A Day That Changed My Life

Growing up poor and African American, I quickly realized the disadvantages I was faced with. That becomes evident when I reflect on the lives of my childhood friend Jonathon and mine. We were both creative and smart young men, but got into a little trouble at school. At the age of 13 we built a go-kart using junk parts and anything we could find in the garbage dumpster. I always believed young minds like ours should have been nurtured and supported. But rather than help us or get a better understanding of why we’re not behaving in school, we were punished.

Growing up in a lower class family my mother was barely able to pay the bills. My father left my mother when I was fourteen. So she was forced to provide for my siblings and me on her school bus driver salary. My mother had the best health benefits a job provides, her children never went without healthcare. I will say the majority of lower class family’s do not have this luxury, it depends on the job. My siblings and I have also had a quality education because my mother researched the school districts in our area before deciding where to enroll her kids. The lower class can get a quality education we just have to be determined to work hard. In order to get a college education as a lower class citizen I have to work a full time job while going to school full time. I have a wonderful role model my mother got her bachelor’s degree while working to full time jobs one graveyard and one during the day while going to school full time. If she can do that then I can’t disappoint her all she’s ever wanted for her children was a better life. The government provides financial aid, but it isn’t enough to live on while going to school. I have to utilize every free moment I have to complete my assignments, because of that I don’t have any free time. College is my only shot at moving up the class ladder of America.

I am an African-American male who grew up in a community that was not fortunate enough to have access to many luxuries, especially a computer science education. Seemingly in every aspect of my life, I have been the exception. Many times I was the only African-American student in my Advanced Placement courses in high school, in terms of sports I had always been the sole African-American and the shortest player on all my lacrosse teams, and progressing through school I often times was the only person out of my group of friends who wanted to do something more with the life I was given. People like me are not supposed to escape the cycle of poverty and inequality that plague the community I call home. I am not a product of the ‘projects’ or come

My mother raised three children alone after she was divorced. There were opportunities that I missed out on and things I didn’t. I attended a lower SES school feeder pattern in Dallas Independent School District. I was able to hang out with upper class kids whom parents sent them to the public school in their neighborhood and kids who lived in poverty and utilized welfare. My community was stronger than the challenges we faced. I am a first generation between my parents so I feel a lot of pressure from them, myself, and society to be “better” than them. When I add in the fact that I am a black woman from a lower SES family, I do sometimes get discouraged because I know I have to work 10x harder than my white and upper SES counterparts. However, because I am blessed and grateful to have a strong foundation of family and friends, that discouragement always turns into motivation for me to do and be

Society has made it so hard for blacks to become successful, but for the great minds of the students at CAU; it’s so easy for them to succeed and not for them to fall into what society calls the “system”. This too, is a reason as why some African Americans feel like they just don’t have to try. The harder they try; they may still get nowhere being limited to so many great opportunities. Although there are no excuses to be made for the African American communities, this reasoning’s will leave some people to think they will never be good enough for society. “Eliminate what’s distracting you and keep it moving in order to succeed” are words that I will always remember Helen Smith Price saying before the closing of Founders Convocation 2017. In life not everyone will support you nor help you get to where you want to be and those are the people you leave behind in order to succeed. As a graduating senior of Clark Atlanta University I will always “Find a Way or Make

African American children today tend to apotheosize those who find success without finishing high school or college: rappers, athletes, etc. Throughout Contending Forces: A Romance Illustrative of Negro Life North and South, education is depicted as something that is believed to be too valuable to make accessible to Negroes, and literature and sciences was being used to falsely support this claim. Hopkins wrote, “Literature, politics, theology, history have been ransacked and perverted to prove the hopeless inferiority of the Negro and the design of God that he should serve by the right of color and physique”. African Americans cannot combat these things if they do not possess the desire to learn. Too many of us have been beguiled into believing that scholarship somehow makes an individual less of an African American. Being educated should be viewed as a prize, and it is not something that should cease after obtaining a degree. An education grants versatility. It allows an individual to be a contributor to the world, not just a consumer. African Americans have become the largest consumer group in the United States even though we account for a high percentage of those who live below the poverty line. Wealth has never been defined by how much an individual can by. Truthfully, most of the things people can by cause them to be less wealthy. Wealth is defined by how many things an individual can create. African

Growing up in a less privileged household has not only offered financial and academic challenges, but has also helped me to realize the value and power of achieving a higher education.

