Summary Of A Chance For Change

After living in Mississippi my entire life, I thought I knew a lot about the history of my home state. After reading Crystal R. Sanders’ book, my opinion was completely changed. Before reading A Chance For Change, I had never heard of Mississippi’s most influential civil rights worker. Unless their names were Martin Luther King, JR or James Meredith, I was probably unaware of their influence on society. Mississippi is full of history and I feel that today’s education system completely skips what is arguably the most important part of our history. I enjoyed reading Crystal Sanders’ book because I felt it educated me on one of the most influential and controversial parts of our great state. In Crystal R. Sanders’ A Chance for Change, she demonstrates
that African American’s fight for educational rights in Mississippi was a long fought battle that lasted through many generations. Throughout much of the 1900s, African Americans in Mississippi were continually denied their right for an equal education.
Crystal R. Sanders’ writes, “White supremacists sought to limit black educational opportunities to maintain a large supply of cheap black labor” (14). What she says here is that, basically, white supremacists wanted to limit African American’s educational rights so that the only job opportunity they would have would be to farm. Finally, African Americans decided that they were going to take their own rights— specifically rights in education— into their own hands. One way, and possibly the most significant, African Americans took control of their own educational destiny was with the creation of preschool program called Child Development Group of Mississippi. This program was based off of the already existing Head Start Program. Preschools during this time were nonexistent and northern whites, along with African Americans in Mississippi, knew that that this lack of education was already separating blacks and whites. In April of 1965, two female leaders looking to make a change in Mississippi travelled to Edwards, Mississippi. These two leaders, Winson Hudson and Minnie Lewis, were looking to learn more about the already existing program Head Start and to see if the workers of Head Start could help them start their own agency. In the summer of 1965, devoted white liberals from the North, along with brave African Americans in Mississippi, including Hudson
and Lewis, applied for funds to run a series of Head Start programs, designed to benefit preschool aged children who otherwise would not have any educational background. Upon receiving the funds to start the organization, the Child Development Group of Mississippi was ready to start helping their community, specifically preschool children, in any way possible. They quickly recruited brave parents and citizens to teach the children. These teachers may not have had teaching degrees, or even much prior knowledge about teaching, but they made up for their lack of education by committing to social change. For example, Crystal R. Sanders states that, “CDGM taught its students not just letters and numbers, but also prepared children for how to ask questions and think for themselves”(61). Yes, teachers were focused on a child’s growth in education, but also the child’s physical growth, well being, and logical thinking. I believe that the latter was the more important lesson brought about by the program. Each teacher made a difference in the lives of her students, and I wish that the writer could have focused more on specific teachers, rather than all of the teachers in general. Furthermore, one gap in Crystal R. Sanders book is the broadness of it in general. When reading a book, the more characters an author adds, the harder it is to read, and I had a hard time following who was doing what in this book. On the flip side, I understand that these are not just characters, but historical figures and each little detail was crucial to the development of the book. Overall, once the program started and teachers learned how to develop their students, the program was a huge success. With all success comes criticism— especially when the success is from a program benefitting African American Children.
One of the most critical of the work done by Children Development Group of Mississippi was Senator John Stennis. Stennis began rigorously investigating the Child Development Group of Mississippi and did find some mistakes made by the group. For example, most of the employees of Child Development Group of Mississippi were just volunteers who had no educational background. Because of the volunteers lack of education, many employees had a hard time working with budgets or keeping correct paperwork. This made most of the program’s records wrong. Another accusation that Senator Stennis presented was that, “CDGM used federal government money to pay fines and bail for protest activity”(128). The program claimed that they were given permission to pay the legal fees of some employees. These minor mistakes were enough to catch the eye of Senator Stennis, who was thirsty to find any irregularity possible, in order to rid the state of the Child Development Group of Mississippi. By pointing out the Child Development Group of Mississippi’s mistakes, Senator Stennis was able to take away the program’s funding. Because of the success of the program, Child Development Group of Mississippi was able to operate for a few months after their funding was taken away, but they eventually had to close down. I believe the effects that the Child Development Group of Mississippi had
on education are lasting ones that still benefit to this day. The main point of A Chance For Change is that African Americans needed to take their own rights into their own hands— Child Development Group of Mississippi is a perfect example of African Americans doing so. The program was able to help working-class African Americans take charge of their own rights and challenge the social order set forth for them. Challenging the social order is something that is still very prevalent to this day and it is interesting to me that the concept possibly originated from The Child Development Group of Mississippi. Child Development Group of Mississippi was headquartered in Mount Beulah, Mississippi, which is outside of present day Edwards. Edwards is actually the town that I call home, and I have never once heard of the beneficial work that was done there. Growing up in Mississippi, especially in areas that played a pivotal role in The Civil War and The Civil Rights Movement, the education system could and should have been proactive about our state’s treacherous history. Yet, there was barely any mention of The Civil War and The Civil Rights Movement in history classes growing up. It is almost like we, as a society, have decided to skip the most important part of our history. I think that if Crystal R. Sanders would have connected the state’s past educational woes to the present educational woes, it would have made the book more applicable. This lack of connection from the past to the present is the biggest gap in her work. History repeats itself, and that became even more evident to me after reading this book and analyzing the educational system in which I grew up in.