I have Curriculum Development today at what was formerly the “black school” in my district. My school district was desegregated in 1968, and since then the building has not changed significantly. Every time I’m there, I get an eerie feeling, the same feeling I get when I’m visiting a ghost town. This building and its hallways, windows, classrooms are to me a ghost town of what segregation looked like for African-American students, a testament to the truth that Brown vs. the Board insisted: separate is not equal.

First of all, the building is in a “black neighborhood” in town. The poverty level is much higher in this neighborhood, as is evident in the houses, cars, etc. The parking lot is not paved. Some of the bathroom stalls have curtains instead of doors. The building is immaculate and well-kept, but it is evident that when the district built the schools way-back-when, they did not put as much money into this building. The high school is right down the street, and while that building is outdated, it is still drastically different in resources.

It’s just eerie every time I’m in this building. TFA has made me hyper-aware of race issues, and I can’t stop thinking to myself
“What was it like to go to school here?”.