In 1964, my third-grade teacher relied mainly on an air of motherly authority to maintain control over her classroom of more than 50 8-year-olds. But when pushed, she warned darkly of deploying her spanking machine.
With this text, the colony of Rhode Island outlawed the importation of enslaved Africans and established the immediate emancipation of enslaved people in the colony in 1774. However, the law stipulated some important exceptions that made this change particularly ineffective.
Fakhra, a San Francisco Bay Area native and high school teacher, teaches courses through the San Francisco Peer Resources Program at Mission High School. Shah works to educate and empower youth of diverse backgrounds to become critical thinkers who challenge systems of oppression and who take steps to create lasting institutional change. Over the past few years, Shah has developed curricula that challenge Islamophobia, racism and hate speech, seeking to further support marginalized students in her classes.