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Yes, it's the darkest day, the longest night, of the year~the winter  solstice. As I write this, a total lunar eclipse is blocking the light of the full moon. Now that's dark. We're told that early humans built huge bonfires on nights like this, making their own light against the darkness. Don't think you'd see it if I tried that, so here's my way of beaming you some illumination. Enjoy now, and throughout your holidays.~Ann Medlock, Giraffe Founder |
 The tiny island of Nantucket, Massachusetts is proud of its history. And well it should be. Mostly.
Nantucket teacher Barbara Linebaugh White discovered, when doing research for her master's degree, that the island's history was a bit more complicated than the standard version. White's thesis was on the integration of the island's schools in the 19th century, far ahead of the nation, but not the smooth process local lore assumed. Her work was so solid, it later became the basis for a PBS documentary, but when she shared her findings with her classes, the island's historical society and the business community, she hit some walls.
Proud of the story of the island's pioneering abolitionists, some people didn't want to know that there also had been residents so determined to stop integration that they fought long and fiercely against it. White's book was not carried in island shops because there were "bad things" in it; she herself was labeled a "troublemaker."
White continued to be a truthsayer, teaching her teen-aged students their island's whole history, warts and all, no matter how much community members let her know she should shut up. Although she has the credentials to be a principal, White was passed over repeatedly and was pressed to take early retirement, which she finally did. But she never stopped teaching. Recently she worked with local teens to restore the "colored" cemetery, and she has expanded her long-ago thesis into A Line in the Sand, a trade book, available to all. Once a teacher, always...
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"If stories come to you, care for them.
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Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive."
-Barry Lopez
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