Sohee Han: Special Education and Segregation

Sohee Han writes: In the last decades, many public places were segregated and school was not an exception. In chapter 25, Brown v. Board of Education, it discusses about the unfairness of accepting students within the schools. Black people could not attend schools, not only by a prejudice perception, but as a law. Soon, under the Fourteenth Amendment, the black people also could have education but with separated facilities. Although the law states that black people have right to have equal opportunity as white people, the reality is different. As a future educator, it remained me the law in today’s society. Today, the United States published the law that all people who born in the United States have right to have education. This not only includes different races of people, but even people who are disabled. If a child is disabled in physically or mentally that may affected on learning, it is school’s responsibility to teach a child when his/her parents asked the school. This shows how the education system has improved over last several decades.

Sohee Han: Rosa Parks

Sohee Han writes: Losing act of rights due to the color skin is unfair and should not be placed. However, the segregation between whites and blacks remained fairly long in our history. Black people had to give up their rights for white people and even the laws supported this segregation. For example, black people had to give up their seats to whites in the bus. Not because white people pay more for the bus seats, but because they are white and the law said to do so. Rosa Parks is the one who recognizes as the first black person who refused to give up her seat. Since nobody refused to give up their seats before, her action put people in shock. Then, why did she not give up her seat? Was her action was planned before she get on the bus? There are many controversies on this subject and I found one interesting reason: she did not give up her seat because she was too tired from her long work on the following website: http://www.grandtimes.com/rosa.html. Also, there is description about her after story.

Karla Mercado: Pre-Rosa Parks Bus Activism

Karla Mercado writes: I heard from a friend who majors in American History that Rosa Parks wasn't the first to refuse to give up her seat on the bus for a white person. Nine months before, a 15-year-old named Claudette Colvin also refused. I found an article about her that was published less than a month ago. The site of the article is http://www.newsweek.com/id/187325. Her story was not overseen as thoroughly as Rosa Parks' story because of the fact that she was only a 15-year-old who became pregnant a few months later. The civil rights activists did not want a pregnant teenager to be the figure of their boycott. During Thursday's discussion, we noticed how Jo Ann Gibson Robinson's document on the Montgomery Bus Boycott lauded Rosa Parks' stature, stating that Parks was "dignified and reserved". We also heard from Lindsay that the Rosa Parks' incident was planned. I think that since Parks was part of the NAACP, the NAACP must've been aware of other people refusing to give up their seats on the bus for whites and decided that they needed an African American who was more involved with society and more respected to increase awareness. Civil rights activists needed a strong figure to represent their cause. I think that the activists were very clever to have chosen Rosa Parks, but at the same time, Claudette Colvin should also be remembered and recognized for her efforts.

Achieve in Africa

A Message From Boston University Student Brendan Callahan:



In my final year here at Boston University, I co-founded a non-profit organization called Achieve in Africa with another BU student, Alyssa Snow. Starting this organization has been something I have wanted to do ever since I visited Africa two summers ago (as a sophomore) and saw children thirsty for knowledge, but lacking the facilities and supplies needed for a proper education.



The mission of the organization is to give children in Africa the ability to achieve in school by providing the facilities and supplies needed for a proper education.



Currently, the goal is to raise $30,000 for Olasiti Primary School in Tanzania. This school was chosen because it is overcrowded and the villagers are mostly subsistence farmers who are unable to support the school since household incomes average between only $90 and $100 per year. For pictures and information about this school and the organization, please visit AchieveInAfrica.org



After graduation in May, I will be traveling to Tanzania in June to oversee construction. The cost of the flight will not be paid for by donations. All funds raised will go directly to the materials and labor required for this school. Since Achieve in Africa a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, all donations are tax-exempt.



I would appreciate if you passed on this email to anyone who you think would be interested in the cause. Thank you for taking the time to read this.



In Swahili, "Pamoja, Tutafaulu." Together, we will achieve.