A Night at the Archives
Last year I had the opportunity to teach several reading courses to high school students. Reading is such a powerful skill – one that truly offers the opportunity to explore so many different topics.
One of the most powerful books that we read was Warrior’s Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals. This story chronicled the experiences of the Little Rock Nine. A chilling tale of determination, this book helped my students to better understand a very different time in our history.
Last Thursday, I had the good fortune, on the 50th anniversary of the Little Rock Central High School Integration, to attend the showing of Charles Guggenheim’s “Nine from Little Rock”. While only 20 minutes in length, the film was extremely powerful. You know that a documentary film is well done when, at some point in the film, the hair on the back of your head stands on end! That moment for me occurred half way through the film when the narrator exclaimed that “hate is easier to organize than understanding”. Sadly, 50 years later, news headlines indicate that this quote still rings true.
While seeing the film in itself would have been reason enough to attend this event, what followed was equally powerful. Two of the Little Rock Nine sat with a panel of civil rights leaders and others to discuss the film and the events of late September 1957.
I’ve always enjoyed learning about history, but have never had the opportunity to be a first-hand witness to history. To hear two people who were directly involved in such an important time in our past was personally intriguing.
This event, along with the many others that I’m sure to attend in the future, is why I moved here. A great deal of history happens in Washington – and I’m glad I’m here to take it all in.