Introduction
The archival texts that will be examined today are titled City Defendants’ Motion Concerning Major Sports at Burke High School and Cape Verde, Post Report. Both texts relate to my life in distant and significant ways. Each gives insight into historical events that took place at the time.
City Defendants’ Motion Concerning Major Sports at Burke High School
The first archival document titled City Defendants’ Motion Concerning Major Sports at Burke High School was filed in court on September 27, 1974. It is a court case document regarding students from Burke High School and desegregation during the 1970s.
In summary the defendants in this case requested that Judge Arthur Garrity permit current Burke High School students the ability to play varsity sports at the schools they attend before they were reassigned due to the desegregation of Boston Public Schools. This document comes from the court case Tallulah Morgan et al. v. James W. Hennigan et al., also known as the Boston Schools Desegregation Case.
In 1972 a group of African American parents brought a class action lawsuit alleging that the Boston School Committee violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, by deliberatly policing racial segregation in schools. Unlike other areas of the country where schools were facing “de jure” segregation (segregation as a result of the law), Boston was experiencing “de facto” segregation (segregation as a result of action).
In the end Judge W. Arthur Garrity, Jr. established that the Boston School Committee had intentionally carried out the segregation of Boston Public Schools. The ruling was upheld unanimously by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which ordered the Boston School Committee to formulate a permanent school desegregation plan. This plan would have to address student assignment, teacher employment, and facility improvement procedures, as well as the use of busing on a citywide basis.
However the Boston School Committee failed to present an adequate plan, so the court had to take over as an active role in the formulation of the desegregation plan. In turn it had to oversee the implementation of court-ordered desegregation within Boston Public Schools. In short this is how we ended up with the document that is being examined.
For this specific document it focused on the athletic teams and sports funding that was available to students at Burke High School. Burke High School primarily consisted of students of color and was underfunded. When white students had been reassigned to that school many of them couldn’t play the sports they had played at their old school anymore. This document showcases the frustrations and plan in place to combat the problem at hand.
This document was archived because it played an important role in the desegregation of Boston Public Schools. It is a product of the shortcoming of the integration of Boston Public Schools and highlights one of many problems that arose after desegregation. It also emphasizes the racial divide and inequalities in school systems in regards to resources available to different communities.
When writing the remix poem for this document I wanted to make sure that the main focus showcased the problems some Burke High School students were facing in regards to funding and sports. The document is relatively short so I picked words that stood out the most and gave the most insight into the citation at hand. My remix poem mainy makes the conflict regarding sports at Burke High School visible while leaving out things such as the nitty gritty aspects of how they would solve the problem.
Remix Poem:
City Defendants move
Students assigned play
Athletic games not this year
Initiate programs wish
Track Football Hockey
No money exist
Resentful reassignments
Exploring integration
Equipment sports a plan
For Desegregation
Cape Verde, Post Report.
The second archival document titled Cape Verde, Post Report was written in March of 1986. It is a report on the country made by the United States Department of State. It is an overview on the current state of the country. It gives insight into things such as Cape Verde’s history, population, culture, geography and climate, public institution, commerce and industry, just to name a few. The first half of this document is essentially a crash course on Cape Verde’s history and current socio economic situation.
Although this document does talk a lot about Cape Verde itself it also focuses on America in relation to Cape Verde. There is an entire section of the document that focuses on the American embassies located there, which includes photos of the building and its surrounding areas. During this section it explains the housing arrangements, clothing, furnishing, schooling, social life and many other aspects of daily life that is expected to occur while there. It states what things are suitable in Cape Verde, such as food. What is common to have, such as maids and what things are unsuitable, such as traditional Cape Verdean schooling for American children.
This document was archived because it is a time capsule of Cape Verde’s socio economic state and its relations with America during 1986. While looking at this I was able to gage how much the country has changed over the years. I was also able to see America’s opinions on the country and how it viewed Cape Verde in relation to them.
When writing the remix poem for this document I wanted the focus to be a bit on the general side since the original document is like that. Unlike the first document that is discussed, this document is rather long and touches on a large range of topics regarding the Cape Verde islands. In turn I wanted to highlight some of the things that stuck out to me when I think of Cape Verde but also some things that stuck out to me when reading the document. My remix poem mainly makes the history and environment of the country visible and leaves out many aspects of America’s relation and opinions on it.
Remix Poem:
Cape Verde
Dry and rainy
Islands of ten
Mangos homes
papayas markets
Lemonade
on warm watered
beaches
War and struggle
Established control
International life
On whaling boats
Culture mixture
Cobblestone roads
A long history
reflects in the sea
Conclusion
Overall I found both of these texts to be very interesting despite them being very different from each other. They both displayed prominent stances and allowed me to get a better understanding of events that happened in the past. It was intriguing to look at aspects of my Cape Verdan identity and my American one, growing up in Boston. Although they are different it was interesting to see how they overlap with one another.
Links to Archive Source
Cape Verde, Post Report:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31210009488436&view=1up&seq=5
City Defendants’ Motion Concerning Major Sports at Burke High School: