Since the integration crisis at Little Rock Central High has been in the news so much recently, I decided to cover that era today. I was there that September morning 50 years ago. I was one of the 2000 or so white students who suddenly had our world turned upside down by a decision to make our school an “example” in the South. We weren’t asked our opinion, because we were just kids. But we were forced to face the grown-up horrors of racist protesters and constant bomb threats against our school, no matter that we were kids.
The decade of the ‘50s and the integration crisis is covered thoroughly in my book, Looking Back, but I’ll attempt to help blog readers understand what it was like to be the center of media attention when, as students, all we wanted to do was enjoy our high school days like every other high school kid in America.
First of all, I knew in my heart that the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court Ruling was right in trying to equalize education for white and black students. And we all realized it would happen sometime, but I guess we hoped it would happen first somewhere else. Perhaps a grade school, or a school in a smaller town that would lack facilities for protestors and the media to gather. Just somewhere else besides our school. We weren’t prepared for it. And we weren’t offered a choice.
That first day, the governor decided to call in the National Guard to keep order, but instead they showed up to keep the black students from entering the school. That was the first mistake in a long list of political maneuvers that created a bully pulpit for the extremists on both sides of the argument. It only grew worse from that point on.
The media made a nuisance of itself trying to find stories that didn’t exist, and probably was most responsible for stirring up unrest among protestors, most of them adults and many of them not even from the State of Arkansas. They were mostly the same troublemakers who always stand ready to demonstrate their ignorance, shouting out their opinions in hopes of getting their 15 minutes of fame on television screens or in the newspaper. That’s what drove news coverage during those turbulent days, and still does today.
I can’t say the black students didn’t suffer discrimination when they finally were admitted into school with the backing of the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army. There may have been shoves and insults hurled their way. But I can honestly say that I never saw any acts of violence, and I don’t know how they could have been threatened or harmed when they were each surrounded by guards every time I saw them. Still, I can understand deep emotional wounds from not feeling welcome.
I do admit that most of us didn’t talk with them or make them feel welcome, but it had nothing to do with intolerance or racism. It had everything to do with our being afraid of violence against ourselves if we so much as smiled at them or spoke to them. Who might see us and seek retaliation? Fear motivated most of us to simply ignore them as if they didn't exist.
And it wasn't some sort of conspiracy to ignore them. You see, we kids didn’t discuss the situation back then. We had been taught to be respectful, to obey the rules and to keep our feelings to ourselves. So we didn’t know who was racist and who wasn’t, or even if there were racists among the students. Statistics tell me that it’s likely there were, but there was no way of knowing back then. And yes, we had armed guards standing every few feet down the hall, but that didn’t make us white students feel any safer. Instead, their rifles and bayonets terrified most of us. We went about the business of getting our education, hoping we would wake up one morning and find the problems had all gone away.
I’ll continue this story in my next post here.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
CONTEST HAS TWO WINNERS!
There were two winners to the history quiz, Rev. Barry Zavah and Michelle London. Michelle entered the contest after seeing it mentioned at writersweekly.com and was the first one from that location with the correct answers. I was pleased to see so many readers answer the quiz correctly, and so quickly!
Watch this site for announcements of future contests. Maybe you'll win next time.
Watch this site for announcements of future contests. Maybe you'll win next time.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Remembering the '60s
History is a funny thing. One day you’re young and have no concept of the meaning of “history.” Then one day you wake up and realize you are history (and I mean that in the kindest way).
While you’ve been living your life, important events have been taking place that will someday be written about in the past tense for future generations to read. And suddenly one day you realize that day is now!
The other day I heard an “old” song that once had so much meaning to the baby boomer generation, titled (I think) “Put a Little Love in Your Heart.” The song was about how the world would be a better place if we all helped look after our fellow man with love in our hearts.
Wow, what a concept! What has happened to that ideal? Where did all the love go? Are those who believed in that concept now dead and gone, or have their hearts been hardened by the daily routine of their lives, or the arrogance of all the elected officials who failed to consider love of their fellow man as a viable alternative to war?
As I wrote in Looking Back, the late ‘40s and early ‘50s were the age of innocence, but I don’t recall that we were thinking much about helping our fellow men. Life was good, and the times were relatively safe and prosperous. I doubt that it entered the minds of those of us born in the ‘40s until our attention was drawn to it later that there were people who were downtrodden, who lacked civil rights or enough money to feed themselves or their kids. We were doing okay, so why shouldn’t the rest of America do just as well? Our attitudes were based more on lack of knowledge (naiveté) than arrogance.
