A REFLECTION OF DIVERSITY: SCHOOLS PROMOTE AWARENESS OF HERITAGES, ; AND SOME TEACHERS PROVIDE LIVING LESSONS

JEANNE MOONEY THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
1,353 words
15 August 2002
The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, Norfolk, VA
FINAL
O4
English
(Copyright 2002)

Patricia Godbolt White remembers a cross burning that was staged at her door to scare her from attending an all-white high school.

She remembers the threats and taunts that were part of her life when she crossed the color barrier and dared to attend Norview High, the school nearest her home, instead of Booker T. Washington High, the school designated for African-American youths, across town.

She remembers being denied entrance into the National Honor Society, and fair grades in physics class. Over and over, she had to prove with tests and papers that she saved that she deserved better.

She remembers fearing on the night of her graduation that someone would hurt and stop the first black student to receive a diploma from Norview High and a desegregated high school in Virginia.

More than 40 years have passed since Patricia G. White made history as one of 17 African-American students to seek entrance into all-white Norfolk schools. The anger she felt in her struggle for equity has receded, she says. The value of what she learned has not.

White doesn't parade her past in front of the students she teaches at Booker T. Washington High. But she doesn't miss the teachable moment, either.

So if a student misbehaves in the hall, she might pull him aside and ask, "Do you know how much trouble we went through to get to this point in time, this place, this spot, so that we can be afforded equal opportunity?"

"You know, crosses burned in front of my house. Somebody threw a knife at me," she says.

White's personal story can quiet noisy teenagers. "For real?" she is asked.

"Yes," she responds. "For real. So don't blow it."

At a time when state officials have heightened the visibility of learning standards that promote diversity and an awareness of heritages worldwide, teachers such as White seem to be a living lesson.

She spans two eras, she says. As a young student, her world was black and white. The curriculum, schools and educational opportunities for whites were far different than those for African- Americans. Black history wasn't touched in her former texts. And Norview High's science lab had equipment and material that Booker T. Washington High could only dream of then.

"At Booker T., we didn't have the lab experiences because there was no money," she says.

Today, White is blind to skin colors. She sees students as individuals, irrespective of race and ethnicity. "It's a child," she says. "It's a human being, which is all I ever wanted to be treated as."

White doesn't want students to forget their ancestries. So she instructs them to find people who have excelled in science and also share a similar heritage. If the student writes a report about the scientist, he may receive extra credit.

White also hopes to build a mosaic in the high school science wing this fall that she calls a "reflection wall." It will be comprised of photos and biographies of Booker T. Washington graduates who have gone on to work in science. White is inviting graduates to send her their stories and pictures.

"Our students need to know the successful history to which they can aspire," she says. "This will be a reflection of our cultural diversity."

The importance of a role model especially a teacher whom students can identify with culturally and ethnically is supported by data, says Jane Montagna, Norfolk city school's senior science coordinator.

Seeing such an instructor who models the best scientific practices "has a high impact," Montagna says. Students begin to think, "I can have hope."

Someone who reads the Virginia Board of Education's newly revised standards of learning for history and social sciences might surmise that the issue of diversity in the curriculum is visited early and often in Virginia public schools.

In first, second and third grades, for instance, references quickly can be found in the short introductions as well as the standards that cite knowledge of diversity as necessary for understanding citizenship in Virginia and America.

"Students should learn to apply the traits of a good citizen and recognize that communities in Virginia include people who have diverse ethnic origins, customs, and traditions, who make contributions to their communities, and who are united as Americans by common principles," according to the Grade One introduction to history and social science standards, which were revised and then published in March 2001.

The original standards of learning for history and social sciences, which were published in 1995, referenced the issue of diversity less specifically.

For instance, in the 1995 standards, the first learning goal for Grade One students states, "The student will compare everyday life in different places and times and recognize that people, places and things change over time"

Lessie Freeman, Norfolk city school's history and social science coordinator for kindergarten through Grade 12, sees a heightened visibility of diversity in the curriculum.

"There's more evidence of diversity in textbooks, in our standards of learning from the state" and in the curriculum, Freeman says. History and social sciences long have covered cultures and histories worldwide, but over the years, she says, the materials and textbooks have become more inclusive. Primary sources such as letters, journals and newspaper accounts from diverse people during a period of history are more available and present a broader spectrum of information.

As a result, students are better able to learn how to be historians, research different sources and compare and draw inferences, Freeman says.

Tracey L. Flemings, the chairman of the history and social sciences department at Northside Middle, sees a more intensive focus on exploration and the slave trade in the upcoming school year by sixth-graders. For instance, students will study more in-depth the West African empires of Songhai and Mali, which were prosperous and employed slaves. Students will learn the slave trade was not isolated to western nations.

During discussions last school year, students asked, Why would a black sell another black? Flemings recalls. She pressed them: Was it because they were born into different cultures? Did they have a sense of wrongness about it?

"It's an interesting perspective for them to have," Flemings says.

Patricia A. Turner teaches math at Blair Middle School. Once a year, typically in February when African-American history is celebrated, Turner stands before the sixth-grade class and asks a few questions.

Like her colleague Patricia Godbolt White, Turner is one of the Norfolk 17. She attended an all-white middle school and went on to Norview High when there was no mixing of blacks and whites. She had no dates to the school football games. She never went to the school prom.

And so she asks the sixth-graders to look around the room. How many students do you see who look like you? How many do you see who don't? Are you aware there was a time when people of color did not sit next to whites, and did not share restrooms and water fountains?

Turner was traumatized at an early age. She has no tolerance for children being treated the same today.

"To see a child, there's no way you can see the color of skin or hair," she says. See their heart, she says. See the person.

Booker T. Washington graduates who now work in science are invited to mail their photos and bios to biology teacher Patricia G. White at espiritpg1 aol.com or pgwhite nps.k12.va.us.

Caption: Photos Jeanne Mooney More than 40 years ago, Patricia G. White was one of 17 African- Americans to make history in Norfolk.Patricia Turner, now a math teacher at Blair Middle School, also was one of the Norfolk 17. She attended an all-white middle school and went on to Norview High when there was no mixing of blacks and whites. Bill Tiernan file/the virginian-pilot

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