Jada Williams 21st Century Abolitionist at 13 Years Old

Jada Williams

"to MY peers people of color in MY generation, blood sweat and tears have been shed for us to obtain any goals which we have set for our set for ourselves...never be afraid to excel and achieve...we are free to learn..."

I came across this story of 13 year old Miss Jada Williams who read The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass over the Christmas break and submitted an essay for a contest.  The Frederick Douglass Foundation contacted Jada and honored her with the Spirit of Freedom award, saying that her essay "actually demonstrates that she understood the autobiography.  On her award are the words, "21st Century Abolitionist".  But it seems not everyone was so impressed:

"In a bold comparative analysis of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Jada Williams, a 13-year old eighth grader at School #3 in Rochester, New York, asserted that in her experience, today's education system is a modern-day version of slavery. According to the Fredrick Douglass Foundation of New York, the schools' teachers and administrators were so offended by Williams' essay that they began a campaign of harassment—kicking her out of class and trying to suspend her—that ultimately forced her parents to withdraw her from the school." Read the entire story.

Watch Jada recite her essay:

Williams' parents say other teachers began to single out their daughter, a problem that a series of meetings failed to address. They requested a transfer from School #3 and the District switched her to School #19. On February 6, her first day at the new school, Williams said she witnessed several fights and didn't feel comfortable going back. Tuesday was her first day attending School #19 in nearly a month. She did not go back Wednesday. Williams feels expressing her opinion about the Frederick Douglass book has ruined her life. Fighting back tears, she said,

 "I love to go to school and I feel like they're taking that away from me."

Williams' mother said this controversy is not about race, but about her daughter's ability to express her thoughts freely. Her essay was recently acknowledged by the Frederick Douglass Foundation of New York, which awarded the 13-year-old its first-ever Spirit of Freedom Award on February 18.  Read more....http://rochesterhomepage.net/fulltext?nxd_id=303562

The Superintendent finally called to apologize Friday night, March 2.  Is this enough?
Please contact Rochester Superintendent of Public Schools Vargas Bolgen at bolgen.vargas@rcsdk12.org or call (585) 262-8100 to voice your concerns about Ms. Jada Williams being force out of school because she wants her classmates to learn.


 
http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S2521396.shtml?cat=565 
http://rochesterhomepage.net/fulltext?nxd_id=303562

From Fugitive Slave to Citizen

On February 15 in Black History...

Black Abolitionists Invade Boston Courtroom and Rescue Shadrach Minkins, a Fugitive Slave

On Saturday morning, February 15, 1851, two officers posing as customers at Taft’s Cornhill Coffee House seized the waiter Shadrach Minkins, a “stout, copper-colored man,” who had escaped from slavery in Virginia and settled in Boston. Minkins was taken to the nearby courthouse for a hearing. Lawyers Robert Morris, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Ellis Gray Loring and Samuel E. Sewall offered their services as Minkins’ counsel. They immediately filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus with the Supreme Judicial Court seeking Minkins' release from custody.

Lemuel Shaw, Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, refused to consider the defense’s habeas corpus petition. Later, a crowd of black and white abolitionists entered the courthouse, overcame armed guards and forced their way into the courtroom.

In a chaotic struggle, black abolitionists arrested Minkins from his court officers, carried him off and temporarily hid him in a Beacon Hill attic. From there, Boston black leaders Lewis Hayden, John J. Smith and others helped Minkins escape from Massachusetts, and he eventually found his way to Canada on the Underground Railroad. On an order from President Millard Fillmore, nine abolitionists, including Robert Morris, were indicted. Charges against some were dismissed, while others, including Morris and Hayden, faced a jury in court. Utimately, each was aquitted.  Source:  http://www.masshist.org/longroad/01slavery/minkins.htm


BOOK REVIEW:

 

Shadrach Minkins: From Fugitive Slave to Citizen by Gary Collison An impressive feat of detective work lies behind this portrait of Shadrach Minkins, the first black man arrested in New England under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. Minkins had escaped from slavery in Virginia and come to Boston, where he was arrested in February 1851. Before his case could come to trial, however, a group of black citizens invaded the courtroom and spirited Minkins away. Thereafter, except for scattered newspaper accounts and anecdotes, Minkins was lost to history. In uncovering evidence that Minkins settled in Montreal, where he helped establish a community of blacks who fled slavery, author Gary Collison restores Minkins and paints a fascinating portrait of those troubled times.  Source:  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/474939