Sometime in the mid-to-late ‘50s, a few began to drop out of society. They became “beatniks” who hung out in coffee houses in places like San Francisco and the Village in New York City, and who wrote and sang songs of angst. Did they have a cause—a higher purpose for their actions? Or were they simply a little too preoccupied with their own belly button? I don’t know. Growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas, I knew little about these early rebels.
I didn’t realize that as a typical teenager who embraced rock ‘n’ roll (the devil’s) music, I like many others of my peers were actually beginning to display subtle acts of rebellion against our parent’s generation and their safe, complacent lifestyles.
That rock ‘n’ roll generation laid the groundwork for the hippie generation—those youngsters who would come of age throughout the ‘60s and on into the early ‘70s and realize that the world their parents had brought them up in wasn’t as perfect as it seemed.
The ‘60s were many things to Americans. To the young, they were exciting times when they could become free spirits and experiment with lifestyle choices that would have turned their parents’ hair gray. It was a time of inclusion and “love.” How charming it was to watch a barefoot hippie dressed in ragged and dirty clothes on the sidewalks of San Francisco walk up to a businessman dressed in a suit and hand him a flower and utter the word, “Peace.” The innocence of those young people as they attempted to change society was an eye-opening experience for those of us who witnessed it, and frightening to those who worried about how these “dead-beat drop-outs” would someday run our country.
Parents watched obedient youngsters change from respectful to rebellious—determined to turn society on its head. The youngsters were fed up with the injustice that pervaded society. At the same time, they were seduced by the sexual freedom offered by the birth control pill, and by street drugs that could numb their minds while unleashing emotions that were previously unknown to them.
Not everything about those years was wonderful, and I often wonder what happened to the young people so full of hope who shouted “make love, not war.” Did love for fellow man turn to fear while witnessing a President, a civil rights leader, and a Presidential candidate get assassinated during the decade of the ‘60s? Did love turn to contempt as they watched government officials hell-bent on remaking the rest of the world in our own image? Or did love simply die because it was hard to maintain the level of trust for mankind that was required for that kind of universal love?
The book Looking Back doesn’t attempt to answer any of those questions, but it does look at the ‘60s and remembers why the decade will be remembered fondly by some, and disgustedly by others. It was and is history, and is chronicled by those who lived through it, who had their own individual, personal part in, and reactions to the times.
This book is history as it should be remembered. It is not written by history textbook writers who think it is only important that basic, dry facts be included. Instead it is written by people who lived it, who had strong emotions about it, and who managed to survive the decade of the ‘60s, and those following it.
Every American should have a vested interest in the history of our extraordinary country, including recent events from the ‘40s to today. Hopefully, this personal approach to telling about history will prompt more Americans to read about it and enjoy the amazing journey back into time.
While you’ve been living your life, important events have been taking place that will someday be written about in the past tense for future generations to read. And suddenly one day you realize that day is now!
The other day I heard an “old” song that once had so much meaning to the baby boomer generation, titled (I think) “Put a Little Love in Your Heart.” The song was about how the world would be a better place if we all helped look after our fellow man with love in our hearts.
Wow, what a concept! What has happened to that ideal? Where did all the love go? Are those who believed in that concept now dead and gone, or have their hearts been hardened by the daily routine of their lives, or the arrogance of all the elected officials who failed to consider love of their fellow man as a viable alternative to war?
As I wrote in Looking Back, the late ‘40s and early ‘50s were the age of innocence, but I don’t recall that we were thinking much about helping our fellow men. Life was good, and the times were relatively safe and prosperous. I doubt that it entered the minds of those of us born in the ‘40s until our attention was drawn to it later that there were people who were downtrodden, who lacked civil rights or enough money to feed themselves or their kids. We were doing okay, so why shouldn’t the rest of America do just as well? Our attitudes were based more on lack of knowledge (naiveté) than arrogance.
Sometime in the mid-to-late ‘50s, a few began to drop out of society. They became “beatniks” who hung out in coffee houses in places like San Francisco and the Village in New York City, and who wrote and sang songs of angst. Did they have a cause—a higher purpose for their actions? Or were they simply a little too preoccupied with their own belly button? I don’t know. Growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas, I knew little about these early rebels.
