Center for New Americans / The Orangeburg Massacre 1968

Jim Ayres, Director of the Center for New Americans, welcomed us in Northampton and introduced the teachers and students of three different classes to us. This Center is operated as an NGO and organises English courses and computer classes for immigrants. We met people from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Ecuador, Japan, Tibet, Thailand, China, etc. They told us their name, where they live and why they have come to America. The answers to the last question were varied: for the health care of a family member, to escape from violence, to have a better chance to education, to send money home, to be reunited with a loved one, in other words, for their own American dream. It was a moving testimony and we were all impressed by the work of Jim and his team.

In the afternoon, we went back to Smith College for a joint session with US history teachers. Today, we watched the poignant documentary movie "Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre" by Judy Richardson.
This "black" page in the history of America tells the shocking story of how young black students at South Carolina State university were shot at by policemen in February 1968. The "Power" the black students had been asking for, to give them equal rights, had scared the white community and led to the terrible event of that particular night. 3 students were killed and 28 were wounded by bullets in their sides or backs. Until today, no real investigation has taken place. Although the Orangeburg Massacre has been excluded from most history books - to our astonishment even the US history teachers hadn't heard about it - it is commemorated every year at the university where it happened.
The film will soon be released on television and is available on DVD. I would recommend it for any classroom.

At the end of this busy day, we decided we deserved some time out to go shopping. At Holyoke Mall you can easily spend a week without getting bored ... if your wallet can keep up with you!
But we were lucky, the sales are on! Sandals, trousers, T-shirt and a new suitcase to take them home in...