Chapter 8: Short, Shy and Smart: Determined to Excel in a Desegregated Classroom

Growing up during the 1960s in New York City was exciting yet difficult. This was a time where the nation’s public schools were implementing the Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education decision of 1954. This chapter briefly describes my experience as a student leaving my neighborhood school in Harlem, a section of New York City, to attend a predominately White school away from my neighborhood. It describes how I was determined to succeed academically, despite the pressures of school desegregation.

I am the second oldest daughter of four children (two sisters and one brother). My parents worked when I was a young child, which allowed me to have a very happy childhood. They sacrificed to make sure we had all that we needed, especially my mother. With both parents working, I can say that we grew up in a middle-class environment. Of course, that changed once my mother stopped working full-time. When it came to education, my mother wanted us to have the best. She knew that the only option for schooling for her children was in the public education system.