Miss Evers Boys- Sierra Williams

The play “Miss’ Evers Boys” put on by the Arts & Theatre Program of Howard University was very good. I already knew a little bit of background information as to what the play would be about. The actors were great, and while the story is tragic, it was an enjoyable experience to watch the story unfold. The Miss Evers Boys story, was a infamous clinical study conducted between in Tuskegee, Alabama by the U.S. Public Health Service. This study was created to study the natural progression of untreated syphilis in poor, rural black men. These black men thought they were receiving free health care from the U.S. government. For participating in the study, the men were given free medical care, meals, and free burial insurance. They were never told they had syphilis, nor were they ever treated for it. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the men were told they were being treated for "bad blood," a local term used to describe several illnesses, including syphilis, anemia and fatigue.
The 40-year study was controversial for reasons related to ethical standards; primarily because researchers knowingly failed to treat patients appropriately after the 1940s validation of penicillin as an effective cure for the disease they were studying. This deception study was not only unethical but it is a disgrace to the government. Now because of the Tuskegee Syphillis Expriement studies require a informed consent communication of diagnosis, and accurate reporting of test results. The Arts & Theatre Program of Howard University did a dynamic job of portraying the true story of Miss Evers Boys. The actors did a great job in acting out the true story.

A charge to keep - Sierra Willams

The key points to this lecture all involved education. Ms. Worthy explained the 5 main tenens of culturally relevant teaching. They were: African Logic, African Epistemological Styles, African Axiology, Cultural visibility, social, emotional and political responsibility. LEAP schools were culturally relevant schools that taught this way. Children from different cultures do not all learn the same way and that was important to note. The idea is to take out all the European influences that are placed in the school system because that is not culturally relevant to African children.
Being part of a schooling system like this can benefit many children who have thought about dropping out of school because they don’t understand the way they were being taught. I know that sometimes I don’t understand the way certain teachers teach, but until this lecture I know that it’s a possibility that they were not teaching me in a culturally relevant way. Culturally relevant teaching can benefit all children and it is important that it can be incorporated into more schools in the future.
The leap schools follow Ubuntu which means humanity. They follow the Zulu proverb that a person is a person through other persons, we affirm our humanity when we acknowledge that of others. They follow many rules such as being kind and honest and it is a very good way to learn because it promotes self growth.

African Burial Ground trip- Sierra Williams

The African burial ground was a good experience. The monument was well worth the trip. The monument itself had several different meanings and within it were symbols all around. Some of the symbols were ones that were easily identifiable , like the cross and the heart. My favorite part was the libation ceremony . It was interesting to hear everything dr. Carr had to say relating to the ancestors. Watching the movie really put the whole thing in perspective for me . It was really shocking to see how the Africans had their own burial ground and it was only 20 years later that it got shut down. There were a lot of artifacts that were preserved from from the African burial ground , and to see them in person was good to really understand what things were like back then. THe people who were singing and playing instruments after the libation was a good experience to be a part of. The whole ceremony made everyone feel as one and everyone was there for the same purpose. I am glad that i took the time to understand more about the African culture and more about this experience; that until this day I knew very little about.

Amber Spencer: Miss Evers' Boys

I attended the production "Miss Evers' Boys" this past week, and I'm glad that I got the opportunity to see it. Not only did the actors do great, but the plot of the story was also intriguing. It was basically about a research study dealing with Syphilis in black males. The point of the study was to see if blacks responded the same way as whites to the effects of the disease. Hundreds of the subjects died due to mistreatment.
I find this entire situation horrible. How can someone sit and watch a large group of people, black or not, die due to a disease that could have been cured? It seems almost not human. Using humans as guinea pigs for research, is completely immoral. Some respect can be lost towards the government and to those who knew about the study, but let them die anyways. I wonder why they would choose to let the blacks die and treat the whites. I wonder this because I don't fully understand what this study could have possibly proven effectively. And whatever was proven through this experiment, was it worth the loss of hundreds of innocent black people? I feel as though it was not. When they saw that so many people were being affected negatively, they should have stopped the experiment and cured the people who were infected.

