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Where do you begin . Where do you look . Like an ancient battlefield, the ground is silent though people still move in familiar places. Now on this field, negro and white run together remembering how it was in little rock, arkansas in 1957. Perhaps it is asked with those today to look or they are going and not where they have been. When you are a dark man in a country where the negro is demanding more and more an equal chance, you have the right to look back to discover if you are really moving forward or if the world is just moving beneath your feet. I have a special reason for looking back. My name is Jefferson Thomas and im one of the nine of little rock. There is nothing strange in seeing American Children walking to school on a september morning but this was a special morning at a special in a special part of america, a place where negro children had never gone to school before. Hatred is easier to organize. They brought hate to little rock in 1957. While we watched, the white children went to school, and we stood outside. We had been taught we were a nation under law, and the law of segregation was wrong. Now we waited to see if this had meaning. Or were just words in a book, idle talk in a classroom. On september 27, 1957, president eisenhower sent 1000 men of the army to carry out the law. The Supreme Court of the United States had said the entire strength of the nation may be used to enforce the security of all rights and trusted by the constitution and that included my right and the rights of eight other negro americans who wanted to go to Central High School in little rock, arkansas. We were terrence, thelma, elizabeth, ernest greene, carlotta, and gloria ray. And we were going to school again. Obviously, in this town of 100,000, there were many who did not like what was happening. As we looked at the soldiers, we knew there must the millions of others who thought we represented something important. When the doors closed behind us that day, it was both an and and a beginning. From that moment on, we would be watched not only by those who look at us as strangers but by those who want who wondered if we would live up to our new opportunity. I remember standing there wondering how history would judge us. [bells] it has been seven years since that first day. What has happened . Where have we gone . What have we done . I was the oldest of the nine and perhaps the least serious. I came here to Southern Illinois university after graduation. At first, i thought i wanted to be a nurse but i was too outgoing for that. Now i know i want to work in a newspaper and be a journalist and right. More than anything else in the world, i want to write. This year, i took a job at the University Newspaper and worked as a reporter, 20 hours per week after classes. There is no substitute for writing under pressure. You have to get the story out and to make it good. I remember the reporters who came from all over the world to cover the story of little rock. To be able to take a story like that and put it into words is something i have always wanted to be able to do. Someday, im going to write a book about what happened in little rock. First, got to learn more about writing and the world. You can do that best in school. Teachers like professor simon helped me grow up. He is a man who makes you want to go to school forever. Im going to work after request your way. I have applied to newspapers and one has offered me a job. Im going to miss this university. The friendships i have made here are long and deep. This is helped me come to terms with myself or it for the first time in my life, have begun to understand why americans act the way they do. I know now some americans have a fear of the negro, a fear born from a way of life that has been head in this country since the end of slavery. Thats what the mob in little rock was afraid ofthat the negro who had done so much with no chance might do so much more with an equal chance. It has been four years since i stood in this hallway and watched the faces moving from class to class. None of this would seem strange to us now for we what for we all went on to college were there were more whites the negroes. Except elizabeth, she went to Central State College in ohio. Central state was founded as an all Negro College about 100 years ago. Today, like most american schools, it is a mixture of negro and white. When i entered high school, i thought i wanted to be a lawyer and then a teacher and now, like most students, i havent quite decided what i want to be. The road the world is a big place and when i go out into it, i want to be sure i go in the right direction. If it had not been for that morning in september, 1957, i could have gone into law or education and not thought much about it. I was frightened that morning. I learned a great deal about people. Not only about the people who were there but about the people who were not there. Like the politician who encouraged the mob, like the thousands who suffered with me and wrote to me to tell me so. While i waited, i heard voices speak out against us and i saw grown men turn their heads in shame from the camera. Central state is a Negro College that opened its doors to whites only 17 years ago. Today, 20 of the students are white and their our students against integration. The negro is like most americans, possessing no monopoly and hoping that this will not be confused. Four years ago, a negro walked this fall in fear. Some of the hate outside had come inside. There were a few who tried to impose their will on the many. When we went up a stairway, we hung onto the railing. Can i help you . Im looking for ms. Poindexters room. She is in room 214. Thank you very much. Anytime. Thelma used to say the problems we had getting into this school or worth it, just to be able to take courses from some of the teachers. Its not surprising so many students like thelma wanted to go into teaching. I graduate this year from Southern Illinois university at carbondale. Going to college is a tradition in my family. Thats why i applied for central. I wanted a Good High School education. I wanted the best training i could get before i entered college. Aspirations are very personal things but i think i can state mine simply i love to teach and i love children. Children are happy, moody, difficult, and wonderful. They accept me for what i am. After i finished college, i went to apply for teaching and little rock. Maybe someday at central high i wonder what it will be like. Thelma, carlotta and i had ms. Dunn. No one had seen a school with so much equipment before. I think it was the equipment that first gave ernie the impression he wanted to be an engineer but i am glad he changed his mind. After i leave Michigan State university, i will work in the field of civil rights as a leader and organizer. Even in the northern states, you will find pockets of discrimination like you do all over the world. There is a tide rising against it and i want to be part of it. I came to Michigan State to study engineering. Three years ago, i changed my mind and decided i would rather work with people than with machines. Under professor david got leave, i received my that sloot degree in sociology. Next week i will receive my masters. I am convinced that a White American can never fully understand what motivates the negroes desire for equality. But for White Americans, they are becoming more concerned especially my generation and that makes tomorrow worth dreaming about. [bells] the American Negro must protest and he must also build understanding by searching for the truth. The truth in science is becoming tools for truth in relations. For the past two years, i have been compiling data on the aspirations of negro and white children in a segregated community. Today, we are capable of getting answers that have real meaning, that carry the power of fact against those who would exploit rumor and prejudice. My research is just one part in a Quiet Revolution taking place in america. Its not alone a revolution in technology for the revolution but a revolution in thinking. A revolution that says man, no matter how humble his birth, what color his skin, must be permitted to go as far as his mind and aspirations will take him. Ernie was the first of us to graduate from central. Carlotta and i were the last. We were the class of 1960. Carlotta goes to Denver University in colorado. She is a good student and she likes the high mountains out there. Gloria ray is a senior at the Illinois Institute of Tech Knowledge he. This year she receives her degree in chemistry. Terrence roberts is studying for his degree in Business Administration at the city college of los angeles. Melba married early and was not an college over one year before she became a housewife. Me, i take an exam to become a Certified Public Accountant which means im supposed to be qualified to keep track of profits and losses. Im not sure i know enough to say what all this adds up to. I have not counted all the victories since that first day we went to school here. I know there has been at least nine. In little rock, there is a slow ridge taking shape over the chasm of intolerance and ignorance. It is a bridge that will be built by us and our children. Before its finished, we will have our problems. But it little rock taught us nothing more, it taught all americans that problems can make us better, much better. They join us at 7 00 p. M. At 11 00 p. M. Eastern as we continue our series involving oral history interviews. You can watch our programs attime on our website cspan. Org history. You are watching American History tv all weekend every weekend. On cspan3. A author talks about what life was like for African Americans in philadelphia during and after the civil war. She describes how many former slaves took out newspaper ads to find family members. The university of philadelphia is the host for this 90 minute event. I am delighted to introduce my friend and colleague tonight. Honor for me to spend the last three weeks working together to explore what independents needs means for women and when you figure that out we will let you know. Introductions are a competence. I will touch on them. Her phd from Boston College after teaching for a few years she moved to villanova

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