Edward+Carson+and+Manuel+Crockett

North Carolina is famous for their sweet tea, southern drawl, and sauna-like summer days. Today would proved to be another scorcher. Edward Carson was standing in his bedroom, shirtless for two reasons: one being it was too hot and sticky to where clothes that were not necessary, the second because he shirts were already packed in his suitcase. Edward stared down at his brown leather suitcase, almost full now, and knew that there was no one he could pack enough to prepare him for what he was about to enter. He knew that the other eighteen-year old that were standing in their bedroom packing probably had more than a few shirts, pants and two tattered pairs of shoes. “Manny! Hurry up, you're going to be late, this is the last thing you want to be late to!” Manuel Crockett, did a quick once over of his belongings and zipped up his brimming book bag. He threw his track shoes over his shoulders and headed down the hallway of his two-bedroom Raleigh home. Before he even left his bedroom he could smell his mother's bacon and eggs marinating together on the stove while he finished getting the supplies that his mom had saved up all summer to buy. His mother did not always cook breakfast, only on important days- big test days, mornings of track meets. This day, was the biggest day of them all. Edward Carson sat in his dad's old pick-up truck as the bounced along the Raleigh high way. His thoughts were consumed with the upcoming task at hand. One classes would he take? Would he make friends with his classmates? Would there be others like him? His mind jumped back to that day last year when he first read in the newspaper about what was going on at UNC-Chapel Hill. His high school teacher at Hugh Morson High School, made his civics class read the paper everyday. Usually, Edward found it really boring, he was more interested in science and math, but that days news was particularly interesting, that news gave him a spark. Manny was not one to skip meals but he was too nervous to anything other than push his food around on his plate. He looked out the window next to the small wooden table that had doubled as a eating place and a desk for so many years. “I hope I have a desk next year”, Manny thought to himself. Looking out the window, Manny could tell that the sun was already beating down on the ground, melting anything that crossed its path. Summer heat always brought a longing for the winter days. It had been a particularly cold day when Manny first heard about the Frasier versus University case early last year. Manny's younger brother ran a paper route and usually brought home a paper for their family to read. Manny had heard of UNC-Chapel Hill before but had never really knew much about it. For a black student like him, regardless of how good his grades were, or how he had the highest grade in shop class, trade school was about as high of an education as he could get, and that was pushing it. Brown versus Board of Education had changed schools across the country two years ago but because Manny was a Junior, he did not want to move to a new school, especially not a white school. Manny can clearly remember the headline as he sat on his front stoop with his little brother: Frasier Wins: Blacks Admitted to UNC-Chapel Hill Undergrad. That feeling of hope and urgency still sits with Manny and surges every time he thinks of that headline. Edward knew the truck was getting closer to its destination. Edward had been there once before, on a field trip in elementary school but it was so different back then. Everything seemed so large and out of reach. Now, however, not only was it in reach but it could be his-today. Today, Edward was going to begin his Freshman year at State College of Raleigh. Last year, when he read in the paper that UNC-Chapel Hill had to admit black to the undergraduate program, he had done his research and figured out that State College was part of the Consolidated University of North Carolina, therefore they also would have to abide by the Federal Law. When Edward had filled out his college application he had known it would have been a long shot, but here he was. He was standing on Hillsborough Street, on his way to becoming a great electrical engineer. Edward knew that he was in for a challenge, he would not exactly be welcomed, but the thrill of going to college excited him enough to give him the ambition to not worry about anything else. Because the law said nothing about integrated housing, there was no where for Edward to live so he was going to live with his Aunt who live a few miles away. Yes, he would have to walk everyday but he would be walking toward a higher education, a more promising life for himself, so he did not mind in the slightest. When Manny had first filled out his application, sitting at that fateful kitchen table, his mother had told him he was crazy and not to get his hopes up. She cried, however, when he opened the letter that said he was going to be accepted to State College. Manny had always been good with his hands and could fix anything that was broken so he had selected to enroll in engineering. He had so badly wanted to move out of his small home and live on-campus like all of the other students but his housing application had been refused. Living at home and taking the bus would be ok, for now. “Small steps”, he told himself. “How are you supposed to run laps around those white kids on the track if you don't eat a good breakfast son?” Manny's mom scolded as she piled more eggs onto his plate. Not only was today was his first day at State College but he was also trying out for the track team. Again, his mom had told him he was crazy. “Ain't it enough they let you into their classes, you want to get them to let you on their track too?” Manny had told his mom that he at least had to try. He knew he was fast, fastest kid in his district in high school but he also knew that he would be the first African American on the track team. Manny took another bite of eggs and downed his orange juice. He grabbed his bookbag and his sneakers and ran out the door to catch the bus, “I have to at least try”.

**__Teaching Strategies__** The main idea for this story was to take the idea of integration and put it into a personal context. I want the students to learn about school integration but I want them to know that it did not just stop with Brown vs. Board of Education. I want them to know that it took a long time before schools, especially in our region, really abided the federal rule. It is also important for them to know that integrating public schools was not the only affect or event involving public education. This ruling trickled down into several other important court cases, like Frasier versus University that forced public universities to integrate. As a sub-topic, I also purposefully made this story motivational. I want my students to know that regardless of their color, economic status, or ability that college can be in their future. To get them to understand these topics and put them into relevance, I will have them create journal entries from the perspective of a student that is their age and grade level. They can work in partners to research the date, school, and time period but they all have to correlate around the time of school integration. They can write an entry from the perspective of the thirteen students involved in Brown v. Board in Topeka, Kansas, a white student at a school that is getting integrated (within taste) or another student of their choice. The student they chose may be fictional but the research should lead to an accurate journal entry. To assess their knowledge, I will have the students turn in the research that they found along with the journal entries. The research will be graded on a check minus, check, check plus scale based on relevance and accuracy. The journals will carry more of a weighted grade since more time, effort and creativity should go into this assignment. I will collect the journal entries and grade them based on accuracy, relevance, creativity, and mechanics. I would also like to post the journal entries up in the classroom so the other students can read about them and learn information on the different school integration across the region.