Celestine Dorch: Artist, Educator, Pioneer

When 45-year-old Celestine Dorch applied to be an art teacher in Quincy in 1954, she knew she was eminently qualified for the position. Her impressive credentials included three years of study at Massachusetts School of Art and bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Boston University. Her master’s thesis in 1950, entitled “Junior High School Pupil’s Preferences of Modern Paintings,” made her the perfect choice to fill a newly created position at Central Junior High School. If hired, Mrs. Dorch would become the first African American teacher in the Quincy Public School System.

Celestine (1908-2006) and her younger sister Olivia (1910-1994) were born in Pittsburgh, PA to extremely hard-working parents. Their father worked long hours as a porter for the railroad and their mother as a seamstress. Mr. and Mrs. James H. Johnson moved the family to Boston in the 1920s to be close to their children while they attended college in the city. In the 1930 census, the Johnsons owned a house valued at $6,500 in a very nice neighborhood in Roxbury. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were devoted to their children and did everything possible to give them a chance to succeed.

At Boston University Celestine thrived as an artist. In the fall of 1927, she was awarded the annual prize of $50 by the alumni association of the art department. “Miss Johnson has won numerous awards for excellence conducted periodically at the art department. She is one of the outstanding students in this division of the university,” wrote the Boston Herald on October 1, 1927. In April 1930 Celestine displayed one of her portraits at the “Negro Art Show” at the Boston Public Library. All the awards and monetary prizes were confirmation of her ability, but the recognition did not lead to any suitable job offers in Boston.

Celestine moved to North Carolina to teach at the Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia and in the Durham Public School System. She married attorney John Pope in 1932, but that marriage only lasted a couple of years. In the mid 1930s she came back to Boston to serve as a social worker at the Harriet Tubman Center in the South End. She met Irwin Dorch, a nationally known attorney and president of the local branch of the NAACP. When they wed in Boston in 1939, the reception was attended by a who’s who of African American society.

In the 1940s Celestine became active in the local arts scene. In May 1943 she was asked to display one of her paintings, “Old Camper,” at the 14th annual exhibition of paintings by contemporary artists at the Jordan Marsh store in Boston. She also joined a group of African American artists who featured their works at the Flea Market at 361 Massachusetts Avenue. Up to this point African American artists had almost no place to display their art, as galleries would not accept them. Two of her colleagues at the Flea Market, John Woodrow Wilson and Calvin Burnett, became renowned artists and teachers. In February 1947 Celestine exhibited her paintings at a one woman show at the 20th Century Association in Boston. Opportunities to have her art displayed and recognized in Boston had steadily improved over the last decade.

It was at this time that Celestine painted a portrait of W.E.B. Du Bois, one of the founders of the NAACP. She painted it as a gift for Dr. Du Bois. She had known him for many years and letters she wrote revealed her admiration for him. (Correspondence resides in Du Bois’ papers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Library and can be viewed online).

In the early 1950s Celestine worked as a full-time substitute teacher at the School of Commerce in Boston. When the school closed in 1954, she was urged by Boston school administrators to apply to teach in a new art program in Quincy. It would be a federally-funded art laboratory for gifted children.

In the summer of 1954 Superintendent of Quincy Public Schools Dr. Paul Gossard was faced with a momentous and groundbreaking decision. Six applications were submitted for one position in the art department at Central Junior High School. The front-page headline in the August 18, 1954 Patriot Ledger announced the selection: “Quincy School Committee Hires First Negro Teacher.” Recognizing the historic nature of the hiring, the Patriot Ledger continued,

Dr. Paul Gossard considered her head and shoulders above other candidates. A half dozen paintings done by Mrs. Dorch were exhibited in the school committee rooms last night. Dr. Gossard said that he believed that in selecting an art teacher it was wise to appoint one who had demonstrated that he or she could paint.

There is no doubt it took a special person to become the first and for many years the only teacher of color in Quincy. Celestine’s niece, Olivia Steele, reflected on her aunt’s life in the Patriot Ledger of May 25, 2006: “She never talked about the racism. She always just said there were a lot of good people in the world. She didn’t dwell on anything that was unpleasant. She had a strong sense of character and never doubted herself.”

Intrigued by the artists of Latin America, Celestine traveled to Mexico City several times to study their painters and jewelry makers. In the early 1970s she escorted groups of her students to Mexico so they could learn distinctive Mexican art forms.

Celestine had several hobbies including fashion, flowers, poetry, and music, especially playing the piano. She was captivated by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and served there as a docent at a time when there were few African Americans at the museum.

After 23 years of marriage Celestine and Irwin Dorch divorced in 1962. They did not have any children. In the 1970s Celestine reacquainted herself with Lloyd Howard, a childhood sweetheart she had known since the age of eight. “It’s a real lifelong love story,” Celestine told the Patriot Ledger on November 3, 1987. They were married from 1976 until Lloyd’s death in 1992. After 25 years of teaching at Central, Celestine retired at the age of 70 in 1979. She enjoyed summers at Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard where she was a well-known artist.

In January 2006, at the age of 97, Celestine was honored as a civil rights pioneer by the Quincy Human Rights Commission at the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday luncheon at North Quincy High School. The Norfolk County district attorney and Quincy City Council president presented plaques to Celestine, and many of her former students came to see their beloved teacher one more time.

Only four months later, on May 22, 2006, Celestine died at the Neville Center in Cambridge. Olivia Steele summed up her aunt’s zest for life in the Patriot Ledger obituary of May 25, 2006: “She knew what she wanted. She knew how she wanted to live her life. She loved teaching and spoke highly of her students. She believed in being happy, never complained or felt sorry for herself.”

Former student Jerrie Adelberg Paniri shared this memory on Facebook on October 9th, 2022: “I was a Central Jr. High student from 1966-1969. Mrs. Dorch was my art teacher. As a kid who was really into art, I loved her classes. I still remember the detail of some of her lessons. She encouraged me in figure drawing. She coached me to complete one drawing and submitted it to the Boston Globe Scholastic Art Competition. I was so proud that it was selected for the exhibit.” Inspired by Celestine, Jerrie became an art teacher.

Notes: The outdated term Negro is used within this story because it is either a direct quote or used by writers in the source materials to characterize African Americans.

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This story was originally published in the Winter/Spring 2023 issue of the Quincy History Newsletter.