Berekely Public School Desegregation 1968

The Berkeley Public Library has a digital pictures archive of stories by teachers who taught in the Berkeley Schools  in 1968. 
Three of them are on Youtube
Coming of Age in the Civil Rights Era: Experiencing Berkeley Public School Desegregation 1964-68, a grant supported by the California State Library of the Berkeley Public Library working with the Center for Digital Storytelling, to share and record first-hand experiences of the voluntary desegregation / integration of the Berkeley Public Schools.
Workshops for Teachers
January 13-15
March 17-19
March 23-25 (Wednesday-Friday, part of a FIT workshop March 21-25)
May 26-28
July 14-16
September 22-24
October 27-29
November 2-4 (Wednesday-Friday, part of a FIT workshop October 31-November 4)
December 9-11(Friday-Sunday)

Please click here to register for a workshop.
Please email workshop@storycenter.org for more information and future workshop dates in Berkeley

Something to Ponder on election day!

Freedom is a Constant Struggle. The Southern Freedom Movement fought hard to eliminate obstacles to voting: literacy tests, poll taxes, threats of violence and death, grandfather clauses..........one result being the passage of the 1965 Civil Rights Voting Act.  Today a new obstacle: differential punishments and police harrassment.

America’s Millions of Disenfranchised, Largely Black Voters from Colorlines 
It’s Election Day, which means millions of voters are headed to the polls. But there’s a sizable number of people who aren’t permitted to cast ballots because they’ve been caught up in the criminal justice system. An estimated 5.3 million Americans have currently or permanently lost their right to vote because of felony convictions—.... At least four million of those people have completed their sentences or are on probation or parole, according to NPR.  Read More

The Shame of New York   By Bob Herbert NYT
Published: October 29, 2010
The whole notion of the rule of law, critical to a democracy, is sabotaged when the guardians of the law — in this case the officers of the New York City Police Department — are permitted to violate the law with impunity.  Read More

Students! Apply now for 2011 Student Freedom Ride

2011 Student Freedom Ride
American Experience Invites College Students to “Get on the Bus.”  Be one of 40 college students to join original Freedom Ridersin retracing the 1961 Rides.
May 6-16, 2011: Washington, DC to Jackson, MS

Apply now!  Read the New York Times article.

JOIN students from across the country in retracing the route of the 1961 Freedom Rides. Accepted students will participate at no cost to them. All transportation, hotel and food expenses are covered by American Experience.

PARTICIPATE in an intergenerational conversation about civic engagement.  What does it mean today? What has changed since 1961?  What inspires young people to “get on the bus”?

SHARE the journey.  Through live blogging, Twitter, and Facebook, the students on the bus will be able to share their experiences and, in a sense, bring others along on their journey.

Application period is open!
Application deadline: January 17, 2011
Decisions announced: February 2011

The Southern Strategy: Johnson, Nixon, Reagan and today's GOP

 In 1964, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in July...and then made sure the credentials committee in August did not seat the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party instead of the all white MS Democratic Party....  because he was afraid he would lose the South to Goldwater in November.  He lost it anyway, giving rise to the Republicans' Southern Strategy during the next 50 years.


Rachel Maddow has a terrific 15 minute explanation of how the Republicans' Southern Strategy, while acknowledged  by GOP leaders in the recent past, has found new momentum today, without creating any "Macaca Moments!"

Ongoing - Fighting for our Children, Fighting for our Rights

Chicago.Education.NPR

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/10/21/chicago_parents_occupy_elementary_school_building