I didn’t realize that as a typical teenager who embraced rock ‘n’ roll (the devil’s) music, I like many others of my peers were actually beginning to display subtle acts of rebellion against our parent’s generation and their safe, complacent lifestyles.
That rock ‘n’ roll generation laid the groundwork for the hippie generation—those youngsters who would come of age throughout the ‘60s and on into the early ‘70s and realize that the world their parents had brought them up in wasn’t as perfect as it seemed.
The ‘60s were many things to Americans. To the young, they were exciting times when they could become free spirits and experiment with lifestyle choices that would have turned their parents’ hair gray. It was a time of inclusion and “love.” How charming it was to watch a barefoot hippie dressed in ragged and dirty clothes on the sidewalks of San Francisco walk up to a businessman dressed in a suit and hand him a flower and utter the word, “Peace.” The innocence of those young people as they attempted to change society was an eye-opening experience for those of us who witnessed it, and frightening to those who worried about how these “dead-beat drop-outs” would someday run our country.
Parents watched obedient youngsters change from respectful to rebellious—determined to turn society on its head. The youngsters were fed up with the injustice that pervaded society. At the same time, they were seduced by the sexual freedom offered by the birth control pill, and by street drugs that could numb their minds while unleashing emotions that were previously unknown to them.
Not everything about those years was wonderful, and I often wonder what happened to the young people so full of hope who shouted “make love, not war.” Did love for fellow man turn to fear while witnessing a President, a civil rights leader, and a Presidential candidate get assassinated during the decade of the ‘60s? Did love turn to contempt as they watched government officials hell-bent on remaking the rest of the world in our own image? Or did love simply die because it was hard to maintain the level of trust for mankind that was required for that kind of universal love?
The book Looking Back doesn’t attempt to answer any of those questions, but it does look at the ‘60s and remembers why the decade will be remembered fondly by some, and disgustedly by others. It was and is history, and is chronicled by those who lived through it, who had their own individual, personal part in, and reactions to the times.
This book is history as it should be remembered. It is not written by history textbook writers who think it is only important that basic, dry facts be included. Instead it is written by people who lived it, who had strong emotions about it, and who managed to survive the decade of the ‘60s, and those following it.
Every American should have a vested interest in the history of our extraordinary country, including recent events from the ‘40s to today. Hopefully, this personal approach to telling about history will prompt more Americans to read about it and enjoy the amazing journey back into time.
Monday, September 24, 2007
We Have a Winner!
The winning answers to the quiz were sent today by Rev. Barry Zavah, one of the contributor's to the book, at 13:49 Eastern Daylight Time (10:49 Pacific Daylight Time). I'm sorry everyone couldn't win, especially those others who submitted the correct answers. Watch this blog for announcements of future contests and maybe you'll win next time!
The correct answers to the quiz are:
1 - E
2 - E This is the one that was missed most often. The Constitution, First Amendment (part of the Bill of Rights) states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free excerise thereof;..." Thomas Jefferson first used the term "wall of separation."
3 - D
4 - B
The correct answers to the quiz are:
1 - E
2 - E This is the one that was missed most often. The Constitution, First Amendment (part of the Bill of Rights) states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free excerise thereof;..." Thomas Jefferson first used the term "wall of separation."
3 - D
4 - B
Thanks to everyone for entering!
Thursday, September 20, 2007
HERE'S A GOOD REASON TO READ A GOOD HISTORY BOOK
If you’ve never thought you would willingly pick up a history book, or encourage your kids to study history, here’s something that should shock you.
According to a study conducted in 2005, for the second year in a row at America’s “elite” universities and colleges, students have failed to rise above a “D plus” on basic knowledge tests about civics and American history.
It’s not that history is unimportant. It is very important! If Americans can’t even answer basic questions about this country’s past, how can they understand how to vote in elections, or what this country’s principles consist of? And yes, I have to agree that the way history is taught in school makes it a b-o-r-i-n-g subject.
However, with a college education costing as much as $40,000 per year, shouldn’t we expect that students will acquire basic knowledge in history? Shouldn’t we even expect them to learn some of it in middle and high school? Or is it asking too much of our education system to provide even minimal history lessons? And shouldn't history lessons be more interesting than having to memorize dates and names?
