When I entered high school, I had my first exposure to black teachers - one in Advanced Biology, the other in English.
The Adv. Bio teacher was one of the BEST teachers I had in my four year stint there - dedicated and competent, she was everything one would expect in a teacher.
The English teacher introduced herself by saying "Ah teaches English and Ah is a-gunna learn alla youse ta read 'n' write bettah dis year."
Found out later from one of the counselors that she got her position by an affirmative action policy that let minorities be hired as full teachers once they had their name on a substitute teacher's list for 3 years.