Growing Up Black Essay Research Paper Paper

Growing Up Black Essay, Research Paper

Paper presentation at Stanford University”Multiculturalism and Institutions”Spring 1991Tawn Arlenia Wims GROWING UP BLACK As Molly pointed out, culture is not limited to ethnicity. However, in the school environment, ethnicity should be validated and explored in a positive manner.I taught a junior English class at Casa Grande High school in Petaluma, Sonoma County. The student population is predominately European Anglo-Saxon, with less than 1% of students of color. As a graduate of Casa Grande, I was familiar with the ethnic make-up of the campus. But ironically, somehow I had forgotten that when I was in high school, most of my peers could not relate to my ethnicity. My amnesia quickly left and my memory came back full force when I began teaching a unit on Richard Wright’s novel, Native Son. As a young, idealistic credential candidate, I came out of college excited and eager to share my knowledge. In college I had been exposed to sensitive, stimulating and thought provoking literature from a variety of cultures. Through my reading and class discussions, I gained a deeper understanding of the experiences that shaped the various ethno-groups around me. This strengthened my cultural sensitivity and tolerance. I felt and believed that by sharing literature like this with my students, they would have the same reaction to it as I did. I came to my classroom ready to re-create the learning atmosphere of my college literature courses. Now, to give myself a little credit, I realized that the concepts and ideas presented in the novel Native Son were going to be difficult for my students to understand without some background information. I did my best to prepare them. I showed my class educational films with titles such as Black History: Lost, Stolen Or Strayed. I showed them a contemporary film “Ragtime” where a young, talented and articulate African-American, Coalhouse Walker, Jr., took his rage and frustration to the limit and murdered several Anglo-Saxon firemen in response to a vicious practical joke. I read to my students countless narratives, short stories and poetry from prestigious African-American authors such as Dick Gregory, Gwendolyn Brooks and Toni Cade Bambara. I developed study questions designed to promote critical thinking and help the students to understand the reactions of the protagonist, Bigger Thomas, by relating them to experiences of their own. Boy was I surprised when, several weeks after the start of this unit, one of my students told me that he didn’t understand my question “How are the rhythms of Bigger’s life symbolic of the black struggle for equality against the oppression of racism in America.” “How am I supposed to know.” he asked disgustedly. I was shocked. I thought that I had done such a careful job. In retrospect, I see my error. I expected my students to have developed, in 4 short weeks, the same insights into material that I had studied intensively for at least two years. Once I got passed my frustration and disillusionment with the learning capacity of high school students, I began to take a critical look at the students with whom I was working. I realized that the reason they couldn’t understand my question was because they had not had the background knowledge necessary for them to relate. I had failed to provide the experiences they needed to allow them to empathize with the protagonist, Bigger Thomas, and African-Americans in general. But that is another issue.I thought back to a paper I had delivered to a group of junior high school teachers at Cooke junior high in Santa Rosa, in November 1990. I was asked to be a guest speaker, talking about the African-American students on campus in an attempt to help the educators decrease ethnocentricism, and develop in their students an appreciation of multi-cultural diversity. By relating some of my experiences being raised in Sonoma County, I hoped to help the teachers develop a better understanding of the African-American students on their campus. I believe that some of that paper deserves repeating here. As a starting point, I think it is important to take a critical look at the terminology we use when describing the various ethno-groups in America. I believe we need to stay away from using terms such as black and white when describing people. The connotations that arise when these terms are employed have too many nuances of meaning. Black usually suggests darkness, evil, ugliness; while white suggests purity, goodness and light. When describing ethnic origin, using terms such as African-American, Chinese-American, Mexican-American and so forth helps to create a shared sense of belonging to the United States. The surname is “American”, the African, Chinese, Mexican, etc. is the first name. We are all in the same family.It is crucial that students be exposed to a variety of literature which represents the diverse backgrounds of the different ethnic groups in our culture. As observed in the book Caught in the Middle, the students “study of history, geography, science, mathematics, and the arts should allow them to discover the contributions of famous individuals of varied ethnic and linguistic backgrounds who have helped to give our society its rich cultural heritage.”In school, I was not taught about the positive contributions of my African-American ancestors. In my history books, what I did learn about my heritage was limited. My history books glorified the conquest of