Free At Last
Free At Last: A History of the Civil Rights Movement and Those Who Died in the Struggle by Sara Bullard. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Free At Last tells the story of the American Civil Rights Movement using a codification of historical events and narratives of 40 individuals who gave their lives in the fight for freedom. Newspaper photographs lucidly present the rage and hatred of one race and the determination and courage of another. Drawing on extraordinary and everyday events in the lives of blacks, Bullard establishes the historical context for their social, political, and economic struggles for racial justice. Black resistance to oppression and hope for freedom are vividly portrayed against the relentless efforts of white America to thwart them.
The author makes it easy for readers to situate themselves in history and confront the dilemmas of the black struggle for freedom, citizenship, and equality. Bullard employs the authentic voices of people engaged in the struggle. The introduction by Julian Bond, a civil rights timeline, suggestions for further reading, and information about the Civil Rights Memorial and the magazine, Teaching Tolerance, enhance the instructional value of the book.
I grew up in Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement. I remember the hope that the civil rights struggle gave me. This is a hope we badly need to rekindle as we search for ways to recommit ourselves to the goal of equality and justice for all people. I find it hopeful to imagine school children and adults learning about one of the central struggles of our nation—an unfinished struggle that still helps define who we are. Free At Last is a book for educators who, like me, still have their eyes on that prize.
Available from Oxford University Press, 200 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016 for $20.
—Reviewed by Beverly Cross, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
A Place for Teacher Renewal
A Place for Teacher Renewal. Edited by Anthony G. Rud, Jr., and Walter P. Oldendorf. New York: Teachers College Press, 1992.
Suppose you were at a public meeting and threw out the idea that your state should, if it hoped to attract and retain the best teachers, enhance educators' feelings of self-worth and accomplishment and reconnect them with content, the classics, the arts, and scholarly reading and writing. Then suppose the state actually created a “Center for the Advancement of Teaching,” where teachers could gather in a retreat setting to study, rest, and talk to their colleagues—returning to their classrooms renewed.
Such a suggestion has been made—and become reality—in North Carolina. You can read about it in A Place for Teacher Renewal, a series of collected essays describing how the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT) was nurtured from dream to reality.
You will not see an emphasis on the fact that the Center (which once occupied a renovated dormitory) is now housed in a $6 million facility near a lake on the campus of Western Carolina University in the Smoky Mountain town of Cullowhee. Nevertheless, the new building is testimony to the tenacity of those committed to the idea that “rather than repair, reeducation, or rehabilitation, teachers need opportunities to develop their unfulfilled potentials as talented, creative individuals” (p. 63).
The essays provide varied perspectives on this amazing venture, the only one of its kind in the nation (though now with a few imitators). You can read about the political context, the social realities, and the theoretical underpinnings of the Center's work. Of particular interest is the chapter by R. Bruce McPherson on “Administration for Human and Organizational Growth.” McPherson's early leadership was instrumental in setting internal structures and organizational tone. The goal was to foster the growth of a “renewal organization,” not reproduce the bureaucracies we're all so familiar with.
For those with responsibilities for planning workshops and seminars, however, the chapter of greatest interest may well be the one by Oldendorf called “Adventures for the Intellect.” He explains that the Center's work rests on metaphors of progressivism (which he relates to constructivism), disciplinary initiation, and vocation—not on the metaphor of cultural transmission so prevalent in staff development. Oldendorf provides synopses of a variety of seminars, showing how these weeklong gatherings unite teachers of all subjects and all grades, bringing them into focused but personalized inquiry.
For anyone interested in how one teacher's suggestion is bearing fruit for teachers and for the State of North Carolina, A Place for Teacher Renewal will be delicious reading.
Available from Teachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY 10027, for $16.95.
—Reviewed by Anne Meek, Assistant Superintendent, Virginia Beach City Public Schools, Virginia Beach, Virginia.
