Student+Activists

Student Activists - Nicole Baker

Preamble to the Black Student Movement Constitution: We, the members of the Black Student Movement, embrace a culture distinct from the dominant culture found at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In view of this fact, it is the goal of this organization to strive for the continued existence of the unity among all its members, to voice the concerns and grievances of its members to the University, to offer outlets for expressing Black ideals and culture, and finally, to insure that the Black Student Movement members never lose contact with the Black community.

Following the Civil Rights Act of 1960, and the Equal Education Act in 1968, many schools were still viewed as being not at all equal still. This led to demonstations of black students trying to get equal rights for themselves and other black students. The black student movement was different at every school. At each campus different actuvities were planned out and caried through. Some examples are the University of North Carolina. At this campus students got together and sent a list of demands to the school officials in attempt to get more black students on campus. At Rutger's University, students joined together and made signs for their cause. Finally, at the University of Pennslyvannia, the school that Dennis attends in the book The Color Of Water, students did many of these same activities. At many campuses around the United States after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, the students would participate more heavily in these demonstations. A meeting at a college A poster calling for more black and minority equality

One of the most well known ofthe black activists were the Little Rock Nine. These nice black students enrolled in Little Rock Hogh School in Arkansas. This was opposed by the majority of the population, and the students were severly threatened. Becuase of the precedent set in Brown v. Board of Education, which said that seperate but equal was not equal, the governor of Arkansas protected the black students, and eventually the national guard was used to protect the students.

media type="youtube" key="XSdLPNQSa4k" height="344" width="425"

The way student activists connect to our book is that all of the children in the book are very strong about black rights. Although they have a white mother they are still very strong about black rights. While "mommy" is gone the children will have conversations about black rights which instantly stop when their mother gets home.