I.S. 55 Graduation Speech
Please note: This is work in progress. Please keep that in mind as you read.
community activism
On the Way to School - Community Control, Some Observations, excerpt
Preston Wilcox was a human rights activist and professor at Columbia University who supported Black studies on college campuses and community control for K-12 schools.
¿Le gustaria que sus niños[…]?
Like many Puerto Rican parents in the South Bronx, Evelina López Antonetty was frustrated that so many Spanish-speaking children were not learning to read.
Evelina Antonetty and United Bronx Parents Protest School Lunch
In 1969, parents in the South Bronx were concerned about what their children ate at school.
Program for Malcolm X Memorial Service, cover
In the East Harlem community control district, teachers emphasized subjects that connected to their students’ African heritage.
Community Control is Not Decentralization
New York State’s 1969 decentralization law drew strong opposition from many Black and Puerto Rican New Yorkers who had been advocating for community control.
Community Control March
During the 1968 teacher strike, community control advocates continued to participate in leading local school districts and arguing for self-determination in education.
Parents Speaking on Ocean Hill-Brownsville
This video captures New York City parents speaking of their desires for community control of their children’s schools.
A Proposal for an Independent Board of Education in Harlem
Over 1 million new Black Southern migrants and Puerto Rican immigrants had settled in New York City by the 1950s.
Operation Shut Down Flier
Civil rights organizers in Lowndes County, Mississippi, chose the image of a black panther as their symbol.
Black Panther Party letter about Operation Shut Down
The Black Panther Party’s Harlem Branch, founded in 1966, defined Black Power as “having the right to self-determination or the power to decide what should go down in our community,” and “being the decision makers, the policy makers.
Real Message of the Moynihan Report
No single civil rights organization represents all Black Americans.
The Controversial Moynihan Report
The Black press provided a space for Black thinkers to challenge ideas that were getting attention in white newspapers and other media.
90% Boycott Hits Problem School
In the fall of 1964, months after the massive February 1964 boycott, Reverend Milton Galamison and the Citywide Committee on Integration launched another boycott.
Milton Galamison Oral History, excerpt
Reverend Milton Galamison was the pastor of Siloam Presbyterian Church in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and a key figure in the struggle to desegregate New York City’s schools.
The School Boycott Concept
In this op-ed, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
J.H.S. 103, P.S. 194, and City Hall
During the February 3, 1964 boycott, there was a rally at City Hall.
The Will and the Way of the Boycotters
On February 3, 1964, an estimated 464,400 students - almost half the city’s enrollment - boycotted New York City’s segregated school system.
What a “Fizzle!”
Here a black newspaper, the Amsterdam News, reflects on how others spoke about the February 3 boycott both before and after it happened.
Freedom Day March on Film
On the day of the February 3 boycott, some participants gathered at the headquarters of the New York City Board of Education at 110 Livingston Street in Brooklyn, where they marched and picketed.