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University of Texas
THE RAG 15 ¢
Vol. `1. No. 9~ OCT. 2, 1967 |C 1967| 20 ¢ OUTSIDE OF - Austin, Houston....

HOUSTON REVOLT

by Fred Maxwell

Settegast has rebelled.
After several years of
promises and disappoint-
ments from the Northeast
Independent School Board,
Settegast community has
acted to form Freedom
Independent Scool Dis-
trict. Taking up from Watts
Harlem, Newark, and Detroit
Houston Negroes now have
their own rebellion.

Freedom Independent
School District opened its
doors September 11 to some
1250 students of all ages.
Complexity and confusion
reigned sepreme the first
few days, although things
have quieted somewhat.

I joined Freedom School
as a teacher and had the
rare opportunity of teach-
ing over one hundred stu-
dents on the fourth grade
level. In working with the
children I've become very
discouraged because of the
poor facilities.

The first day I start
ed my class day by sing-
ing "God Bless America".
WHAT BULLSHIT. We're now
singing "Bettle Hym of
the Republic". As we began
the study sessions, I was
astounded to find that
many of the students were
unable to perform simple
addition, I later discover-
ed that several of them
could not read or write
more than three or four
letter words, and a few
more cannot recognize num-
bers at all. The "American
Way" has let them down,

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THE DEATH OF CIVIL RIGHTS

by Dick Reavis

The black Power move-
ment is the necessary con-
sequence of the historical
experience of black men as
Americans. During slavery,
the Afro-American masses
were given few grounds on
which to identify with or
enter into the institu-
tions of the general soc-
iety. In fact, even the
freedman was barred from
participation in almost
all American institutions
including church. Al-
thought the conversion of
the African was often
cited in apology for slav-
ery, contrary to what we
have been taught in movie-
houses, most missionaries
to the slaves were English
Methodists, and until
Emancipation, less than
5% of the black population
was "Christianized". Foll-
owing, membership in black
congregations rose phenom-
enally, until eight of the ten
Afro-Americans were form-
ally affiliated with an
orthodox religious congre-
gation. In effect, the
black American chose the
grounds of common Christ-
ianity as the first app-
roack to respectability in
America.

At about the same
time, black men also sought
acceptance in the broader
society through patriotic
endeavor. There is a rec-
ord of black heroism in
combat, especially during
the Spanish-American War,
(when, for example, black
troops went up San Juan
Hill with Teddy Roosevelt,
and preceeded his troops

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