On Tuesday 11 June, the Year 11 History students had the privilege of hearing Minijean Brown from Little Rock Nine and her daughter Spirit Tawfiq speak.
Little Rock Nine, was a group of nine African American students in the South of the United States who were the first students to attend a desegregated school. These students experienced a number of negative experiences because of this.
Minijean, at the age of 82, travelled from Canada to here to talk about her experiences at the school and in the South during the time of the Jim Crow Laws. Pakuranga was one of fortunate schools that got to attend this event. When sharing her personal experiences, Minijean commented on the way she had been brought up to know her worth and how that influenced her decision to sign up to go to Central High.
She expressed how inferior white people and students had made her feel at Central High, sharing the different ways white students would harass her. This included doing things like throwing acid on her uniform, putting her head in the toilet, and calling black students like her by derogatory terms, to mention just a few examples. All this has changed her perspective on many things and all the struggles in her life allowed her to grow and be stronger as an individual.
Our Year 11 students were able to further evolve our knowledge about black civil rights in America and were inspired by Minijean Brown and her story, which changed history.
Abi Roberston and Akeshi Jaywardana – Year 11
