The first African American from the West Bank to receive his Masters of Education from Tulane University, Stanley W. Crosby is a life-long educator and advocate for students of color having taught for 54 years in Jefferson Parish Schools.

He is most known for his time spent at Lincoln High School, which was the only high school for African American students on the West Bank during segregation. While there, he taught English and Speech, organized the school newspaper (The Lincolnite) and yearbook (The Trojan). He sponsored the drama club, dance team, English and Speech clubs, and sponsored a trip for the Junior Class to Washington D.C. with Miss Daisy Stricker and the late Miss Yvonne Butler MacPherson.

Stanley Crosby at a Black History Month event hosted by JP Schools.

Unsatisfied with the quality of resources available to Lincoln students compared with neighboring white high schools, Mr. Crosby often took matters into his own hands. Mr. Crosby would bus his students across the Mississippi River to the Orleans Parish Public Library in New Orleans. Once it was learned they were not Orleans students, they were prohibited from using the library. However, since Mr. Crosby was working on his master’s degree at Tulane University, the staff at Tulane welcomed his students with open arms. 

Mr. Crosby is a civil rights activist, exercising his constitutional rights of the First Amendment, and he taught his students to do the same. He was a frequent contributor to the Louisiana Weekly and used it as a platform to advocate for students of color. 

In early 1964, student Bernard Southall organized a Boycott at Lincoln High School. Having reached his breaking point with inadequate and discriminatory school conditions, Mr. Crosby became an invisible force behind the student-led boycott and helped to secure school improvements from the School Board. 

After Lincoln closed in 1969, Mr. Crosby taught at Livaudais for one year, Higgins High School for four years and West Jefferson High School for 34 years. While at West Jefferson, he sponsored the Black History Club, the Buccaneer Yearbook 1988-89 and the Jolly Roger Newspaper. He retired in 2011 after 54 years of dedicated service to the youth of Jefferson Parish. After retirement, Mr. Crosby taught in the dual enrollment program at Southern University New Orleans and as an Adjunct Professor at West Jefferson High School. He is presently teaching as an adjunct professor at Edna Karr High School in New Orleans. 

Stanley Crosby was born July 5, 1934, third son of Henry Crosby Sr. and Willernise Crosby. He is the brother of Henry Jr., Milton, and Wilfred Crosby. Stanley attended Gretna Colored Elementary School (now Frederick Douglass) and Marrero Westwego High School in 1948-1949. He was baptized at New Hope Baptist Church March 18, 1951, by Rev. Elijah Howard. He graduated from McDonogh 35 High School in 1952, and magna cum laude from Southern University in Baton Rouge in 1956. He served in the US Army from 1957 to 1959 as a Radio-Teletype Operator and spent 16 months in Germany.