Today’s Daily Lesson is in observance the saint Frederick Douglass who died on this day in 1895.
Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, author, and American statesman, was born a slave in Massachusetts and escaped to freedom in 1838. In 1845 he published his most famous work book under his assumed name “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave”.
As a witness to the crimes committed within the institution of slavery “Narrative” is a seminally incredible book. It is especially incredible given that slaves were prohibited from learning to read or write. Douglass first learned to read the alphabet at age 12 by the secret teaching of his master’s wife. He carried on his learning with exposure to white children and and also observing the writing of the adult men he worked with on ships. Douglass kept his literacy a secret until he escaped to freedom, and Douglass’s secret ability to read enabled him to make the escape.
Literacy is the primary push here in the Fort Worth Independent School District for grades K-3. As schools superintendent Dr. Kent Scribner has said, third grade is the grade students go from learning to read to reading to learn. Our district needs help getting lower-level students caught up so they can make that jump. They are asking for church and other community organization volunteers. Broadway is partnering with members from our neighbor Baker Chapel AME Church to say yes and send volunteers from our churches into one of our nearby local elementaries, Van Zandt-Guinn, together.
Several years ago I volunteered with a great organization called Kids Hope, and was partnered with a young, African American second grader who was having difficulty in school. I served as his mentor throughout the rest of his elementary years and later served as his sister’s mentor also.
When her older brother was in 5th grade, he chose to do something pretty audacious for a 10-year-old. I had been telling him about Fred Douglass and he decided he wanted to read “Narrative”. We didn’t get through the whole thing before the school year ran out; but we made a very good start. And I remember our most poignant moment together when we read about the day Douglass first ran away from a harsh overseer, got caught, and then beaten cruelly. “What do you think he’s going to do next?” I asked my mentee. He thought for several moments. He was a quiet child, and he was silent long enough that I didn’t think he was going to answer. I thought he was just going to shake his head. But then he spoke. “I think he’s going to try and run away again,” he said. I nodded my head and was then dumbfounded by when he had even more to say about what he thought Douglass was going to do. “He’s gonna escape” he said, “then he’s gonna come back and get the other slaves and take them with him.”
Like Douglass, this child too had gone from learning to read to reading to learn. He’s in high school now. He is smart. And he is college bound. And I’ll bet you anything that after he goes off to college and learns even more, he’s going to come back and get others and take them with him.
No comments:
Post a Comment