It was my grandmother who I told that black people must work twice as hard for the opportunities that other people get for just showing up. She said this to me over the phone when I was beginning my senior of high school and had not yet turned in college applications. My grandmother had never gone to college or finished high school. She worked on a plantation on a small island in the Caribbean until she moved to St. Thomas in the fifties and became a seamstress. She came from a modest household but realized the importance of education early. I believe that knowledge is the first step to improving your situation whether you are white, black or blue. If I had to do it all over again, I would have kept my head down and stayed focus until I achieved

Raised by a successful Black single mother, she taught me at an early age what it meant to be a Black woman in today’s American society. The daughter of field workers from Mississippi, education was my mother’s most important value. My grandparents worked hard to make sure she and her siblings received the education they did not and in turn, my mother stopped at nothing to make sure my brother

Many people see education as a privilege, however I see it as an opportunity. As an African American male I make it my mission to continue the work of those black men and women who worked tirelessly to make sure that have the option to obtain higher education. I realize that I stand on the shoulder of those men and women. Hearing and understanding their stories of doing whatever it took to make sure that they were educated – knowing that education brought them dignity and respect that no one could take away from them; helped me understand that education is the key that unlocks doors. Education will allow me to be a change agent in the world and fight against social injustices and on behave of those who are unable to speak for themselves. Education

For generations African Americans have been disadvantaged in America and effects of these injustices have made a lasting impression. Education is one of the leading problems in the black community. Though there have many reforms in education over the years, racial injustices still exist because no attention in placed on how legislature affects people of color. I was raised in a middle-class family of educators. My entire life I’ve been told to “stay in school, get an education, and work hard so that you can beat the system.” Recognizing the structural forces in my life has helped me understand my place in society. Being able to “understand everyday life, not through personal circumstances but through the broader historical forces that

I can relate to this on a personal level by being the first to ever graduate from college in my family and continuing on to my second degree; sometimes my family does not understand why I do the things that I do. However, I cannot get mad at them for not understanding because they have not experienced the things that I have. “And then Dee turned to Maggie, kissed her, and said, "You ought to try to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It's really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you'd never know it." Many African Americans are still enslaved today and do not realize it. Every day that we do not decide to better ourselves and further our education is keeping us in mental slavery. I believe that Dee or Wangero was not putting down her family but, she was simply stating to them that there are more opportunities out there for black people. By Dee going to college and exploring the world her whole mind set changed for the better, she was able to see things from a different perspective. Going to college changed my life for the better. Being able to travel and see more of the world has been very rewarding for me. Every day I am learning something new and the excitement of it all grows bigger with every new topic learned. I feel that it is our duty to spread the education if you have it and teach

Growing up in a household with a mother that did not finish high school and a father that did not finish elementary is not an ideal upbringing for any child. I grew up economically impoverished for the majority of my life, and my parents tell me they attribute this to the life choices they made in their youth when they came to this country. Today, I use these circumstances not to debilitate my confidence, but rather as motivation for me to strive for what I once imagined insurmountable.

It was a bone chilling January night; my mom received a call at about 11:15 PM, a call that changed my life forever. My Aunt June was on the other line. She was crying so hard my mother could barely understand her. Through the sobbing my mom finally understood that Brian, my cousin, had been in a horrible accident and she didn’t know how bad it was. My mother jumped out of the bed after she hung up the phone. She screamed up the stairs at my sister and me; it was a nerve shrilling scream. I could hear fear in her voice. My mom was always yelling at us growing up if we forgot to do something. She would even get us out of bed to finish something that wasn’t done completely. This particular

An accident last year changed my attitude towards life . That accident had a great impact on me , it taught me to treasure what i have and to treasure those people around me more . Although the accident was not life threatening , it was still the scariest thing i had ever been through in life . It was an accident that no one would have expected and wanted it to happen .