Remember

Remember

Juvenile nonfiction
"This book is about you. Even though the main event in the
story happened many years ago, what happened before it and after it is
now part of all our lives. Because remembering is the mind's step
toward understanding, this book is designed to take you on a journey
through a time in American life when there was as much hate as there
was love; as much anger as there was hope; as many heroes as cowards.
A time when people were overwhelmed with emotion and children
discovered new kinds of friendships and a new kind of fear..."
In Remember: The Journey to School Integration, Toni Morrison
took an unusual method of bringing this quest alive for young
readers. Period photographs convey most of the message. Morrison has
tried to imagine the thoughts and feelings of the subjects.
Background text is thankfully minimal.
Some of the pictures are scary. Elizabeth Eckford is stopped by
armed soldiers and screamed at by a crowd. A bunch of white guys
attack a car carrying black passengers. The creepiest, in my mind,
shows a mother and her two very young children sitting in their car.
A sign taped to it says, "SOUTHERN WHITES ARE THE NEGROES'
BEST FRIEND BUT NO INTEGRATION" The little boy is wearing a miniature
KKK outfit complete with pointed hood.
You see the abysmal conditions blacks learned under in seperate
and very unequal schools. In one picture you see benches of students
crowded around a wood burning stove. There are no desks and not all
kids have books. And you see the children, lovingly dressed and
groomed, doing their best.
Integration wasn't always smooth. In one picture you see only
black kids because the white kids have been kept home. But being
open and curious, they began accepting each other and even making
friends. And that's the message of hope the book delivers.
On a personal note, Black History Month kicked off beautifully at
UMaine. Snow moved the event indoors after the flag raising. The
speeches were stirring, inspiring, and well attended. The month is
going to be packed with events. I think it will be the best Black
History Month ever. I know I plan to do plenty of learning.
A great big shout out goes out to the organizers, the speakers, and
UMaine's own Black Student Union.
A reminder to people like me who unfairly benefit from it:
Hey hey!
Ho ho!
White privilege
Has GOT to go!
jules hathaway



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