And Still We Rise Study Guide

Part 2: Fall

On a particular Monday morning, Toni Little assigns her students to write an essay that was previously used for a previous AP English class. She gets enraged when none in her class could answer her question about juxtaposition. Venola and Olivia both arrive in her class late. She gives her students 40 minutes to finish their essays. By Wednesday, she instructed some of her favorite students to read their essays in front of the class. She is pleased with the quality of their output and was uplifted for the rest of the day. During her next class, she decided to initiate a discussion covering religious and ethical issues. She decided to let her students study pieces that delve into those issues. She introduced “Inherit the Wind” to her class by sparking a debate regarding religion and tells them to put literature in high regard.

Meanwhile, Braxton is dismayed. Toya just informed him that she can’t afford the $265 monthly and decided to enroll at a Watts high school that has a program for teenage mothers and provides free childcare. He knew that Toya is too bright to be enrolled in that school.

On a Saturday afternoon when she was thirteen, Sabreen’s mother hit her in the back with a broom handle because a shirt got stolen while the girl was doing their laundry. She has grown accustomed to the frequent beatings from her mother and stepfather, but this was the last straw for her. She asked a cousin of hers to drop her off at her father’s house. He told her that when her mother got pregnant, she wanted to have an abortion but he convinced her to keep the baby. From then on, she had resented Sabreen. She became a ward of the county. Even if it was a bit too much for someone as young as her to bear, she was convinced that no foster mother will beat her. She was an excellent student, far too bright for the previous schools that she attended. When her senior year began, she was the ninth out of 356 seniors in terms of GPA. She was enrolled in AP and honors classes while juggling 40 hours of work per week at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. She was finding it difficult to juggle everything, but continued to be enthusiastic about school. The only person that she talked to about her struggles was Braxton. During an October morning, her social worker dropped by Braxton’s office and asked to speak to her. She has been on AWOL for a while and was being asked to pull out of school and be locked in a county facility. Braxton made a plea with the social worker because Sabreen has been doing well in school. The social worker told him that she needed to return to county foster care immediately.

A few days later, Sabreen gets relocated to a new foster home. Upon discovering how dirty the bathroom was, she decided that it was better to go AWOL again instead of taking a bath in there. The next morning, she stormed into Braxton’s office and cries about how she couldn’t handle it all. She told him that she wants to rent an apartment instead. Braxton kept on encouraging her to tough it out until senior year ends.

The following Saturday was the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Sabreen, like the other students at Crenshaw, would be walking in the exam room with no preparations. Most of the parents of Crenshaw students haven’t been to college, hence their lack of knowledge regarding the importance of SATs. Some of the seniors, like Olivia, have already taken the SATs before. Most of the students score 1,000 points and above, but it’s still considered to be low. They’re all aiming to score higher to get into good colleges.

Fall arrived in California by late October. Little is on edge. The class couldn’t care less about her dispute against the coach of the drill team and continued to rehearse their lines for the play. Little’s temper continued to be sour for the rest of the week. She bursts out on Miesha, who was just running errands. Danielle, who was the frontrunner for class valedictorian, told Little that she was worried about her. She knew that her teacher was quick to anger but this year, it seems as if she has gotten worse. Little tutors student after school, and outside of her overflowing AP class, she is more relaxed and calm.

The following week, November 5th, Californians voted on Proposition 209. The proposition stated that there would no longer be any preferential treatment given, regardless of race. This means that colleges and universities would not take into account the race of the student in order to raise their minority population. However, this won’t take effect until after the students in Little’s class are already in their freshman year of college.