Reading Response 6

Ch. 9 - African American Education and Racial Integration & Ch. 10 - Immigration, Multiculturalism, and Education 

Reading Response 6: Summarize the primary sources p. 334-346 and state one new thing you learned from each. Answer question #3 on p.370, you may submit a hand-drawn sketch of your family tree or download a template to use and post to the Discussion Board.

 Chapter 9: African American Education and Racial Integration

The Future of the American Negro

Booker T. Washington

Washington is stating that African Americans needed a better lifestyle for themselves. They needed to learn skills that would be useful but also innovative. However, he was also stating that the idea of white supremacy could not be overturned, but in some instances white and black made no difference. The necessary skills that had been taught, needed to be applied and enhanced for successful survival and also ease of lifestyle and future growth. With the appropriate education, African Americans could expand their knowledge and creative original ideas in the ever changing world. Receiving a higher education did not automatically make them successful, they had to step above the role of “laborer” and into the role of “command” (Gutek, 2013, p. 334-347).

*One thing that I learned from this section was that African Americans were encouraged to implement their education beyond the basics. By putting their knowledge to good use, they could ultimately change their future and transform the status quo. 

Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others

W.E.B. Du Bois

Mr. De Bois was stating that Mr. Booker Washington was content with white supremacy and did not want to completely change the way things worked. W.E.B. Du Bois believed that the matter of white and black should not be an issue to begin with. Mr. Du Bois believed that all men are created equal while Mr. Washington focused more on African Americans advancement in society and education (Gutek, 2013, p. 337-343). 

*The detail that I took away from this piece would be the fact that Mr. De Bois was not going to settle for anything less than fair when it came to racial discrimination. 

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

This states that all schools should be equal regardless of race. Many cases have been based on racial integration and the single motivation of the child. Race alone does not determine how well a child does in school. Each child can learn from their own ability and knowledge and should be provided a safe environment. While there will always be blame placed for specific races not succeeding, it is the child’s responsibility to learn and gain benefits. Some may argue the unfairness of color, but each and every child should be given the same opportunity in the educational world to succeed (Gutek, 2013, p. 343-346).

*Overall, one thing I learned from this was that some people believe that schools were better when segregated. However, race and color do not matter if the child has the perseverance and motivation to succeed in school. This court case declared that separate schools, based on color, was unconstitutional. Students should be together and provided the same opportunities. 

Chapter 10: Immigration, Multiculturalism, and Education 

Question #3 on page 370: Reflect on the role that immigration played in your family's history. Interview parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles about their memories of your family's roots in the United States or abroad. Then prepare a genealogical chart showing your family's origins.

*Click on the image to make it a larger view layout.

While completing this assignment, I learned an abundant amount of information regarding my family history. For starters, I chose to only research my mother's side of the family. I am not close to my father's side of the family and him and his siblings are the only direct generation line left. Therefore, there is limited knowledge and memories. However, while researching my maternal grandparents side of the family, I found out some interesting details. Although, the information does not directly relate to immigration but this still played a role in my family genealogy.

To begin with, my grandma (Mawmaw) is 75 years old and the only grandparent I have left. She is the farthest past generation in my family. According to her, "My memory isn't what is use to be, Mallory." However, she told me interesting facts she remember and also had a partial family tree my great aunt had hastily written out a few years prior to her passing. Armed with this information, my mom and I began researching online (what would we do without the internet???) and also looking through old family pictures of tombstones. (My mother would always try to take a picture of a burial rock to document the birth and death of a relative - weird to me - but useful nonetheless.) At first, we could not go past my great grandparents. My Mawmaw was one of the few people out of my past extended family who knew how to read or write but she said they never had the time or "notion" to do that. Also, when people moved it was hard to document their whereabouts, relations, or time of death. However, as far back as I can go on Mawmaw's family indicate that they came from and resided in Robbins, Tennessee  which is located in Scott County.  We tracked this back to my great, great, great grandparents and then it dead ends. 

After researching online and utilizing "Find A Grave," the Tennessee Electronic Library, and other personal family trees, we found out that the entirety of her family was indeed from Scott County. Almost all of them are buried in the Kilbeck Cemetery and the "Find A Grave" site provided excellent connecting links. On my grandpa's side (Pawpaw) we at first hit a wall. We could only go as far back as my great great grandpa. However, my mother remembered that he always said HIS great granddaddy came to Tennessee from North Carolina. After checking North Carolina census records around the 1800's we found a match! The names and dates lined up exactly with the limited information my mom had. My great great grandpa, William Doss was born in Virginia, then moved to North Carolina. Later moving to Tennessee with his son Ennis, which was my grandpa's grandfather. We found a pension request and approval that showed that William Doss served in the Revolutionary War. No one in my family knew that information before now! Various name spelling differences and lack of recording contributed to this. Also, that William died when Ennis was very young.

We also were able to trace the connecting blood lines and sibling relations. My mother also remembers the stories of being from Cherokee and Shawnee descendants but we found no record of this. However, my grandpa's mother maiden name (Hoover) has been traced back to the intermixing of Shawnee heritage. 

Although, I was unable to find any direct information about immigration, the closest fact we found was that William Doss was born in Buckingham, Virginia in 1764. On one ancestry site, it stated that his parents were born in North Carolina. However, I do not know the accuracy of that.

My mother states that she remembers my grandpa retelling stories that he had heard of a little African America boy who loved to eat apples in the orchard. He told that the boy said the apples were sweeter than candy. He helped on the farm in return for a place to stay and food to eat. I doubt this child was a true "slave" for the family, because my grandpa said he had been told the little boy left once he became of age and the family moved off. On a 1799 Virginia personal property tax list we saw where is states the name of William's brother and "2" men. My mother said this could have been the African American boy being considered as property. This was an unexpected turn of events. 

A funny story that came from this assignment, and also has to do with immigration, would be from my grandma's mother's side of the family. My Mawmaw's uncle was drafted into the war and he left for Germany. He was not heard from for 35 years. His family thought he was dead. However, one afternoon he came to visit his sister and stayed for over a year. He had gotten married and had children in Germany. Why he never wrote (I'm not sure he could even read or write) or why he had never contacted his family, I do not know. However, he stayed for over a year until his health declined and his son came from Germany and took him home. 

All of these stories contributed to my family genealogy and led to the actual discovery of my ancestry. Although there are still loose ends, this information was new to me.

This assignment showed me that my family's roots go as far back to America declaring it's independence. This was an eye opening moment and I am glad I know all of this background information now. 

Reference:

Gutek, G. L. (2013). An Historical Introduction to American Education. 3rd ed. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press Inc.