Amber Spencer: A Charge To Keep

Ms. Worthy spoke about the LEAP schools and mentioned how culturally relevant they were. She explains the five tenants of culturally relevant teaching. These five tenants are African logic, African Epistemological Styles, African Axiology, cultural visibility, and social, emotional and political responsibility. All learning should be based on these five tenants because this would make the learning system much better. I think that people would get more out of school if schools based their learning on these five tenants.
She also spoke about LEAP's emotional program. LEAP basically meets the emotional needs of the students and the people involved in this program. They have a class that develops a learner's sense of belonging and having an identity. This in turn creates a "safe-haven" for the students where they are allowed to grow and feel comfortable with themselves. This is a good thing for students to have because everyone needs an environment that they feel comfortable growing up in and for being able to show their emotions without feeling judged. It's difficult to feel this in most school systems. I have personally never felt that in any school that I've attended.
Ubunti means humanity. These schools are based on this. Under Ubunti, the LEAP code of conduct is created. This code of conduct states things such as being kind, honest, and never giving up. It is full of inspirational aspects unlike many other schools. I don't remember reading things such as this in my high school code of conduct for example. I think that if every school's code of conduct included these things, then schools in general would be much better for students. After hearing this lecture, I wondered why every school does not do this.

K'ara Locke-" A Charge to Keep"

Ms. Worthy explained to us how the LEAP schools, like the one she visited, are culturally relevant. One of the ways their teaching is culturally relevant is by incorporating African Epistemology in their learning environments. Their school day runs a lot differently than our school day in a typical American school would run. They have multiple age groups together in one class and they do not break up all their subjects the way we do because African people learn better in that way. Ms. Worthy thinks we should re-segregate the schools in America and teach the black children in a more culturally relevant way so we can excel and be up to par with our white counterparts because it worked before, when segregation was forced. All this sounds good but it makes me question what was it all for in the beginning then, with fighting for desegregation of schools.

LEAP also caters to the emotional needs of the students. They have an entire class dedicated to sharing how they feel and “to develop the individual learner’s sense of wholeness, identity and belonging.” This gives them a safe, non-judgmental environment to learn and thrive in, which many if them still need since the apartheid has just recently ended and they are not adjusted to the changes. This could help a lot of American students, just to know that you are surrounded by people who care; because we definitely do not have that feel in our school system.

These schools work based on Ubuntu, which means humanity. A man defined freedom as “the struggle for humanization.” The LEAP schools put a great deal of emphasis on Ubuntu, it is almost like their way of life, it guides them throughout their entire school day. There is more to it than just humanity, it is the LEAP code of conduct. I think it would be beneficial to American students, if we learned about Ubuntu and applied it to our lives as they do.

K'ara Locke- Eloquence of the Scribes

To be the “best and brightest” of Howard be pushing to excel in every course I take. I came Washington with the mindset that I was going to leave with a 4.0. But I won’t top there, I will work hard to make myself well rounded and aware of the world around me. This way I will know how I can be the change I want to see.

To be a citizen of the world to me means to be aware that there is a whole other world outside of the one I live in and know. And to know that I have to help change it and help make it into what everyone wants it to be. As a world citizen, I have to truly understand the importance of progress. My citizenship in the nation informs my world citizenry because I realize how much we have already done, is no where near enough, compared to what we still have to do to make the world all be on one accord.

I know Thurgood Marshall is going way back in time but I know that he had “to till and turn over” a lot “soil” to get where he got in the time that he lived in. Thurgood Marshall, although he chose a career opposite of the one I am pursuing, he inspires me to keep pushing and try my hardest at everything because if he could achieve all that he did at the time that he did, then I should be able to do more.