Civil Rights Writing #1

Civil Rights Writing #2

Civil Rights Writings #3

Civil Rights Writings #4

Civil Rights Writings #5

"You are 19 in 1965"
Dear Journal,
          The month I went to help out with the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama was one I won’t ever forget. I got to see what a real boycott/protest feels like. It’s so invigorating and you get so caught up in it! Plus, I got to meet a whole bunch of new people that supported the cause and the citizens of Montgomery. I even got to meet Rosa Parks, the woman that started this whole boycott on the bus thing. Being the Secretary of the NAACP and all, she still got time to talk with me about the whole thing. I asked her about her job and how MIA is doing their job for the boycott. She says she was tired from all the work she put in that day that she didn’t want to move. I bet your feet would hurt too if you’re going around telling people about meetings and finding out what new segregation laws are going on. I had to agree with her. Being a colored person, me being Filipino, you get seen the wrong way and those people treat you different. It was nice to see some white folks helping out with the cause. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches are so grand that it inspires me to help out in a more efficient way. I actually got to meet him. He shook my hand and asked if I was helping with the cause. He asked if I could attend his church. Of course I said yes. When I went to that session of church, he really moved me. He said that anyone could make a difference as long as we believe. After church, I thanked him for being bold and those inspiring words. From then on, I didn’t ride the bus the whole time I was there. If I ever needed a ride, I would call up MIA and a driver would pick me up in their fancy new car. I tried to ask for “love and forgiveness” as MLK said, but I was treated like dirt. The white teenagers thought I was wasting my time and tried to beat me for not being a “Negro supporter”. It hurt. One of them threatened to beat me. I was scared to walk outside at night. Then I learned to deal with the threats and lock myself inside my aunt’s house.
          If only I was old enough to drive, then I would be able to contribute to the driving to get to the places needed to go. It would be soon though. I really want to help these guys out, even if it’s with gas money. I had a really life changing time in Montgomery last month!
                                      Yours Truly,
                                                Jade A. Barbadillo

Journal Entry 500 words
April 30, 1956

Dear Journal,
          That’s it! I’m tired of this school! The people, the tense, the academics is fine, but I can do without all the hate comments! They are everywhere, the hallway, inside the classrooms, outside the school, the ladies room and the cafeteria. That’s when it is the worst! We have to listen to the students talk about it. That’s when it happened. This white boy comes up right in front of me in the lunch line and right in my face says “NIGER! NIGER! NIGGA NIGGA NIGGA!” He keeps going on and on and on. I try to walk past him not saying anything but he keeps going on saying “NIGGA NIGGA NIGER!” That’s when I cracked. I didn’t want to hit the kid or else I would be kicked out for sure. I was thinking I’d just mess him up a bit. That’s when I picked up a chili bowl that was right next to me in line and then shoved it in his face. I was so surprised at what I did, so I smiled. He wasn’t laughing then. It got all-quiet in the lunch room and then all of a sudden Ernest started clapping. Then Melba then the rest of us black students. I even heard some of the white kids clapping along. I felt so proud of myself to stand up to that white kid. It made me feel like I can go on and do something else to change the world. Just like us “Little Rock 9” as they call us, going to an all white school. I was inspired to go against the limits and see where they would take me. That was the proudest day of my life. However, I was thinking about that day and I knew I was going to get in trouble. I just knew it.
          Today at school, I got called to the principal’s office once I got there and I knew it was about the chili incidence the day before. I was a nervous wreck when I walked into the office. I knew I was going to get punished and I was afraid to think of not being able to go to school here anymore. It was hard enough to get into this school; I wanted to stay in here. I have learned so much it will be heart breaking to hear that. But he said it: “You are no longer a student here at Little Rock High”. Those words devastated me. I walked out of the office crying right into Melba’s arms. She waited for me outside with her guard and mine. There was a press conference that day, it’s hard to remember, I was crying the whole time. Everybody tried to cheer me up, but it didn’t help. I really wanted to get into this school and I blew it. Now I just had to suck it up and deal with with the consequences as a woman, a Black Woman. There were flashes of light coming from different places and talking and I was fighting back tears the entire time. I tried to look proud in my nice looking dress and all, but still, they didn’t take me back. I was really upset. I wrote a letter to that kid I hit in the face with the chili, apologizing for what happened in there. He gave me one in return. It just goes to show you that harsh actions leads to harsh consequences.

Newspaper Article

Audio Podcast Summary #1
Summary on Daisy Bates
          Daisy Bates was seen as the quarterback for the Civil Rights Movement in Little Rock Arkansas. She believed in change in the education program. That’s why she tried to put in black students in one of the white schools once President Eisenhower declared for integration. She believed that he actually believed in Integration in the school system. However, she wasn’t liked much between the local white residents. At her house, also the headquarters for the movement in Arkansas, a stone broke her window with a note attached to it. It said, “Stone this time, Dynamites next.” However, she didn’t take this, she just fought harder to win over segregation. Daisy Bates didn’t attend the first graduation of one of the Little Rock Nine Students, Earnest Green, because her face was too well known in the town. Martin Luther King Jr. went though.


Audio Podcast Summary #2
Looking Back: Elizabeth Eckford
          Elizabeth Eckford, now 64 years old, is still traumatized from what happened 50 years ago in Little Rock, Arkansas. She still remembers getting on the city bus, alone from the other 8 black students that September morning. She cries as she calls back the pain, scariness, and desperation to hope. She tried to look at hope from the adults, but all they did was spit on her; she came to a realization: adults may have a purpose to bring down kids. Krystal Burser, 24, tells her story whose grandfather helped in the NAACP at the time. Elizabeth remembers people trying to get her to sign the famous picture of her, trying to get away from the school with that white girl called her names. All she can do it cry because of all the bad memories she experienced. Now she always brings tissue wherever she goes whenever she’s about to sign a photograph so she can block all those harmful feelings out of her.