Black History Month
Black Woman in
American Culture and History
Sculpture by Edmond Nassa.
Teacher: Allison Neeland, Level 8, AM.
“America should be a
place where you can make it
if you try,” said the first AfricanAmerican First Lady about
the American dream. In this
sentence I am reluctant to use
“should be” instead of “is.” I am
reluctant because it is still current
as we can see in the Occupy
movement, which represents the
99% of people of who are trying
but still can’t make it because
of the 1%. One guy said “Yes We Can.” He tried but he
can’t make it either because he tried only by himself. I
would change the First Lady’s words to “America WILL
be a place where WE can make it, if WE try together.”
Secondly I am not enthusiastic about using the word
“first.” As long as we keep celebrating the first AfricanAmerican First Lady, the first woman as a…, the first
Hispanic- American as a… the first transgender person
as a…, the first Muslim as a… or the first atheist as a…, it
means that we still have a lot of work to do.
Piotr Kazmierksi
Teacher: Neeland/Potter, Vocabulary Class
106