Norman Washington Harllee

Norman Washington Harllee (July 15, 1852 – May 17, 1927) was an African American educator. He was associated with the public schools in Dallas, Texas for more than 40 years.

Early life and education Harllee was born between 1847 and 1853 on the Harllee Plantation near Lumberton in Robeson County, North Carolina where he was enslaved. His parents were Luisa and Evan Harllee, both enslaved. He was also self-taught in shorthand. He taught school in Richmond County, North Carolina in 1867. In this capacity, he advocated for a Colored Branch University in Austin, authorized by the Constitution of Texas in 1876 but not yet established. In the 1880s, he was the first superintendent of the Colored Department of the Texas State Fair, serving in that position for at least fourteen years. He was chairman of the board of the YMCA of Dallas where he conducted a night school for all ages and genders, along with several other teachers. He belonged to the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Harllee died on May 17, 1927, from bronchial pneumonia. He was buried in Dallas in the Woodland Cemetery.

Honors Daniel Wallace Culp included Harllee and his photograph in the 1902 book Twentieth Century Negro Literature or, a Cyclopedia of Thought on the Vital Topics Relating to the American Negro.

The Ninth Ward School in Dallas was renamed N. W. Harllee Elementary School in his honor in January 1927. After the elementary school closed in 2012, it was repurposed as the N. W. Harllee Early Childhood Center in 2013.

He was inducted into the African American Educators Hall of Fame and received the Pioneer/Trailblazer Award from the Dallas African American Archives and History Program in 2007.