The Election, 2008

Yippppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Jonathan took Sophie with him to vote. When we arrived for dinner & election-watching, she exuberantly announced that she voted! “For whom,” I asked–“Obama,” she replied. In my classes at Queens College, CUNY, last night, I was delighted by the reports from my students–many classroom teachers & one middle school librarian–of the energy & excitement of their young students. Keep them engaged, I said, design projects, lessons, etc. that involve them/educate them about the process of transition. e.g. how/why/who BO appoints–engaged, informed citizens are the lifeblood of democracy!!!!

I also talked

about/honored the black & white women of the civil rights movement–Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Baker, Septima Clark, Joan Browing, Virginia Durr, Pauli Murray, etc. FYI: my 32-page biography, Fannie Lou Hamer and the Fight For the Vote is out-of-print, but available from on-line bookstores & in libraries. My chapter “Mary Mcleod Bethune: Passionate Educator,” including the story of her dra

matic election night confrontation with the Klu Klux Klan is in Adventurous Women: Eight True Stories About Women Who Made a Difference. Also check out Women of the Civil Rights Movement by Linda Barrett Osborne; it’s accessible & loaded with photographs. For a longer read, get Freedom’s Daughters: The Unsung Heroines of the Civil Rights Movement from 1830 to 1970 by Lynne Olson in full of inspiring true stories. Both AW & FD are in print & available from local and on-line bookstores & libraries.

#Sophie #Students #Voting