Black History Today: Mario Jovan Shaw, courageous leader by example
/Black History Today, created by Marcus Harden in honor of Black History Month, pays tribute to the living legacy of Black history in our community and beyond and recognizes the people shaping the future.
Presented in collaboration with the South Seattle Emerald.
“When an individual is protesting society’s refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him.”
By Marcus Harden
Protest is an act of courageous disruption. Perhaps the term conjures images of people gathered, holding signs, chanting and carrying megaphones, and while those can certainly be effective, protest takes many shapes and forms. So many truly hidden figures have stood in the gap to disrupt and create spaces for us. This often-unappreciated form of protest is found in the heroes who just choose to show up every day, wanted or not, invited or not, and who, with their personhood and their voice, courageously disrupt and change the status quo.
Mario Jovan Shaw lives his life in courageous protest – through his words, his actions and his service to others. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Mario has spent his life taking the road less traveled to pave it for others. Always a unique thinker and creator, Mario blended his academic savvy with his curiosity to become a strong student who’d attend the University of Cincinnati and truly begin his journey in courage.
Having interned in education in high school, Mario found his passion for education and further sharpened his skills as a Bearcat. He at first chose to major in education, but as the only Black male in the education department, he encountered the feeling of being “the lonely only,” which left breadcrumbs for what his future would hold.
Mario switched his major to Africana studies (another breadcrumb), yet through a mentor would be reminded of the power and the space he held as a Black Male Teacher. Mario went on to graduate and join Teach for America, taking his talents and passion to Charlotte, NC, where he taught 7th grade and began to put the pieces of his purpose together.
While teaching in Charlotte, he encountered a student who realized that Mario was his first Black male teacher – more than seven years into his educational career and at 13 years old. This pushed Mario into action to begin truly, deeply thinking about the space for Black Male Educators, and from this seed would begin to grow the birth – along with his co-founder, Jason Terrell – of Profound Gentlemen, an organization committed to the retention, recruitment and healing of Black Male Educators.
What started as a blog and a group chat has now blossomed into a nationwide organization serving from NYC to Los Angeles, and even internationally. Awards abound including Echoing Green Fellow and Forbes 30 under 30, yet none of those have changed Mario. What makes PG unique is its space – modeled after Marios own heart – that doesn’t shy away from the technical aspects of teaching, yet leans into the social/emotional bandwidths of Black male teachers, feeding them so they can in turn feed their students.
Mario’s courageous protest doesn’t end there. A staunch advocate for Black male mental health and multi-pronged identities, he shows up authentically as himself – oftentimes still as the lonely only, but also as the megaphone for those who have not yet been heard or who aren’t in the room. His staunch advocacy has helped PG and other organizationss like it grow, yet, like a true leader, the fruits of his leadership have spawned many new leaders into places and spaces seen and unseen.
In other words, Mario’s courage is doing what courage always does: giving others permission to believe in and be themselves.
While he is definitely a “1 of 1,” we need more Mario Jovan Shaws – more people living in their own individual brilliance, as Mario does leading world-changing orgs whilst journaling about plants and every once in a while hosting his cult classic, “Messy Kitchen,” to show off his culinary skills.
Mario has been feeding so many for so long through the way he lives his life. He is the embodiment of courageous protest, he is authenticity abound, and above all else, Mario Jovan Shaw is, indeed, Black History Today!
Original artwork created by Devin Chicras for the South Seattle Emerald.
