And Still We Rise Study Guide

Part 1: September (Cont.)

On the second week of class, Toya visited the school. She went to visit Toni Little first, and she was invited by Toni to join her AP Literature class, although Toya was did not commit if she can join the class this week. She then visits Braxton, explaining that her aunt threw her out of the house, and she is currently living in Watts with her cousin, and that she is unsure if she can come back to Crenshaw. Even though she wants to graduate with her friends and she does not want to leave the people in the gifted program, she cannot get anyone who can attend to the baby and cannot afford to pay for a child care center. Despite all of these, Braxton offers to help her find child care that she can afford so she can come back. Toya assures herself that she can make it through this.

While Braxton is still trying to find a childcare center for Toya, he is happy that Olivia had returned to school. He’s been trying to encourage Olivia to tough things out until graduation. Olivia is aiming to get into Babson College in Massachusetts and to become a successful businesswoman. She doesn’t want to be poor again. In preparation for her Babson College application, Olivia wrote an autobiographical essay. Desperate for money, she eventually takes a job as a taxi dancer (someone who is hired to be the partner in a two-person dance) and keeps it a secret from everyone. For her AP US Government class, her teacher, Scott Allen, asks everyone to turn in contracts listing down how they agree to hand in all assignments on time and avoid tardiness. The contracts also had to be signed by their parents. Olivia approached him and told him that she didn’t have any parents that can sign it for her. Allen lets her sign it herself and tells her to not worry about it. One day, Olivia finally admits defeat and decides that she can’t keep up with her classes and working as a taxi dancer at the same time. She cut her classes and paid a visit to Ron Johnson so she could be assigned to a lenient foster home where she can get a stipend. Ron told her that he couldn’t get her an apartment unless she gets back into the foster system. She had to stay in one for a couple of months so she could be eligible for an apartment. This frustrated her. She finally agreed and Ron told her to hang on for the next nine months. The next day, she informs Braxton about what she needs to do. He lets her use her office to contact her social worker. Despite all the hardships that she had encountered in life, Olivia was still upbeat. She moved in to a new foster home and was asked by her foster mother to get rid of her Volkswagen. She refuses to, as her car signifies a lot of things that she has worked hard for. A few days after she settles into her new home, Miles Corwin drives Olivia. The sight of girls arguing welcomed them.

Upon returning to foster care, Olivia stopped taxi dancing full-time. She still goes to the club a few nights a week to earn some spending money for clothes and other luxuries for herself. She goes to a nearby Taco Bell to get some studying done, as the environment in the foster home is not helping her focus. During this time her car has remained unreliable and she has no money for repairs. She enrolled herself in an auto mechanics class in school and manages to charm the teacher into repairing her car.

Meanwhile, in AP English, they continue to read The Crucible. Little is happy that her class is very engrossed with the piece. The previous night, two of her male students called her because they wanted to know her thoughts about it. While the class was having a heated discussion about another act from the book, Venola Mason, a girl who sits at the back of the class was raising her hand. She was hurt when Little didn’t call her and slipped her a note, explaining that she had ideas that she wanted to share with her fellow students. After reading the note, Little announced to the class that she’ll be sitting in Venola’s chair while she lets the girl discuss in front of the class. Venola stands up in front and begins discussing.

Venola was nine years old when her mother, Paula, ultimately decided to move from Louisville to Los Angeles to avoid her father. She was supporting her children with the meager $125 that she earns every week. Paula worked hard and despite not paying much attention to Venola’s schoolwork, her daughter excelled. She eventually saved enough money to rent a two-bedroom apartment. She worked two jobs as a nursing assistant and at the end of the week, would hand her paychecks to Venola who would pay the bills and balance the checkbooks. She was proud of her daughter, whose ultimate goal is to get into college with a scholarship. Eventually, Paula managed to relocate her children to a small house.

Now that Venola is in her senior year, she’s been getting recruitment letters from various colleges. She aims to get into a college where she can get the most money. Venola is a voracious reader, that’s why she tends to score higher than her peers during exams. Meanwhile, Braxton finally found a childcare facility for Toya’s son, Kaelen, for $265 a month. He informs Toya of this discovery and convinces her to go back. Toya tells him that she doesn’t know if she can pay the fee monthly and tells Braxton that she’ll let him know soon.