Post # 8

This week I decided to write about Brown v. Board of education and the poem. First, I learned about Brown in high school history but I had never read it before so it was pretty interesting to actually read what the Supreme Court justices had to say about segregation. One point the decision makes is that separate is inherently unequal not because the tangible factors may be unequal but because black students in segregated schools will feel badly about themselves, have low self-esteem and by extension not be able to be as productive. I was really surprised by the information the decision provided about education in the South. I never realized that education of white student in the South had been largely done privately. This seems so strange since I know that in Massachusetts free public education had been instituted since the time of the Puritans. But equally as surprising was the fact that it was illegal in some states even to educate blacks (I had always assumed that after slavery this sort of legislation would have been eliminated).

The decision also encompassed the assumption that segregation was increasing the progression of the educational system and hindering American youth because it was nearly impossible for anyone to be a productive member of society without a decent education. So then I started thinking about affirmative action and how it is designed to right a past wrong. I guess if you think about it prior to Brown, blacks didn’t have a shot at getting a good education unless they were wealthy and living in the North. So this cycle of being disadvantaged has continued and hopefully affirmative action will make this a non-issue for future generations. After all as the decision cites education is the most important function of state and local governments.

Then I went onto the poem “A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, A Mississippi Mother Burns Bacon.” This poem really confused me. I wasn’t sure if the woman was somehow related to the Emmitt Till trial because an acquittal was mentioned. Also, I wasn’t sure what the purpose of the capitalized masculine pronouns. Finally, I couldn’t decided why the Prince was hurting the woman. So I’m looking forward to discussing this in class and getting some clarity.