-School Days
Interpreter:“This is the Concord Schoolhouse. In 1912, it was one of the largest black rural schools in the area. In the 1960s, it was combined with the white Miccosukee school.”
Ace: “Black and white schools? What does that mean?”
Grandma: “That means segregation, Ace, separation. The black children went to all-black schools and the white children went to all-white schools. Not only schools separated African Americans from whites: there were separate water fountains, restaurants, hospitals, and restrooms. There were laws called Black Codes, the courts called it “separate but equal”.
Interpreter: “The children attended this school for first through eighth grades, all sharing this room and learning from one teacher.”
Grandma: “He had to be on his toes too, with all those different lessons to teach. My mother said he didn’t accept bad behavior. When she and her brothers were your age, they went to a school just like this.”
Bobby Ray: “But it’s so small. Is this the whole school? There isn’t enough room.” Tiffany: “What’s the stove for, Gramma Cindy? And the bucket?”
5/01/09, final color images
illustrator: Bill Otersen
writer: Sarah Wagoner