My family and school are interracial.
Jaxon Isaac Stams New York City, NY Brooklyn In my school, there are more non-Caucasians and are of multiple races. In my family, my grandparents...
A representation of society as a whole.
Ryan Owen Milwaukee, WI The problems we see in our schools are a result of the bigger problems that are acceptably in grained in our...
Well behaved for a black kid
Alisha Ragan New York City, NY Brooklyn My six words come from practically every field trip and public outing I have taken my students on...
Why can’t we have new books?
Tamika Brown Atlanta, GA Race and socioeconomic status are nearly inseparable. And nowhere can this be seen more clearly than in American classrooms. Education has...
school segregation still sickening suffocating success
Maureen Curran New York City, NY Staten Island The words by the Jacob Lawrence poster talking about people in Brooklyn in 1962 calling for school...
Set an example/Be the Change
Amanda Hemet, CA I know how it feels to be judged only on the color of your skin. In 8th grade during the LA riots...
No black people in your car.
Cynthia Cahoon Moyock, NC In 1970, I was a junior in high school and new to that school. As a member of the drama team,...
Many southern Negroes never learned reading
Ted Hochstadt Falls Church, VA This is approximately what my mother said to me when I asked her why our African-American cleaning woman could not...
Being called racist by fellow teacher
Sharren Wellsboro, PA I was floored when a special education teacher called me a racist because I did not give her daily lesson plans I...
Never had playdate with black girl
Haley Powell Santa Barbara, CA Me and my friends have noticed and talked about this before- it’s not like we tried to avoid making any...
Geraldine, thirteen years old, incredible courage
Sue Schiller, USA. Rather than integrate them, our city closed the public schools in September 1958. When they reopened in January 1959, Geraldine (I know...
Wow!!! They really let them teach
Deborah Council Wilmington, DE In 1970, I was doing my practice teaching in Barrington, NJ and took on of my student’s to an outing. When...
Only one black in my school
Bob Blizard Acton, MA Growing up in western New York State in the ’50s, there was only one black kid in school. I remember our...
What opened my eyes: “flesh-colored” bandages
Irene M. Pepperberg, Swampscott, MA. I was in high school, a racially integrated one, in the 60s, discussing racial issues with a contemporary black woman,...
Any black kids in your class?
Pamela Tish, Dupo, IL. When I began my first teaching job in Cahokia, IL, “Any black kids in your class?” was always one of the...
Your lack of education is voluntary.
Winter Rose Los Angeles, CA Everyone in the USA is required to attend school, unlike impoverished countries around the world. Our education system is paid...
