J Pearson and Associates

10/23/2022

Freedom Summer 1964 is best known for the Klan murders of Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James Chaney in Philadelphia, Mississippi. These vicious murders exemplified the dangers the mostly white college students from the north and Black Mississippians faced in their efforts to challenge racism in the state. Dorothy Height, president of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) was asked to develop an outreach program in the state of Mississippi to create a dialogue with women to further the progress of racial healing.
Polly Cowan, a white woman, and NCNW volunteer created a plan that was designed to connect with middle- and upper-class women across the state to discuss issues of race relations in 7 cities across Mississippi. The initiative became known as “Wednesdays in Mississippi.” While the mostly white college and university students, along with their Mississippi host, canvassed the state hosting rallies, creating community learning centers, and promoting voter registration campaigns the in*******al group of women from several northern cities came to Mississippi for 3-day visitations to survey the work the students were engaged in and to meet with middle class Black and White women, over tea, and exchanges their views on civil rights.
In contrast to the blue jeans and sneakers, the students wore (due to the stifling heat and traveling along dirt roads) the attire the women wear to a tea party (particularly the white gloves) gave the meetings a sophistication and legitimacy that was part of the southern tradition.
The entire plan was organized and coordinated with federal law enforcement and President Johnson’s administration. It was so successful they were invited back the next year. Wednesdays In Mississippi is a very insightful read and a great addition to the history of Freedom Summer. I highly recommend this book.

07/27/2022

Mississippi was considered a closed society because it functioned, almost exclusively, without much outside influence. This was most evident in the area of changing social norms regarding race. Because of its reputation for its rigid racist social order Robert Moses organized the Freedom Summer campaign for voter registration in Mississippi.

James W. Silver was a professor at Mississippi University at the time when the nation was convulsing from the trauma of racial violence and civil rights agitation. Silver chronicles the history, personalities, and legacy of Mississippi as maybe the last and most resistant bastion of white supremacy in America. This book is an example of what so many white people are afraid of when the question of what should be taught in our schools is discussed. This is a very compelling book to read and is highly recommended.

07/01/2022

06/08/2022

Jeremiah G. Hamilton, if that was his real name, kept his origin a secret. He may have been born in the Caribbean or Virginia; no one knows for sure. He arrived in New York City in the 1820s where he began his career as a financier, of sorts. Author, Shane White does a wonderful job of tracing Hamilton’s trajectory from a middling courier of currency to a financier in the early stages of Wall Street.
White does an excellent job of describing the life and times of New York City and Hamilton’s relationship with the varying populations coexisting in a rapidly evolving metropolis. He describes the great fire that destroyed a large part of the city and tense relations between the Black and White communities. Particularly interesting is the legal system that Hamilton used to leverage his financial position against his competitors; many of whom hated him with an all-consuming passion.
The book is full of intrigue and suspense, which makes for interesting reading. There is so much detail that, I admit, I became bored with his elaborate descriptions of court proceedings and vicious characterizations of white detractors. Nevertheless, the book is fascinating and well worth the investment

05/17/2022

Lillian Smith begins her reminisces with the story of a white woman who saw, what she thought was a young white child, swinging near a dilapidated shack in the “colored” section of town. The woman, thinking the child was white and obviously not where she was supposed to be, secured the help of the local sheriff and other concerned white women to have the child removed, against the pleas of the Black family. Local authorities placed the child in the Smith home for a few weeks, until they discovered that the child was biracial, and not white and was returned to her original family. The child, having experienced the comforts of white privilege, was devastated.
The time the child had spent with the Smith family made her return to her original guardians painful and this experience took an emotional toll on the author. “Killers of the Dream” is full of firsthand experiences and insights that cause the reader to pause and think about the author, American racial history, and where we are as a nation on the issues of race. More than recounting events and historical figures, this book is very personal to the reader as it was to the author. I highly recommend this book.

03/20/2022

Much of the history of the modern civil rights movement has to do with marches, grand speeches, and landmark legislation turning over generations of de facto discrimination. What is too often overlooked are the lesser-known stories of personal struggle and bravery done by average citizens who don’t become famous. Greg Wittkamper’s story of courage and faith, in the face of verbal and physical abuse, is one that deserves attention. Wittkamper grew up in the small community of religious commune known as Koinonia, in Americus, Georgia. The community was isolated from the rest of Americus because they believed in the equality of all people. A philosophy not shared by the rest of Americus. The citizens of Koinonia peacefully co-existed in Americus until the segregated schools were forced to integrate.
When Greg began high school at Americus High, he associated with the newly arrived black students as he had done in the communal living arrangement in Koinonia. Immediately Greg became the object of physical and verbal abuse. The Class of ’65 is the story of Greg’s life after leaving Americus High School, traveling the world, and experiencing the much broader world that would broaden his perspective of the human experience. He came back to Americus a very different person.
After his sojourn around the world, Greg comes back home to a very different experience and just in time to learn that Americus High School is having a 40th school reunion. He is conflicted about going, not having forgotten his experience of physical and verbal abuse. I won’t spoil the ending of the story except to say it is refreshing and a testament to what we want our history to reflect. I highly recommend this book.

