Jon Hale
Jon Hale is a professor at the College of Charleston with a speciality in the history of American education during the Civil Rights Movement. He examines the history of student and teacher activism and grassroots educational reform. He has published many articles and books on this subject, including...
- The Freedom Schools: A History of Student Activists on the Front lines of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement (book manuscript under review)
-"The Freedom Schools, the Civil Rights Movement, and Refocussing the Goals of American Education, "The Journal of Social Studies Research 35, no. 2 (Fall 2011): 259-276.
- The Freedom School Newspapers: Writings, Essays and Reports from Student Activists During the Civil Rights Movement, edited by William Sturkey and Jon Hale (Jackson University Press of Mississippi, forthcoming 2014)
Interview with Jon Hale:
1. Why do you think Ruby Bridges' is a Leader?
-She was the first child to desegregate schools in the south.
-Demonstrates Characteristics that Americans like to see in a leader.
-Handles stress in a good way/great class
-Stuck with desegregation
-Throughout her life she maintains segregation as a graceful thing
-She created a foundation
2. What is Ruby Bridge's legacy?
-First child to desegregate an elementary school. ( being so young/ first and ONLY student)
-Having a tough time but still going to school
-Most Americans have seen her but don't know her (Norman Rockwell painting).
3. How do you feel Ruby Bridges changed history?
-Started a long path to desegregation so once Ruby Bridges entered the school it put in motion this long period of desegregating schools that is still going on today.
-She was so young she paid the ultimate sacrifice of her childhood.
4. If the Brown vs. Board of Education never happened, do you think anyone would have been brave enough to stand up for their rights?
-Yes, because before the Brown vs. Board of Education was a result of 30 years of people standing up on their own.
-In 1890 people protested streetcars in Charleston because they were segregated.
-In 1952, 22 families stood up to desegregate white schools.
-For example... In "12 Years a Slave" the slaves wanted to resist oppression by killing the captain.
-These things are still happening today... For example, the situation in Ferguson.
5. What other Civil Rights events were influenced by Ruby Bridges' actions?
-All of the desegregation cases after Ruby Bridges were influenced by Ruby Bridges.
-In 1963, Oveta Glover desegregated James Simmons Middle School in Charleston.
-When other families saw what Ruby Bridges did they thought that they could do it as well.
-Ruby Bridges gave hope to people to keep the sit-ins going.
-Some people began to think...is it worth it?
-Ruby Bridges also inspired the "Black Power Movement."
6. Through your research and teaching what interesting things have you learned about Ruby Bridges?
-Even though that Ruby was only 6 years old they treated her the same as they would anyone else.
-Her family suffered from this as well; her father lost his job at the gas station, her mother was not allowed in grocery stores anymore, and her grandparents were kicked off of the land that they owned.
-Barbra Henry was the only teacher in New Orleans willing to teach Ruby Bridges.
-The children of the civil rights movement did not know that they were making history, and they did not know until later on in their life because of Post -Traumatic Stress Syndrome.
Oveta Glover
Oveta Glover was one of the first children to desegregate South Carolina public schools in 1963. Oveta was accompanied by the Reverend Dt. Benjamin J. Glover who was her father. Now Oveta Glover is a scholarship coordinator at Vorhees College.
Interview With Oveta Glover
1. What year did you go to school, where was the school located, and what was the name of the school?
The attempt to intergrate the Charleston Schools was actually in 1961 by Minerva Brown and me Oveta Glover, however that attempt failed because of technicalities, so our parents and other leaders regrouped and 2 years later were successful.
2. What influenced you to go to an all white school?
I had no choice it was a movement that was very important to our parents and the NAACP and other African-Americans at the time. I was of the right age at the time.
3. We're protestors present when you went?
There were a few.
4. How did students treat you?
I was picked at, example-called names.
5. How did the teachers at the school treat you?
Teachers were instructed to be kind and to hold back their feelings as much as they could. However I was placed in the back of the class.
6. Did you receive threats?
Threats were made before the actual day.
7. What was one of the biggest misconceptions about desegregation?
People think that it was all about attending a white school just because in actuality it was about being EQUAL to or having getting the same treatment as the white schools were getting. Like new books, updated classrooms, and better lunches.
