The cost of racism
Part 932.
Before Dr. Ronald E. McNair was an astronaut, he was a little boy who lived in Lake City, South Carolina. And the Lake City library did not allow African Americans to borrow books. Nine-year-old McNair refused to leave the library and the police were called.
Now the library is being renamed after him.
McNair was the second African American astronaut in space. He held a Ph.D. in physics from MIT and was a specialist in laser physics. What a loss it would have been if he had never been allowed to borrow those books.
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Posted on January 31, 2011, in here we are, heroes, history. Bookmark the permalink. 10 Comments.
That is awesome. Also awesome: being a specialist in a field actually called “laser physics”. You don’t get cooler than that.
I’ve been excited about the new 81st Avenue library in Oakland, Ca. It’s in a heavily African-American part of town. More kids can walk to the library and borrow books. Maybe some of them will grow up to be scientists.
http://oaklandliving.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/81st-avenue-library-a-municipal-success-worth-celebrating/
(not my blog–several local bloggers think this is worth spreading.)
I live down the street from this school named in his honor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Ronald_E._McNair_Academic_High_School
“What a loss it would have been if he had never been allowed to borrow those books.”
Umm…. If not, he might still be alive today. I get your point, but not actually so much a great example in this particular case.
Geez, it’s only Feb. 1 and we already have a strong contender for stupidest comment of the year.
Let’s take it easy on the [redacted].
There is a really nice children’s book written about the day he took a stand in the library and won the right to borrow books:
Ron’s Big Mission by Corinne Naden
It’s technically fiction but is based upon those events. There is a biographical page at the end with the same NASA photo of him as you used.
My kids (6, 4, and 2) loved it, and it has led to some great conversations about race and racism.
jeeze. can’t imagine how bad was racism then!! Take away – listen to your heart and do not give up!
and yet the discussion over renaming reedy fork elementary to his name was quite vile:
http://blog.news-record.com/opinion/letters/archives/2007/06/mcnairs_words_l.shtml
ok, this is a better link:
http://blog.news-record.com/staff/outloud/archives/2007/07/the_short_stran.shtml