02/20/2022

The night Martin Luther King was killed, Jane Elliot, an elementary school teacher in Iowa decided to teach her 8- and 9-year-old students what it was like to experience bigotry. Elliot’s experiment of teaching her white students what it felt like to be treated negatively is well known but the larger story of who Jane Elliot was then and what she has become is not as well known. University of Iowa Professor, Stephen G. Bloom gives a vivid description of rural Iowa and its traditions that make Elliot’s story even more improbable. The fact that Elliott continued this experiment for 10 years, given how much hell she raised in the process, makes the reader wonder why she wasn’t run out of town immediately and why the parents continued to give their consent. Elliot’s journey took her to the Johnny Carson and Oprah Winfrey shows and a multitude of academic conferences, in the United States, and other countries.
The reaction to Elliot’s experiment, among her students, was immediate and was felt well into their adulthood. The children said they felt anger, frustration, and loneliness. That realization immediately gives the reader reason to pause and consider the obvious issue of what has been the lasting effects of racism on Black people and other people of color.
Professor Bloom gives a colorful account of Elliot’s life and experiences. She comes off as an abrasive and in many ways, arrogant woman that doesn’t work well with others or take instruction well. The author also identifies other people who are identified as being the originators of what was believed to be Elliot’s brainchild. Bloom gives a vivid account of what life was like in Iowa, its history and people making the book an interesting read.

01/28/2022

The discussion on what is or is not appropriate to teach about Black history rarely defines a specific curriculum. Professor Leonard N. Moore does this in his new book "Teaching Black History To White People." Currently, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin Moore combines his personal experiences of teaching black history at a large, mostly white university and his life story of how he came to this experience.
The book is a good overview of the major features of black history we are generally familiar with i.e. slavery, lynching, the civil rights movement, and school discrimination. Interspersed with his stories of personal interactions with students, colleagues, and attendees at public speaking events, the book is a valuable guide on what subjects he has found useful in his quest to educate the general public on black history. Considering the public controversy on what is appropriate to teach K-12 students it's important to note that his students are university students.
The subjects Critical Race Theory and Afrocentricity are not introduced in the book so I don't know what part they play in the curriculum and I don't know to what extent people of other cultures; Europeans, Asians, Latins are introduced but we know that there are common experiences that we all share and I assume those histories become part of the larger narrative in classroom interactions. I have not seen another title covering the same subject and I believe it is a welcome addition to the public discourse. I found it to be a good read.

01/07/2022

The meaning of the second amendment had been a debated issue until the Supreme Court settled the issue by declaring that indivduals, not just members of regulated millitias, could legally own guns. Professor Carol Anderson has written a fascinating history of how the second amendment has actually been applied throughout our history.
During the colonial period, Black people were denied the freedom to own guns and the incidence of slave rebellions made the restriction subject to severe punishment, and even death.
The book is filled with insights of how the second amendment has been applied; who has the right and who doesn't, but she illustrates the hypocracy of the second mendments most vocal supporters. This is a book well worth reading. I found the boon at the State Library of Ohio. 274 E. 1st Ave.

12/13/2021

A History of Hate in Ohio is a good history lesson of where Ohio stands in the legacy of racial hatred in America. It would be easy to imagin Ohio being a sanctuary for escaping slaves, but this history is much more complicated. Ohio was a destination for escaping slaves and a center of abolitionist activity but there was always a danger of being kidnapped and whites were not always tolerant or welcoming of Black people in their communities.
The book is divided into two long chapters. The author Michael Brooks tells the history from the time when Ohio was a territory to the early 20th century. Bob Fitrakis continues and finishes the history during the 1980's.
There is a tremendous amount of history in this chronology and the reader will ask themselves, "what was I doing when all this was happening?" Names and events will be familiar to the reader and I found it to be a reminder of how active the resistance was to white supremacist groups there was in Ohio.
I pick up this book at the State Library of Ohio, on North 6th St. For anyone interested in this history, I recommend this book.