2013 begins a year of anniversaries leading up to Boston’s 40th marking of the Busing/Desegregation Crisis. It also starts off with a significant anniversary for the nation: the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. An article in the Huffington Post by Janell Ross entitled America’s Understanding of Emancipation Proclamation on It’s 150th Anniversary Too Simple for Country’s Own Good could just as well be a message to us as we look at the history of Brown v Board of Education and Boston’s long struggle for excellence, equity and access in public school education for all.
“What Americans have to understand is that there were 100 years between Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation and the 1963 March on Washington,” said Bunch, “and a few years more before that freedom was given any durable and consistent meaning with the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act.”
“When you understand that freedom was a process, not a moment, then you can allow yourself to wonder what work is left for us in the next 100 years.”
We look forward to continuing to explore this history with you in the coming year through interviews, story circles and through cross class and nationality intra-racial group explorations linking the past to the present and future. As always, we welcome your reflections on the blog or in person.
Happy New Year!
Truth, Learning, and Change 