The first Black woman to serve on the School Committee of any community in Massachusetts, Madeleine Dugger Andrews (1922-1986) was both a community activist and educator. Born into a tight-knit family in West Medford, she commuted two and half hours on the bus each day to attend Bridgewater State College. This was followed by work late into the night at a burlap factory to earn the funds required to assure her education.

Denied a teaching position in Medford because of her race, once elected to the School Committee Andrews focused her efforts on recruiting highly qualified teachers, especially those of color, to the city’s school system. She also worked to create a racial balance plan for Medford Public Schools, evaluate school building needs, strengthen existing guidance programs, and initiate a skills-training program for students who did not wish to pursue higher education.

Andrews returned to school earning a master’s degree in Guidance from Boston State College in 1966 and worked in Roxbury, Massachusetts as a guidance counselor specializing in curriculum design. While serving her fourth term on the School Committee, Andrews resigned due to poor health.

Madeleine Dugger Andrews’s legacy lives on today at the middle school named in her honor. Constructed in 2000, it is one of Medford’s first new schools to be built in almost 80 years.