Back-To-School, The Special Gift

It is September!
by Lil Mogul

Can you believe it? It’s always been a very special time for me. It’s my birthday month! Yes, I am a true VIRGO! This is a time for new things. New clothes... The fashion industry gears up for the biggest time of the year. Sales over 65% during the 4th quarter of the year, the industry presents their Fall Fashions in magazines, retail stores and on TV commercials throughout to the world, while showcasing the following Spring Collections in NY, London, Milan and Tokyo simultaneously. September is the official end of summer for millions of student across the country that means back to school. Many children do not look forward to going back to school and/or getting back to work. However, they have a choice to see old friends and continue with higher learning.

But only 55 short years old ago, The U.S. Supreme Court issued its historic Brown v. Board of Education on May 17, 1954. The decision declared all laws establishing segregated schools between white children and black children to be unconstitutional, and it called for the desegregation of all schools throughout the nation. The decision declared all laws establishing segregated schools to be unconstitutional, and it called for the desegregation of all schools throughout the nation. After the decision the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) whom celebrated their 100th year Anniversary this year, attempted to register black students in previously all-white schools in cities throughout the South. In Little Rock, the capital city of Arkansas, the Little Rock School Board agreed to comply with the high court's ruling. Virgil Blossom, the Superintendent of Schools, submitted a plan of gradual integration to the school board on May 24, 1955, which the board unanimously approved. The plan would be implemented during the 1958 school year, which would begin in September 1957. By 1957, the NAACP had registered nine black students to attend the previously all-white Little Rock Central High, selected on the criteria of excellent grades and attendance. The nicknamed "Little Rock Nine" consisted of Ernest Green (b. 1941), Elizabeth Eckford (b. 1941), Jefferson Thomas (b. 1942), Terrence Roberts (b. 1941), Carlotta Walls LaNier (b. 1942), Minnijean Brown (b. 1941), Gloria Ray Karlmark (b. 1942), Thelma Mothershed (b. 1940), and Melba Beals (b. 1941). Ernest Green was the first African American to graduate from Central High School.

Every September on my first day of school, I always thought of the nine young people who at their time in history stood tall, brave and made us proud while giving us the ability to have the same opportunity to go to school and have a higher learning quality US education.