From: Sally Miller <derbymiller>
Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2004 08:27:23 -0500

This morning in the paper I read a column reprinted from the Miami Herald by Leonard Pitts, the respected Pulitzer Prize winning Black columnist, in which he speaks in praise of "Dream of Freedom." Judging from his comments, I'd say he completely accepts McWhorter's judgment about the opinions of both Blacks and Whites on the racial situation of the day. Of course, not everyone agreed, or we wouldn't have had a Civil Rights movement, but as I look back over my seventy years, I'd say the conclusions quoted are right on target. I am reminded of the fact that for many years it was feared that too much education would injure a woman's brain. If women could believe this, why is it unreasonable to believe that Blacks of the time, for whom I was taught the polite term was "Negroes," would not believe some of the beliefs about their abilities and their "place" in society that were then current? Since I have not yet read the book, I can't comment on Nina's other points, but I thank her for calling my attention to the book and for raising the questions she does.
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Lindsay, Nina
  To: Subscribers of ccbc-net
  Sent: Saturday, December 18, 2004 7:58 PM
  Subject: Re: [ccbc-net] : CCBC Newbery Discussion, McWhorter


  Thanks for sharing the results of your discussion. Can you share any comments about McWhorter's Dream of Freedom? I found it myself a very flaw and troubling book.

  To me it reads very choppily, as if it were patched together from her other writings, and not presented in the best way possible to her audience. Many things are mentioned fleetingly without appropriate context, (p.23 The Birth of a Nation; p.80 Letter to Birmingham; p.97 JFKs assasination) or awkwardly/only-half explained
(p.44-5 distiction between effect of the boycott and the NAACP; p.53 "resegregation" of schools). Combined with a lack of documentation, this book to me does not
"[display] respect for children's understandings, abilities, and appreciations."

  I'm also puzzled and disturbed by some comments she makes about how black people felt during that time, without giving us any evidence. A couple of places I marked:

  p.15

  "They began to accept a form of social insanity as reasonable." Did blacks really consider it reasonable?

   

  p.16

  "black people began to believe in the inferiority inflicted on them from the outside." I'm similarly startled by this comment. She needs to show more to say something like this.



  Now, I know well that every committee is different, and I don't know what the discussion was like for your Mock election. But I'd love a little bit of insight into the discussion on this one, since it is a title that's being "talked about".



  Thanks,

  Nina



  Nina Lindsay, Librarian
  Children's Room
  Oakland Public Library
  125 14th Street
  Oakland CA 94612
  (510) 238615
  fax (510) 238h65
  nlindsay at oaklandlibrary.org
Received on Mon 20 Dec 2004 07:27:23 AM CST