Our first presentation in Freshman Seminar was given by Dr. Greg Carr, a professor in African American Studies and Chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University. He spoke about his journey to Africa, and the beauty of the hieroglyphics he witnessed. Ancient Afrikaans hieroglyphics are evidence that even before blacks arrived to the New World, they believed learning was important. Dr. Carr stated that the symbol for speech was “mew.” He informed our freshman class that the terms ‘speech’ and ‘beauty’ were considered concurrently, because the Afrikaans’ hieroglyphic for beautiful was almost identical to their hieroglyphic for speech. Afrikaans believed speech and wisdom were the most beautiful gifts or qualities a human could possess. They promoted learning and teaching amongst the children. We are seeing in our society now, in 2010, that this desire to continue learning has deteriorated within our children.
Reading and freedom of speech, two of the many rights that blacks were fighting to have our fifty years ago, yet young people today are not taking advantage of this opportunity to further their education; their ancestors were murdered and mutilated for trying to read and write. We look at all these experiences in the African –American history where we were not able to attend schools, and how individuals such as Ruby Bridges, the Little Rock 9, Thurgood Marshall, etc. were figures who helped African-Americans gain the right to attend schools with white children. So, why are African-American children taking advantage of this liberty, and often suppressing the advancements of others around them?
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