10/05/2026
Happy World Teachers' Day from the Carter Johnson Library & Collection!
Some teachers never really leave the classroom. They just find new rooms to teach in.
For 40 years, our Executive Director, Dr. Toni Solenne, stood in front of high school and college students and helped them see history as a story about people. She retired as a professor of history education. Her life's work was diversity education: building curriculum that welcomed everyone, training leaders, and pushing for justice. She co-edited a teaching guide on Frederick Douglass, authored the National Park Service's César Chávez educator toolkit, and wrote more social justice lessons than she can count. She holds an Ed.D. in Multicultural Education and a Board Certification in Sexology.
When she isn't teaching in a classroom, you'll find her teaching in leather. Toni is a proud leatherdyke, a Female Leathertarian Award recipient, and a Mid-Atlantic Pantheon of Leather honoree. Most of all, she is someone who loves bringing people together. With her wife, Fidget, she has built Women of Drummer into a worldwide family of kinky women. She has written two books about leatherwomen finding their identity and their power.
Ask Toni why she teaches and she'll tell you that our stories matter, and we have to carry them forward. Thank you, Toni, for carrying ours.
Pictured below:
Teaching workshop in Guanacosta, Costa Rica (Photo 1)
Speaking in Lafayette Park, DC against lax gun laws following the Pulse nightclub shooting
