[CALIBK12] A primary source of what? Racism in it's worst form!

[Blanche Woolls]

And here I am going to step in with both feet. No school library needs any 
book that has that kind of vocabulary in it. If that Encyclopedia were 
around, it wouldn't be possible for the author/publisher to have not had 
many more references to the culture, the descriptions of faces and hair 
and other things besides working in the fields. To keep it to show that it 
was history albeit inappropriate is not for high schools. It might belong 
in an archive at the university level but not in a modern school library 
in California. We don't teach that kind of history. If it is on the shelf, 
those students who want to use inappropriate language in speaking with 
their colleagues will have it right from a reference book in the library.

In talking to a colleague, Elizabeth Howard, author of Aunt Flossie's Hats 
and Cupcakes After, I had just returned from China and spoke of the fact 
that everyone in China had food, no mean feat, and something of a comment 
about something positive in Communism, she said to me, "The slaves 
were well fed, to." Betty's grandchildren are California natives. It would 
have been appalling to her and to me if that Encyclopedia had been in 
their high school. And between us, if Betty and her husband, Larry, were 
working anywhere, it is doubtful they would sing. That's another of those 
cultural biases that creep in. Many African Americans have wonderful 
voices, but not all African Americans do. Singing in the fields while 
someone a horse with whip rode two rows over. Come on!

So, maybe it's time for everyone to do that number, "Walk a mile in 
someone else's shoes." Think about derogatory remarks about Irishmen, 
Mediterrean immigrants -- or did you realize they weren't welcome here in 
the early 20th century and they were all Caucasian. Are you one of those? 
What if it was you these remarks were about?

Blanche

The difference between

On Fri, 29 Feb 2008, Headley Vicki wrote:

> Thank you John.  Well said!  My district ³multicultural leader² wanted
> us(all school libraries) to throw out Huckleberry Finn.  She also said that
> some other books were inappropriate that won the Coretta Scott King award.
> I kept giggling while she was giving this talk assuming that it had a punch
> line.  It turned out she was serious.  I didn¹t do it.  She never followed
> through. A good library will have material that offends everyone ­ not all
> of the people all of the time, but some of the people some of the time ­
> because how do you broaden your view if you limit the vision?  If a book
> offends a reader, the reader has the option of closing the book.  Years ago
> I weeded out an encyclopedia called something like ³the history of the
> American Negro.²  It had lines in it about the ³darkies² and how happy they
> were singing in the fields and in the hollows.  I have wished so many times
> since that I had kept it as a reference and a ³primary source²  of an age we
> assume is long gone.  That being said, I know weeding decision are always
> hard and in many places shelf space is at a premium.  We need to be on guard
> not to become too middle of the road, too mass appeal and have some books
> that sit on the shelf most of the time, but are there when a patron needs
> them.
> Vicki Headley
> Media Specialist
> Kennedy Middle School
>
> "And he reads to them, as he does every night, as if watering them, as if
> turning earth at their feet."  -- James Salter
>
>
> On 2/28/08 2:13 PM, "McVey, John" <jmcvey at tusd.net> wrote:
>
>> I realize the necessity to upgrade and weed out the old. However,  there are
>> some sections to our libraries, and some discussions we really should maintain
>> so as not to become too 1984-ish. Changing history to fit the current PC-ness
>> (or government leaders) and doing away with something that may be offensive to
>> some, only for the sake of not offending, will leave generations of the future
>> without the knowledge of what was and how we got to the place we find
>> ourselves at today.  What a wonderful springboard for discussion with students
>> of how society changes and why, and whether or not it may actually be a good
>> thing.   Having a 398 title from different time periods is a great way to
>> teach history, social change, and comparison of art, writing, etc.  And they
>> will be reading!! If education truly wants to help students be critical
>> thinkers and able to deal with a changing society, perhaps a trip to a really
>> well-chosen library would save time and money we seem to cycle away on Œnew¹
>> approaches in textbooks and teaching styles. Actually, almost the same
>> reasoning can be used for cutting libraries at the present‹because they aren¹t
>> used, they are outdated, not the technology of the future.  I think we all
>> heard this when computers first came on the scene‹that books were a thing of
>> the past, as were teachers in the flesh‹or at least in each classroom. I
>> suppose my thoughts are strong from a sense of history and love of reading a
>> variety of sources.  It¹s hard to know where we are if you can¹t know where
>> you¹ve been.  Perhaps we are just too busy with the here and now, and perhaps
>> too many just don¹t care.
>>
>> John McVey
>> Library Technician
>> North School   K-8 YRE
>> Tracy, CA
>>
>> From: calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu [mailto:calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu]
>> On Behalf Of Megan Fuller
>> Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 6:35 AM
>> To: library
>> Subject: [CALIBK12] Weeding the 398.2's
>>
>> I recently set myself a task.  After checking out Debbie Reese's site, I
>> became curious about the state of my folk tales.  Jan James, the woman who was
>> the credentialed library media specialist before I came, truly loved folk
>> tales, so I have a large collection.  But as we all know times change and we
>> have to eye some things in new ways.  With Debbie's advise I weeded several
>> Native American retellings, but overall was happy with what I have.  So now I
>> am looking at the rest of the 398.2s. I have come across two Joel Chandler
>> Harris books, Tales of Uncle Remus, and The stories of Brer Rabbit, copyright
>> 1941.
>>
>> I am in a quandry, while trying to explain trickster tales to the 8th grade I
>> talked about Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby, and my students do not know these
>> stories.  They have heard of Anansi, but not Brer Rabbit.  The forward in the
>> Uncle Remus is by Margaret Wise Brown, talkes about the Gulluh dialect of the
>> S. Carolina, Georgia coast.  These stories are very much told in the "Dis,
>> Dem, Dos." vernacular style.  I  love these stories and do not own any modern
>> retellings, nor after looking around have have I been able to find a modern
>> anthology.  Lots of single picture books, but not a collection.
>>
>> So, do they stay or do they go? Does anyone have a vendor they would suggest
>> for replacement?
>>
>> Megan Fuller
>> Aptos Junior High
>> http://www.aptosjr.pvusd.net/library/
>>
>> Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.
>> -- Wernher von Braun
>>
>>
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