If you’ve ever needed a good reason to read a history book with your kids, this is it. And if you want a good, interesting, intelligent book that the entire family will enjoy (yes, I said enjoy), then the book I’ve just written should fill the bill. When I wrote the book, I had already seen a study that claimed young adults were graduating without basic knowledge of history. And I had seen evidence, since some of the young, otherwise intelligent people I have known couldn’t remember hearing about important events that have happened even in their lifetimes!
One day I realized that history needed to be put in a format that would entertain as well as inform so that students and adults would actually enjoy reading about it. So, I gathered a group of people to help me tell the story of the history we have lived through.
The ’40s to today have been some of the most amazing times in history. We’ve seen everything from racism to rockets, from counterculture to conservatism, from a Cold War to terrorists attacking our country on our own soil. We who have written this book have a lot of history under our belts, since we’ve witnessed most of it via television. Some of us were even present at the scene as it was happening.
Looking Back: Boomers Remember History from the ’40s to the Present is presented in a friendly, readable format that is anything but boring. Oh, the facts are there, and were double- and triple-checked for accuracy, but instead of emphasizing dates and names, it reveals the tragedy of the bad times as well as the triumphs of the amazing moments. It puts a human face to events, and shares the emotions of ordinary citizens living through extraordinary times.
We must all understand the role history plays in our nation’s amazing moments as well as recognize and understand its mistakes. And everyone needs to learn our country's heritage, or else it will be forgotten. And that will be a sad day for the future of our great nation!
According to a study conducted in 2005, for the second year in a row at America’s “elite” universities and colleges, students have failed to rise above a “D plus” on basic knowledge tests about civics and American history.
It’s not that history is unimportant. It is very important! If Americans can’t even answer basic questions about this country’s past, how can they understand how to vote in elections, or what this country’s principles consist of? And yes, I have to agree that the way history is taught in school makes it a b-o-r-i-n-g subject.
However, with a college education costing as much as $40,000 per year, shouldn’t we expect that students will acquire basic knowledge in history? Shouldn’t we even expect them to learn some of it in middle and high school? Or is it asking too much of our education system to provide even minimal history lessons? And shouldn't history lessons be more interesting than having to memorize dates and names?
If you’ve ever needed a good reason to read a history book with your kids, this is it. And if you want a good, interesting, intelligent book that the entire family will enjoy (yes, I said enjoy), then the book I’ve just written should fill the bill. When I wrote the book, I had already seen a study that claimed young adults were graduating without basic knowledge of history. And I had seen evidence, since some of the young, otherwise intelligent people I have known couldn’t remember hearing about important events that have happened even in their lifetimes!
One day I realized that history needed to be put in a format that would entertain as well as inform so that students and adults would actually enjoy reading about it. So, I gathered a group of people to help me tell the story of the history we have lived through.
The ’40s to today have been some of the most amazing times in history. We’ve seen everything from racism to rockets, from counterculture to conservatism, from a Cold War to terrorists attacking our country on our own soil. We who have written this book have a lot of history under our belts, since we’ve witnessed most of it via television. Some of us were even present at the scene as it was happening.
Looking Back: Boomers Remember History from the ’40s to the Present is presented in a friendly, readable format that is anything but boring. Oh, the facts are there, and were double- and triple-checked for accuracy, but instead of emphasizing dates and names, it reveals the tragedy of the bad times as well as the triumphs of the amazing moments. It puts a human face to events, and shares the emotions of ordinary citizens living through extraordinary times.
We must all understand the role history plays in our nation’s amazing moments as well as recognize and understand its mistakes. And everyone needs to learn our country's heritage, or else it will be forgotten. And that will be a sad day for the future of our great nation!
CONTEST - First one to answer 4 questions correctly wins!
Here’s a contest that everyone can enter to win a free autographed copy of “Looking Back: Boomers Remember History from the ’40s to the Present.” These are four of the questions asked on the test on which the average score was 53.2 percent. The first person to send the correct answers to me at portable.writer@yahoo.com will win. If you want to further test your skills on history and civics, you’ll find the 60-multiple choice questions given to students at Intercollegiate Studies Institute Web site: www.isi.org. Good luck!
1) Which of the following are the unalienable rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence?
