This qualitative study examined the question: How do African-born teachers in U.S. urban schools conceptualize the "teacher" and his/her role and characteristics in an African school context? The data resulted in the conceptualization of the teacher as "the community teacher" who is intimately invested and integrated into the community, internalizes teaching as community service, believes and commits to collective responsibility, builds synergistic relationship with parents/families and the community, holds high expectation for students and self, and engages in social activism for community empowerment. The paper concludes with a discussion of implication for urban teacher preparation.