There are rare times when you can truly celebrate an educator who significantly impacted your life. For me, the teacher was Tom Hansen. While his dedication to diversity and education was far beyond his time, he also impacted our community through his photographs. Our Lincoln Elementary School in Kalamazoo classroom may have been one of the few in the world with a photography darkroom! Mr. Hansen was invited to local sporting events, family functions, and even local parks to capture the community and those who lived there.
Hansen taught for nearly three decades. His innovative style of teaching was ahead of its time. Students sat together in table groups, not desks. Monthly trips to the Nature Center, a planetarium, post office, Ladies’ Library Association, and more, were his ways of bringing the world to his students. After his death in 2021, Hansen left thousands of images to me. He wanted me to not only find those who never received their photos from him, but also feature some of his most beautiful works in a book to benefit my non-profit organization, the Merze Tate Explorers. The book is forthcoming in 2025.
Season Press published a Community Voices Magazine edition in 2018 that shared some of Mr. Hansen’s most captivating work. In honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 15th, the cover on this edition represents King’s dream and the dream of Mr. Hansen to educate all students equally.
