For the past ten years at West Junior High School in Waterloo, Iowa, Alice Margaret Hayes, 67, has been reading the story Little Brown Koko and the Preacher’s Watermelon to her speech and drama class. When black students began busing to the school three years ago, Mrs. Hayes was always careful to ask if any objected, recognizing the stereotype that the title implies.
This year members of Waterloo’s black community were riled by the story, and expressed their feelings two weeks ago by marching 30-odd strong into the startled teacher’s classroom and announcing they would not leave until she was fired. Mrs. Hayes was given the day off, and later agreed with school officials that she should be temporarily relieved of her duties. The black protesters accepted this and left school.
The trouble did not stop there. A group of about 200 white students lodged their own protest in behalf of Mrs. Hayes, and blacks retaliated by holding the school superintendent captive for five hours in his office. Police arrested 32 of the intruders, who went peacefully. Teacher Hayes was reinstated before school closed, but wisely chose to sit out the last few days.
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