If you’re looking for an example of Black excellence in the schoolhouse, Mercedes Flowers is the blueprint, honey. Strict yet soft. Diligent and warm. From 1946-1979, Flowers set the foundation of knowledge for the minds of third and fourth graders at Oakland Elementary in Haines City, Fla. A Talladega College alumna, she reinforced the importance of education while also teaching social studies at Oakland High School, which was attended by Black students across Polk County, Fla. during segregation.