A. Life, liberty, and property
B. Honor, liberty, and peace
C. Liberty, health, and community
D. Life, respect, and equal protection
E. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
2) The phrase that in America there should be a “wall of separation” between church and state appears in:
A. George Washington’s Farewell Address.
B. The Mayflower Compact.
C. the Constitution.
D. the Declaration of Independence.
E. Thomas Jefferson’s letters.
3) In his “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:
A. argued for the abolition of slavery.
B. advocated black separatism.
C. morally defended affirmative action.
D. expressed his hopes for racial justice and brotherhood.
E. proposed that several of America’s founding ideas were discriminatory
4) The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964) was significant because it:
A. ended the war in Korea.
B. gave President Johnson the authority to expand the scope of the Vietnam War.
C. was an attempt to take foreign policy power away from the President.
D. allowed China to become a member of the United Nations.
E. allowed for oil exploration in Southeast Asia.
1) Which of the following are the unalienable rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence?
A. Life, liberty, and property
B. Honor, liberty, and peace
C. Liberty, health, and community
D. Life, respect, and equal protection
E. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
2) The phrase that in America there should be a “wall of separation” between church and state appears in:
A. George Washington’s Farewell Address.
B. The Mayflower Compact.
C. the Constitution.
D. the Declaration of Independence.
E. Thomas Jefferson’s letters.
3) In his “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:
A. argued for the abolition of slavery.
B. advocated black separatism.
C. morally defended affirmative action.
D. expressed his hopes for racial justice and brotherhood.
E. proposed that several of America’s founding ideas were discriminatory
4) The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964) was significant because it:
A. ended the war in Korea.
B. gave President Johnson the authority to expand the scope of the Vietnam War.
C. was an attempt to take foreign policy power away from the President.
D. allowed China to become a member of the United Nations.
E. allowed for oil exploration in Southeast Asia.
Monday, September 3, 2007
NEW RELEASE - "LOOKING BACK" OUT TODAY!
The book, Looking Back is now available for sale.
LOOKING BACK: Boomers Remember History from the '40s to the Present has been a long journey, but today it was finally released for sale and can be ordered directly from the publisher. For those who prefer to order through Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com, it will take anywhere from a few days to longer to be listed there, but I can assure you that ordering through Booklocker is safe since I've ordered books from them for a couple of years now and have never encountered any problems.
Looking Back is a poignant recollection of history as seen through the eyes of those who lived it, and in addition to the timeline and personal memories I include throughout the book, it also includes 22 essays and 2 poems by contributors who recall the events that defined the lives and times of boomers. There are stories of assassinations, riots, war, the counter-culture, suffering, loss, fear, and great expectations, and run the gamut from one that remembers the Confederacy as a backdrop to later civil rights struggles that would take place in the '50s and '60s, to September 11, 2001, then to Hurricane Katrina. This book is history told from a personal perspective, so history comes alive through these words by people who were there - who witnessed it all.
Order your copy of Looking Back by clicking on the link below the book cover image on left side of screen, or go to http://www.booklocker.com/books/3056.html to read an excerpt and to order. The book is 6x9 inches and 216 pages in length, paperback. Unfortunately, the cover photo to the left is distorted and I haven't figured out how to make it proportional!
I'm sure you will enjoy reading about this emotional era in history as much as I enjoyed compiling the book!
LOOKING BACK: Boomers Remember History from the '40s to the Present has been a long journey, but today it was finally released for sale and can be ordered directly from the publisher. For those who prefer to order through Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com, it will take anywhere from a few days to longer to be listed there, but I can assure you that ordering through Booklocker is safe since I've ordered books from them for a couple of years now and have never encountered any problems.
Looking Back is a poignant recollection of history as seen through the eyes of those who lived it, and in addition to the timeline and personal memories I include throughout the book, it also includes 22 essays and 2 poems by contributors who recall the events that defined the lives and times of boomers. There are stories of assassinations, riots, war, the counter-culture, suffering, loss, fear, and great expectations, and run the gamut from one that remembers the Confederacy as a backdrop to later civil rights struggles that would take place in the '50s and '60s, to September 11, 2001, then to Hurricane Katrina. This book is history told from a personal perspective, so history comes alive through these words by people who were there - who witnessed it all.
Order your copy of Looking Back by clicking on the link below the book cover image on left side of screen, or go to http://www.booklocker.com/books/3056.html to read an excerpt and to order. The book is 6x9 inches and 216 pages in length, paperback. Unfortunately, the cover photo to the left is distorted and I haven't figured out how to make it proportional!
I'm sure you will enjoy reading about this emotional era in history as much as I enjoyed compiling the book!
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