Journey in Learning and Teaching Science
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Is Where My Story Begins
by
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Chapter One: My Childhood Home and My Most Memorable Home Coming In June, 1968, I returned home with feelings of joy, relief, and redemption. I was joyful because I was coming back to my parents and my home after an absence of four long years. I felt relieved because the mission which had taken me away from home had been accomplished. I felt redeemed because my absence and actions before I left had caused my parents a lot of worry, but now I was returning with the mission accomplished and a promise I made to my parents fulfilled. This is what happened during the five years that preceded my homecoming in June, 1968: On August, 21, 1963, I married after completing only one academic year and two summer sessions at Howard University in Washington, DC, where I had received a four year, full expense scholarship. It was a jolt to my parents because I had told them, months earlier, that I would not marry before completing my undergraduate education. According to the plan I communicated to them, I would have a B.S., in chemistry, from Howard University by 1966, and my husband-to-be, Daniel Akins, a Howard University graduate, would have his Ph.D., in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. However, we did not wait to complete our educational goals before getting married. We got married a few weeks before Daniel left to begin his studies at Berkeley in September, 1963. After our elopement, Dan and I promised my parents that nothing would keep me from getting my bachelor’s degree. My parents expressed support and confidence in us. Immediately, they sent a marriage announcement to the Winston-Salem Journal. It must have shocked everyone in Winston-Salem who had known me during my early life, when the announcement was published in September, 1963. It revealed the post wedding plans Dan and I described to my parents: Dan would work toward his doctorate in Berkeley, California, and I would return to Howard University and resume my studies. That is exactly what we did, at first. But six weeks after Dan arrived at Berkeley, he informed me that he had found a studio apartment near the Berkeley campus where we could live. He said that his research adviser was very encouraging and supportive of the idea of my joining him at Berkeley and enrolling there. I dropped out of Howard University to join Dan. First, I went home to visit my parents in Winston-Salem. After reassuring them that I would not let anything interfere with my college education, they gave me their blessings and they saw me off as I boarded a Greyhound bus for California. I arrived in San Francisco and I met Dan on November 24, 1963 (two days after the assassination of President John Kennedy).
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About the Book
The author tells her life story through journals and real life vignettes written in the first person. She describes her experiences while growing up in a segregated, mid-twentieth century African American community. Nurturing relationships and activities in her working class African American home, learning in segregated African American schools, and strong connections between her home, schools, and other community institutions are described. Family history and customs, community characteristics, and socio-economic and political circumstances and events that affected her early life and her upbringing are described. Included in her story are prominent people, places, events, and circumstances that facilitated her holistic development from early childhood through adolescence. Readers will be able to infer how all the above factors and enriched learning activities in and outside of school resulted in her a positive self-image and outlook on life as well as her determination to pursue chemistry studies in challenging higher education institutions. Throughout the book the author provides commentary in which she explicitly connects her early life with events and experiences (academic, professional, and personal family life) that occurred along her journey in later years.