From The Introduction
They were crying. Our parents—perhaps a hundred or more—had come to hold an evening vigil of song and prayer for all the jailed children, and as they looked up at the walls of the detention center where we were held, they openly wept. They wept at the thought of their children in narrow, overcrowded cells; they wept out of fear for and maybe also pride in those children they held so dear; they wept, frustrated with an oppressive system whose time to go had come.
Tears streamed down our own faces as we looked back out the jailhouse windows at our mothers and fathers outside. Our emotions were raw.
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood with our parents. With his words, he comforted us all and lifted us up. His voice carried from where the crowd gathered, and we, the children sent to jail by the segregationists of Birmingham, Alabama, listened carefully as he strengthened us, saying that what we had achieved by marching and willingly going to jail would change the lives of children not yet born.
What we children had achieved.
Changing the lives of others not yet born.
I was twelve at the time and could not yet fully grasp either Dr. King’s meaning or his vision. I could not imagine that I would one day be president of a university that embraced a diverse student body of whites, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and students from a hundred or more countries. At the time, I had never even seen people of different races seated together or learning together; I had never spoken to anyone of another race.
For now, I was sitting behind bars, wondering not so much about generations to come but about my own future. When would I get out of this jail? What could I expect of the future? Would Birmingham, Alabama, the South, or America change so that someone like me, who was excited about school, could get an education and follow my dreams wherever they took me, even though I was black?
Ahead of me was a long journey through five decades, a journey from Birmingham to Baltimore, during which I worked to fulfill my dream of providing greater opportunity for high-achieving students so they could realize their potential, regardless of their backgrounds. This book is the story of that journey. It began in Birmingham, a city that was briefly and critically the epicenter of the civil rights movement in the spring and summer of 1963.
From The Introduction
They were crying. Our parents—perhaps a hundred or more—had come to hold an evening vigil of song and prayer for all the jailed children, and as they looked up at the walls of the detention center where we were held, they openly wept. They wept at the thought of their children in narrow, overcrowded cells; they wept out of fear for and maybe also pride in those children they held so dear; they wept, frustrated with an oppressive system whose time to go had come.
Tears streamed down our own faces as we looked back out the jailhouse windows at our mothers and fathers outside. Our emotions were raw.
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood with our parents. With his words, he comforted us all and lifted us up. His voice carried from where the crowd gathered, and we, the children sent to jail by the segregationists of Birmingham, Alabama, listened carefully as he strengthened us, saying that what we had achieved by marching and willingly going to jail would change the lives of children not yet born.
What we children had achieved.
Changing the lives of others not yet born.
I was twelve at the time and could not yet fully grasp either Dr. King’s meaning or his vision. I could not imagine that I would one day be president of a university that embraced a diverse student body of whites, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and students from a hundred or more countries. At the time, I had never even seen people of different races seated together or learning together; I had never spoken to anyone of another race.
For now, I was sitting behind bars, wondering not so much about generations to come but about my own future. When would I get out of this jail? What could I expect of the future? Would Birmingham, Alabama, the South, or America change so that someone like me, who was excited about school, could get an education and follow my dreams wherever they took me, even though I was black?
Ahead of me was a long journey through five decades, a journey from Birmingham to Baltimore, during which I worked to fulfill my dream of providing greater opportunity for high-achieving students so they could realize their potential, regardless of their backgrounds. This book is the story of that journey. It began in Birmingham, a city that was briefly and critically the epicenter of the civil rights movement in the spring and summer of 1963.
In celebration of Native American Heritage Month this November, Penguin Random House Education is highlighting books that detail the history of Native Americans, and stories that explore Native American culture and experiences. Browse our collections here: Native American Creators Native American History & Culture
The Penguin Random House Education Middle School and High School Digital Collections feature outstanding fiction and nonfiction from the children’s, adult, DK, and Grupo Editorial divisions, as well as publishers distributed by Penguin Random House. Peruse online or download these valuable resources to discover great books in specific topic areas such as: English Language Arts,
Thank you for your interest in DK Learning | Phonic Books. To download the DK Learning | Phonic Books sampler with four complete readers, please click here and complete the form. Once your information is successfully submitted, a link to download the sampler will be provided on the confirmation screen. Click here to explore phonics
All reading communities should contain protected time for the sake of reading. Independent reading practices emphasize the process of making meaning through reading, not an end product. The school culture (teachers, administration, etc.) should affirm this daily practice time as inherently important instructional time for all readers. (NCTE, 2019) The Penguin Random House High
Translanguaging is a communicative practice of bilinguals and multilinguals, that is, it is a practice whereby bilinguals and multilinguals use their entire linguistic repertoire to communicate and make meaning (García, 2009; García, Ibarra Johnson, & Seltzer, 2017) It is through that lens that we have partnered with teacher educators and bilingual education experts, Drs.
/
