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I’ve always known that Papa was a member of the Bowling Green State University faculty. I even knew that he wrote a book about working alongside James Baldwin. What I didn’t realize was that this book, published in the year of my birth, could illuminate so much about my world in 2015. Papa’s book, Mr. Baldwin, I Presume, was written before I came into the world. Each grandchild received a signed copy with a two dollar bill tucked lovingly in the front pages. Papa wrote to me in the front cover when I was less than three months old, his newest grandchild and only granddaughter. This was her Life in a summary.

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As part of a series of videos about race, we are featuring personal stories that reflect the breadth of experiences in the United States.

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A woman Born and raised in Massachusetts But as a black woman for her Living in a white state makes her feel like a tourist. Some people in her Area only know her as the colored woman. Some want to others do not. When ever she does something in the everyday life people just see her as something not someone and for her it can be difficult. For example, I am an avid reader who supports independent bookstores when traveling. Bookshop employees are characteristically welcoming. Maybe voracious reading and open-mindedness go hand in hand. But if she was to grab coffee and a snack nearby, she often found herself ignored, or worse. Once, in a doughnut shop, a man flicked a lit cigarette at her when I was visibly pregnant and alone.

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I am a New Englander, born and bred, with the accent to prove it. Originally from Massachusetts, I now live in northern New Hampshire, in an area popular with vacationers. However, as a black woman in an overwhelmingly white state, there are times when I feel like a tourist.

Many residents here have never known a person of color. Some want to; others do not. Problem is, when I leave my own small town, it's impossible to know which type I will encounter.

For example, I am an avid reader who supports independent bookstores when traveling. Bookshop employees are characteristically welcoming. Maybe voracious reading and open-mindedness go hand in hand.

But if I grab coffee and a snack nearby, I have often found myself ignored, or worse. Once, in a doughnut shop, a man flicked a lit cigarette at me when I was visibly pregnant and alone. Another customer witnessed it and froze. Full of righteous indignation, I jumped in my pickup and searched for a police officer, but couldn't find one.

Since then, I've used drive-thru windows when I travel. I've trained myself to be cautious and calculating.

I think racism is like a chronic condition that can be treated, but not cured. It flares up unexpectedly. After a while, though, it manages you - which is why it's so damaging.

Sometimes I think if I lived down South, life might be easier. I've visited places there where racial lines are delineated - where blacks live in certain parts of town, and whites in others.

Sometimes I think if I lived down South, life might be easier. I've visited places there where racial lines are delineated - where blacks live in certain parts of town, and whites in others.

I know many people find this kind of modern segregation very troubling. But I can see how it might appeal to a black person. I could do all the things I do now - cart the kids around, go to a show, shop and entertain - with one difference: There would be so many brown faces that mine would blend in.

But in order to do that, I would have to leave all that is familiar, relinquish all that makes me who I am. All that would remain would be my accent.

I am not trying to be a Rosa, a Martin or a Barack. I am just trying to raise a family, pursue a little happiness, and live peacefully with my neighbors. And until we all have that, none of us can say that we are truly free.
Commentator Debra Nunnally Beaupre writes the TeacherMother blog.

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Feeling Like A Tourist: Being Black In New England

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I am a New Englander, born and bred, with the accent to prove it. Originally from Massachusetts, I now live in northern New Hampshire, in an area popular with vacationers. However, as a black woman in an overwhelmingly white state, there are times when I feel like a tourist.

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Kids don't give respect us cause of our ancestors . If we can find were er originated from that how are our kids supposed to find a way though life, a path. Because we do not care of out god ancestor our kids can not pray. We have faded fro our ancestors we they can not be heard Because we have given up our wisdom and forgotten love our kids can not and will not have a path of their own which make this world harder on them then the rest . They are to follow in others footsteps than rather their own which is the wrong doing. Kids should be able to follow what they want we should not set a path it must be created.

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BECAUSE we have forgotten our ancestors,
our children no longer give us honor.

BECAUSE we have lost the path our ancestors cleared
kneeling in perilous undergrowth,
our children cannot find their way.

BECAUSE we have banished the God of our ancestors,
our children cannot pray.

BECAUSE the old wails of our ancestors have faded beyond our hearing,
our children cannot hear us crying.

BECAUSE we have abandoned our wisdom of mothering and fathering,
our befuddled children give birth to children
they neither want nor understand.

BECAUSE we have forgotten how to love, the adversary is within our
gates, an holds us up to the mirror of the world shouting,
'Regard the loveless'

Therefore we pledge to bind ourselves to one another, to embrace our
lowliest, to keep company with our loneliest, to educate our illiterate,
to feed our starving, to clothe our ragged, to do all good things,
knowing that we are more than keepers of our brothers and sisters.

We ARE our brothers and sisters.

IN HONOR of those who toiled and implored God with golden tongues,
and in gratitude to the same God who brought us out of hopeless desolation, we make this pledge.

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The Black Family Pledge Poem by Maya Angelou - Poem Hunter

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BECAUSE we have forgotten our ancestors,our children no longer give us honor. BECAUSE we have lost the path our ancestors clearedkneeling in perilous undergrowth,our children cannot find their way. BECAUSE we have banished the God of our ancestors,our children cannot pray. BECAUSE the old wails of our ancestors have faded beyond our hearing,our children cannot hear us crying.

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THE N-WORD MAY BE THE MOST divisive word in the English language, and its spread in popular culture has been the subject of Many Music and videos focus in recent years. This word is so well around and known that many thing that it should be banned to say, it is used to much in rap, is it very harmful and abusive.About the banning of the N-word it proabably never work because people would still you it and some people would have some problems of banning it. So this topic is a very difficult problem.

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The adventure of huckleberry Finn in only number 14 in the world for banned or challenged books for library which can really show for how the other made the book. The debate on the book has been going on for half a century about the use of the N-word in the book. Some Re-copys of the book replaced the N-word with slave....But was this a good choice. When it comes to kids at higher ages people shouldn't be trying to avoid it they should be trying to comfort it. This is mainly focused around black people and some Jew according to some other book that are read at the higher grades. People have formed and made other ideas about other book and they even had made a book about sexuality (lesbianism and homosexuality). Huck should have been taught about the big part in american history.

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