators Distinguished Leadership Award, an award from the Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society Laureate Chapter, American Educational Research Association Committee on the Role & Status of Minorities in Education, Research & Development Distinguished Career Contribution Award, American Association of Higher Education Black Caucus, Harold Delaney Exemplary Educational Leadership Award, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Thurgood Marshall Award for Excellence, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary observance of the Brown v. Board of Education Topeka decision. Dr. Hilliard was a fellow with the American Psychological Association and has received honorary degrees from DePaul University, Doctor of Humane Letters; and Wheelock College, Doctor of Education.