Day 5

I woke Gary up before the sunrise this morning. We planned on going to Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve today. The weather forecast said it’s going to be 104°, therefore, I wanted to be at the preserve and hiking before it got too hot. It was pretty drive through the endless farms as the sun was rising: giant white windmills and old rundown silos against a backdrop of pink skies.

We arrived at the Prairie just after 7 o’clock. It was 81°, but the clouds and wind kept the temperature comfortable. We walked for about an hour and a half. It wasn’t the most thrilling hike we have ever taken but we enjoyed the scenery and the quiet. No one else was on the trails, which made for a peaceful experience. We were most excited about seeing bison. They were off in the distance, too far to take pictures, but close enough to feel like we’re were indeed on a prairie. After our walk, we visited Spring Hill, the ranch house and barn that remain in the park. We have seen so many historic houses that there wasn’t much special about it.

Prairie is a French word that means meadow. Before the Europeans arrived, 1/3 of the continental United States, was tallgrass prairie. Only 4% remains. Before the White man encroached on the land, numerous Native American tribes lived on the prairie and hunted bison for everything from food to shelter. But bison weren’t the only large animals, elk and pronghorns also roamed the land. Historically, naturally occurring fires (caused by lightning) and grazing enriched the prairie grasses, ensuring a fresh, healthy supply for the animals. Since the prairie upon which the National Preserve now sits was utilized as a ranch in the late 1800s, the National Park has worked to restore the tall grass and native wildlife to the 11,000 acres that comprise the park.

From the preserve we drove to Topeka to visit the Brown V. Board of Education National Historical Park. I consider myself a reasonably well-educated person, someone who knows a decent amount of history, and yet I go to these historical sites and realize how little I actually know. The case—Brown V. Board of Education at Topeka—was an orchestrated one. The NAACP recruited 13 parents—12 mothers and 1 father willing to sue the Topeka Board of Education. No teachers were willing to sue. The Topeka African-American community found good teaches for their schools. Being a teacher was an excellent job that ensured a middle class lifestyle. It was a position of prestige and envy. Teachers feared that if schools were desegregated they would lose their jobs and not be hired by integrated schools.

Thurgood Marshall led the NAACP legal team. He had attended Howard University Law School and was a protege of the school’s dean, Charles Houston. Houston became known as the man who killed Jim Crow. Under Houston, Howard Law trained lawyers with the intent of sending them off to fight racial injustice in America. Thurgood Marshall was perhaps the most successful.

For Brown V. Board of Education, Marshall changed tactics. Instead of arguing for equality, he decided to go straight for desegregation, stating that segregation was psychologically damaging to students forced to endure it. When the case reached the Supreme Court, it was joined with 4 other similar cases—also represented by the NAACP—from around the country. In May 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of desegregation and overturning Pleasy v. Feeguson. The first domino in the fight for Civil Rights had fallen. Successful, the NAACP went on to challenge other racially unjust laws.

Not surprisingly, there was a great deal of pushback against the desegregation of schools. Some states refused to comply with Federal law until Eisenhower forced them. A few districts even shut down public education together, channeling public money into private schools so white kids could still get an education. African-American students were forced to fend for themselves. Have things changed much? Yes and no, but I won’t bore you with my opinion. However, thinking about it makes me realize I might need to write an introduction—or epilogue—for my collection of essays on teaching that I am compiling into a manuscript. But I will need to do it tactfully, and tact has never been my strength.

After several days of educational activities, G3 and I thought it might be fun to spend a relaxing afternoon at the zoo. But it was 102 degrees and all the animals were sheltering inside to avoid the heat. I couldn’t blame them, but I wasn’t paying admission to see nothing. G3 suggested that we go to the movies instead. He’s been wanting to Oppenheimer. Yes, we wanted to give our brains a break so what do we do? We go to a historical movie so that we can learn even more. G3 suffered a bit of shock walking into the theater. He’s used to the nicely renovated theaters with comfortable reclining seats back home. But we are in Kansas. Kansas is not New York or New Jersey. The seats here are the old school creaky cloth seats—filthy and torn—that hurt your butt and back. G3 said he was afraid to sit because he feared he might contract a disease.

Oppenheimer was spectacular, one of the best movies I have ever seen. The script, the acting, and the directing were all phenomenal. G3 agrees with me, and he and I rarely agree on movies. There were a few scenes where I did need to cover his eyes—they weren’t appropriate for kids—which always frustrates him. I do need to see it again—or perhaps read the book—because there were some subtleties I know I missed the first time around. My only critique—I will issue a spoiler alert warning though I don’t think my critique would ruin anything—is that I thought Truman was painted as being incredibly arrogant and idiotic. Was that really his persona? Looks like I will need to go off and learn more about Harry Truman.

We got back to the campsite early. I had promised G3 a fire but it was just too damn hot—93 degrees at 8:20. But it didn’t matter. G3 had fallen asleep in the car and when I woke him up, he was too tired and groggy to stay awake. He crawled into the tent and immediately fell back to sleep. I am sitting by the water enjoying the oh so faint breeze, even though it isn’t nearly enough to keep me cool.