George Dawson did not study to learn till he was 98 years previous and revealed his biography the 12 months earlier than he died.
SOUTHLAKE, Texas — George Dawson was a lifelong Dallas resident, the grandson of a slave, and he didn’t study to learn till he was 98. He revealed his biography Life is So Good at greater than a century previous.
Carroll ISD, in Southlake, has a center school named for him, however the district is now reviewing if his book is acceptable in its entirety for college students on the school.
The district declined an interview however mentioned in an announcement the book has not been banned or challenged by a father or mother. It mentioned some content material was deemed inappropriate after a seventh grade instructor requested to show it.
Much of Dawson’s surviving household nonetheless lives in North Texas. His great-grandson, Chris Irvin, wasn’t conscious the district was reviewing the book.
“That’s hurtful,” he mentioned. “You take away the bad and the ugly and you only talk about the good, that doesn’t add up.”
Irvin, who studied African American historical past in school, was additionally confused as a result of he says he and his household have visited the school at the least 5 separate instances for a full cover-to-cover studying of the biography.
“Black history is American history. You can’t have one without the other,” he mentioned. “I can’t go to your history and tell you, ‘hey x that out of your life, that didn’t happen.'”
District administration mentioned in an e-mail it couldn’t share what content material was deemed inappropriate till the overview was full, however mentioned an analysis is ongoing with choices from eradicating sections to notifying dad and mom.
“My question then would be when are they ready?” Irvin mentioned.
“It’s not surprising to me,” mentioned Raven Rolle, a 2019 Carroll ISD grad and former Dawson Middle scholar. “It’s disappointing, but I’m not surprised.”
Rolle can be a member of Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition, or SARC, which tried to push a variety and inclusion plan within the district for a number of years. Carroll is one of many districts to have extremely publicized controversies over books in lecture rooms.
Last 12 months, a district administrator was captured on a recording telling academics to ensure to have books with opposing viewpoints of points together with the Holocaust and tried to reprimand a instructor over a book titled “This Book is Anti-Racist.”
Rolle needs the school and district spent extra time sharing Dawson’s story when she was a scholar.
“Just personally because of my family and my friends and stuff, I knew who George Dawson was,” she mentioned. “Let’s also talk about why he wasn’t able to learn to read until he was 98. A lot of it has to do with his identity as a Black man.”
Irvin suspects chapter one, which describes a lynching, may the issue.
“His best friend was actually accused of raping a white woman,” he mentioned of Dawson. “So, he sat there with his dad and watched his best friend getting lynched for a crime that he did not commit.”
Dawson was born in 1898 and died in Dallas in 2001 on the age of 103, only a 12 months after he revealed his book.
“You can say, ‘Hey, my life wasn’t all good. My life wasn’t all bad,’” Irvin mentioned. “It’s the whole puzzle piece that’s puts this all together that makes this worthwhile, makes us human.”
story by The Texas Tribune Source link