13-Year-Old Black Girl in Rochester, New York Persecuted and Forced Out of School for Challenging White Teachers to Teach and for Challenging Her Black Classmates to Learn with Essay on Frederick Douglass. In her essay, Jada Williams quotes part of the scene where Frederick Douglass slave master catches his wife teaching then slave Frederick to read and tells her he (Frederick) would be useless as a slave if he were able to read. Miss Williams quoted Douglass quoting the slave master: If you teach that nigger how to read, there will be no keeping him. It will forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. She reflected on how the white teachers do not have enough control of the classroom to successfully teach the minority students in Rochester. She sees the fact that so many of the other so-called unteachable students arent learning to read as a form of modern-day slavery. Their illiteracy holds them back in society. Her call to action was then in her summary: A grand price was paid in order for us to be where we are today; but in my mind we should be a lot further, so again I encourage the white teachers to instruct and I encourage my people to not just be a student, but become a learner. Please contact Rochester Superintendent of Public Schools Vargas Bolgen at [email protected] or call (585) 262-8100 to voice your concerns about Ms. Jada Williams being force out of school because she wants her classmates to learn.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 22:17:48 +0000