The Frank Sullivan Human Relations Award
Frank Sullivan was one of the founders of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. Frank served twelve years (12) as President of the PFT and also served several terms as Treasurer. He also served as an officer of the American Federation of Teachers, AFT PA, PA. AFL-CIO, and Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO.
Prior to becoming President, he was a Social Studies Department Head at Edison High School. Frank fought for his members, fought for better schools, and was a strong advocate for improving human relations. He worked with many groups in Philadelphia and throughout the state of Pennsylvania to accomplish the goals of the PFT.
Frank died in 1986 and the PFT Executive Board voted to give this award to a member of each graduating class in Frank’s memory.
On behalf of President Arthur G. Steinberg, the Executive Board of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, and the entire faculty of the School of the Future, this award is presented to a senior in the graduating class of 2026.
The Celia Pincus Award
Celia Pincus was born in Russia in 1904. Her family immigrated to the United States in 1912 because there was little educational or economic opportunity. Her father, a fruit vendor, was a union sympathizer. Celia Pincus became aware of union struggles and progressive politics at an early age; the long and bitter garment workers’ strike in 1913 made a big impression on her. Although her family was poor, she grew up with a strong sense of pride and independence.
Celia Pincus attended Normal School, which was a teacher training school and at the same time worked two jobs to help support her family. She taught elementary school in the Philadelphia school system. In her spare time, she continued her education at the University of Pennsylvania where she received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees. She then went on to teach junior high school students, which was the age group she preferred to teach, for the rest of her teaching career.
In 1933 she and her brother, who was also a teacher, helped organize the teachers’ union in the Philadelphia public schools. The union had a small membership and no collective bargaining rights until 1965. She served as President of the local from 1958 to 1965. She retired from teaching in 1962 to work full time for the union with no pay.
Throughout her career as a teacher and a union activist, Celia Pincus fought for an achieved more representation of black teachers in the schools, a single salary schedule for all teachers, a lower class size, better educational materials and teachers’ rights to grievance procedures. She testified on several occasions before committees in Washington on the working conditions of teachers and the conditions in general of Philadelphia schools.
In the early 1970s she became an educational advisor to Mayor Frank Rizzo but resigned her post in 1973 because she opposed the mayor’s unyielding position in the long and bitter strike of the city’s teachers.
Celia Pincus felt that one of the most serious problems facing teachers is the lack of support from administration and parents regarding discipline, and the consequent atmosphere of fear in which the teachers must often work.
She saw the union solely as “a way to give teachers a decent break and give kids a better education.”
On behalf of President Arthur G. Steinberg, the Executive Board of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, and the entire faculty of the School of the Future, this award is presented to a senior in the graduating class of 2026.