Jon Hale is a professor at the College of Charleston with a speciality in the history of American education during the Civil Rights Movement. He examines the history of student and teacher activism and grassroots educational reform. He has published many articles and books on this subject, including...
- The Freedom Schools: A History of Student Activists on the Front lines of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement (book manuscript under review)
-"The Freedom Schools, the Civil Rights Movement, and Refocussing the Goals of American Education, "The Journal of Social Studies Research 35, no. 2 (Fall 2011): 259-276.
- The Freedom School Newspapers: Writings, Essays and Reports from Student Activists During the Civil Rights Movement, edited by William Sturkey and Jon Hale (Jackson University Press of Mississippi, forthcoming 2014)
Interview with Jon Hale:
1. Why do you think Ruby Bridges' is a Leader?
-She was the first child to desegregate schools in the south.
-Demonstrates Characteristics that Americans like to see in a leader.
-Handles stress in a good way/great class
-Stuck with desegregation
-Throughout her life she maintains segregation as a graceful thing
-She created a foundation
2. What is Ruby Bridge's legacy?
-First child to desegregate an elementary school. ( being so young/ first and ONLY student)
-Having a tough time but still going to school
-Most Americans have seen her but don't know her (Norman Rockwell painting).
3. How do you feel Ruby Bridges changed history?
-Started a long path to desegregation so once Ruby Bridges entered the school it put in motion this long period of desegregating schools that is still going on today.
-She was so young she paid the ultimate sacrifice of her childhood.
4. If the Brown vs. Board of Education never happened, do you think anyone would have been brave enough to stand up for their rights?
-Yes, because before the Brown vs. Board of Education was a result of 30 years of people standing up on their own.
-In 1890 people protested streetcars in Charleston because they were segregated.
-In 1952, 22 families stood up to desegregate white schools.
-For example... In "12 Years a Slave" the slaves wanted to resist oppression by killing the captain.
-These things are still happening today... For example, the situation in Ferguson.
5. What other Civil Rights events were influenced by Ruby Bridges' actions?
-All of the desegregation cases after Ruby Bridges were influenced by Ruby Bridges.
-In 1963, Oveta Glover desegregated James Simmons Middle School in Charleston.
-When other families saw what Ruby Bridges did they thought that they could do it as well.
-Ruby Bridges gave hope to people to keep the sit-ins going.
-Some people began to think...is it worth it?
-Ruby Bridges also inspired the "Black Power Movement."
6. Through your research and teaching what interesting things have you learned about Ruby Bridges?
-Even though that Ruby was only 6 years old they treated her the same as they would anyone else.
-Her family suffered from this as well; her father lost his job at the gas station, her mother was not allowed in grocery stores anymore, and her grandparents were kicked off of the land that they owned.
-Barbra Henry was the only teacher in New Orleans willing to teach Ruby Bridges.
-The children of the civil rights movement did not know that they were making history, and they did not know until later on in their life because of Post -Traumatic Stress Syndrome.
Oveta Glover
Oveta Glover was one of the first children to desegregate South Carolina public schools in 1963. Oveta was accompanied by the Reverend Dt. Benjamin J. Glover who was her father. Now Oveta Glover is a scholarship coordinator at Vorhees College.
Interview With Oveta Glover
1. What year did you go to school, where was the school located, and what was the name of the school?
The attempt to intergrate the Charleston Schools was actually in 1961 by Minerva Brown and me Oveta Glover, however that attempt failed because of technicalities, so our parents and other leaders regrouped and 2 years later were successful.
2. What influenced you to go to an all white school?
I had no choice it was a movement that was very important to our parents and the NAACP and other African-Americans at the time. I was of the right age at the time.
3. We're protestors present when you went?
There were a few.
4. How did students treat you?
I was picked at, example-called names.
5. How did the teachers at the school treat you?
Teachers were instructed to be kind and to hold back their feelings as much as they could. However I was placed in the back of the class.
6. Did you receive threats?
Threats were made before the actual day.
7. What was one of the biggest misconceptions about desegregation?
People think that it was all about attending a white school just because in actuality it was about being EQUAL to or having getting the same treatment as the white schools were getting. Like new books, updated classrooms, and better lunches.