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second year, I decided that... I began to question why these names weren't mentioned in the standard U.S. History which we all studied. The only Negro's name that was mentioned in that was Clifton Adams, the first man that died in the American Revolution. There was one sentence on Adams. There was nothing else about the Negro throughout the whole rest of the U. S. History. So I remember this first day in class, I raised the question with the teacher, and she told me to sit down. She didn't even bother to be polite about it. So I sat down...
...So when I sat down, I sat out that whole class. I made up my mind that I was going to sit out that whole class. I made up my mind I was not going to participate in it until somebody could give me a satisfactory explanation why this was so, and if not, why it wasn't included. So they wouldn't let me drop U.S. History, so I didn't participate. When the term paper came, I signed my name, turned it in blank. When she asked for oral recitation, I would not raise my hand, I would say, "I don't know" if she would call on me and sit down. This was my only means of fighting.
...Yow. I wasn't equipped to fight it any other way. This was the only tool I could use to fight it. And so, naturally they...the dean called me in and tried to threaten me with expulsion.
...I wasn't articulate enough to explain any close things.

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