Lean On Me

Black History Month is a very important one. My favorite person that we can celebrate this month is Hank Aaron. Hank is an incredible baseball player. He set glorious examples for all African Americans who wished to have an accomplished career in baseball. Hank Aaron is one of the best performers I know of.

His strong opinions are many of the reasons African Americans are well respected today. Because of his efforts, segregation among the United States has decreased. Schools educate both black and white children, and the black folk has many political, economic, and social leaders across the country that are well respected.

William Edward Burghardt Dubois was the first African-American to earn a doctorate and lived Atlanta Georgia. He was civil rights activist and historian. In 1903 he wrote The Souls of Black Folk where he disagreed with Washington because he felt the color-line was performing a disservice to the black population. While Dubois acknowledges him as, “a compromiser between the South, the North, and the Negro” : he also said,” Mr. Washington is especially to be criticized.” Dubois believed the exact opposite of Washington, he said, “Such men feel in conscience bound to ask of this nation

Lean on Me is a movie that focuses on an abrasive and tough principal that has been called to whip the underprivileged inner city school of Eastside High into shape to avoid being run by the state as opposed to the local school board. This movie brought about the controversial character of Mr. Joe Clark was played by Morgan Freeman.

African Americans have come along way. They have proved that they are equal to whites in knowledge skills and strength. Black soldiers in the 54th regiment fought as hard as any other white soldiers yet were unable to attain any level of recognition or promotion. Like it stated in Doc E they have the will to learn, and therefore deserve to have that opportunity. When educated, they wanted to participate in government and voice their opinions though Lincoln along with many other well-respected and intelligent Union members. Through the hard fought Civil War, they were able to make advances toward someday achieving equality.

It helped spark the Civil Rights Movement for freedom from discrimination and segregation from white societies. African Americans felt like they deserved more than physical freedom, but also deserved the right to equal treatment amongst white communities. Nevertheless, even when African American Soldiers gave more than their lives for the war against slavery, they were hardly given the respect and honor they deserved. African American soldiers proved themselves to the Union and its people numerous times and even earned the respect and recognition of the white Union army. Even to this day, African American soldiers are still underappreciated; they deserve to receive much more respect and honor to this day. We have numerous memorials of white soldiers, but there is hardly any memorials recognizing the valor of African

African Americans have endured many trials and tribulations over the centuries. Our people have suffered from war, violence, and anguish simply because of the color of our skin. Our history has been so blatantly missing from textbooks and the K-12th grade educational atmosphere. Our educational system continues to neglect the history of our African American ancestors and fail to provide them with the educational resources to inform them of our past and allow them to learn about the true origins of our culture. We have made many significant contributions to the world but those have also been highly ignored as well.

In the movie Lean On Me, Joe Clark persuades the staff and students that hard work is necessary in order to be successful through the use of ethos, logos and pathos.

I was pleased to have attended a lecture cosponsored by the Ethics Center, the Fresno State office of the president, the Fresno Bee and Valley PBS. The lecture began with Dr. Castro recognizing a few leaders on campus, including a past Fresno State president, Dr. John D. Welty and campus volunteer Mary Castro. Dr. Castro then mentioned a few things about Mr. Brooks stating that he is a columnist for the New York Times and an analyst for the PBS “News Hour” and NPR’s “All Things Considered.” Dr. Brooks also teaches at Yale University, one the finest university in the country. Dr. Castro continued by saying that he learned that Mr. Brooks office hours are from 9am to 1pm and how “cool” it sounded to him. I was surprised how many people attended the event. I was fortunate to find a seat. David Brooks mentioned how he has some remote roots in the Central Valley because his father grew in Chowchilla, CA but Mr. Brooks grew in New York.

The United States of America often forgets that historically black colleges and universities were created out of necessity. It has only been a couple of decades since African Americans have been allowed to get degrees from predominantly white institutions. Millions of African Americans have given their blood, sweat, and tears in hopes of gaining basic rights like education to their descendants. America has come a long way within the past fifty years but there is still a disconnect when it comes to believing what the average African American can accomplish as an individual. When it comes to historically black colleges and universities there is still a stigma that the education is less rigorous and

Within both of Nathan Hare’s articles, he discusses his beliefs on what Black Studies can

Historically black colleges and universities, otherwise known as HBCUs, have played an integral role in advancing the education of underprivileged black teenagers since their inception after the American Civil War. They have had students extremely well known in their fields today, such as billionaire entertainer Oprah Winfrey, the first African American Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. Though their graduation rates tend to be around 1 in 3, they have produced a majority of successful African American professionals. For the continued advancement of African Americans, HBCUs are necessary for offering educational opportunities that their students had been historically denied and presently out of financial reach, while promoting strong family values and equality that may be lacking at traditional schools and displaying positive African American role models in their alumni and staff.

Dr. Dubois was awarded the first Spingarn Medal in 1920. This was awarded "to that Negro who achieved the highest in any human endeavor." He was an activist for global affairs, editor of the NAACP Crisis publication, and set up the meeting for the first Pan-African Congress. He was an individual of principle and conviction. The seeds he planted still nourish us today. (http://www.websn.com/Pride/Pride/w.htm)

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was a major sociologist historian, writer, editor, political activist, and cofounder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). During the Harlem renaissance and through his editorship of crisis magazine, he actively sought and presented the literary genius of black writers for the entire world to acknowledge and honor (Gale schools, 2004).

The topic of this Ted Talk completely reflects what has been said in our leadership class as well as what I think a student leader at Western Oregon University should be. Solomon’s talk is centered around the relationship of parents and children and accepting and loving children, but the ideas expressed in his talk can be applied to any human relationship. I believe Western is a university that deeply prides itself in its student diversity and acceptedness of said diversity. The Western that I know, and love, understands the true necessity of diversity and wishes to be accepting of diversity in all of its forms.