Mo’ Charters Mo’ Problems
The historical documents found on this website are primary sources: historical records produced in one moment in time, that help us understand that moment in time.
self-determination
Interview with Jitu Weusi on Mayoral Control of New York City Schools (excerpt)
Jitu Weusi, born and raised in Brooklyn and originally named Leslie Campbell, was an educator and educational activist.
Deaf Students Protest New School Head
Gallaudet University in Washington, DC was one of the earliest US schools for the Deaf and the world’s only university for the Deaf and hard of hearing.
Goldie Chu
Please note: This is work in progress. Please keep that in mind as you read.
Bernard Carabello Interview
As institutions became more widespread, more parents sent their children with intellectual and developmental disabilities away, hoping they would be rehabilitated and come home.
I.S. 55 Graduation Speech
Please note: This is work in progress. Please keep that in mind as you read.
On the Way to School - Community Control, Some Observations, excerpt
Preston Wilcox was a human rights activist and professor at Columbia University who supported Black studies on college campuses and community control for K-12 schools.
Community Control is Not Decentralization
New York State’s 1969 decentralization law drew strong opposition from many Black and Puerto Rican New Yorkers who had been advocating for community control.
Fifteen Demands of Black and Puerto Rican Students
Please note: This is work in progress. Please keep that in mind as you read.
Community Control March
During the 1968 teacher strike, community control advocates continued to participate in leading local school districts and arguing for self-determination in education.
Parents Speaking on Ocean Hill-Brownsville
This video captures New York City parents speaking of their desires for community control of their children’s schools.
A Proposal for an Independent Board of Education in Harlem
Over 1 million new Black Southern migrants and Puerto Rican immigrants had settled in New York City by the 1950s.
Operation Shut Down Flier
Civil rights organizers in Lowndes County, Mississippi, chose the image of a black panther as their symbol.
Black Panther Party letter about Operation Shut Down
The Black Panther Party’s Harlem Branch, founded in 1966, defined Black Power as “having the right to self-determination or the power to decide what should go down in our community,” and “being the decision makers, the policy makers.
Testimony to the Uniform Type Committee
Raised type was first invented in France in 1824, by Louis Braille.
Exercises of the Pupils of the NY Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb
Sign language is believed to have been in use by different peoples, including Native Americans, for many centuries.