The most important class was “Stokely’s speech class.” He put eight sentences on the blackboard, with a line between, like this:
| I digs wine | I enjoy drinking cocktails |
| The peoples wants freedom | The people want freedom |
Waveland, Mississippi, Work-Study Institute, February-March, 1965.
Reprinted from The New Radicals: A Report with Documents, by Paul Jacobs and Saul Landau (New York: Vintage, 1966).
| Whereinsoever the policemens goes they causes troubles | Anywhere the officers of the law go, they cause trouble |
| I wants to reddish to vote | I want to register to vote |
STOKELY What do you think about these sentences? Such as—The peoples wants freedom?
ZELMA It doesn’t sound right.
STOKELY What do you mean?
ZELMA “Peoples” isn’t right.
STOKELY Does it mean anything?
MILTON People means everybody. Peoples means everybody in the world.
ALMA Both sentences are right as long as you understand them.
HENRY They’re both okay, but in a speech class you have to use correct English.
(Stokely writes “correct English” in corner of blackboard.)
ZELMA I was taught at least to use the sentences on the right side.
STOKELY Does anybody you know use the sentences on the left?
CLASS Yes.
STOKELY Are they wrong?
ZELMA In terms of English, they are wrong.
STOKELY Who decides what is correct English and what is incorrect English?
MILTON People made rules. People in England, I guess.
STOKELY You all say some people speak like on the left side of the board. Could they go anywhere and speak that way? Could they go to Harvard?
CLASS Yes . . . No.
STOKELY Does Mr. Turnbow speak like on the left side?
CLASS Yes.
STOKELY Could Mr. Turnbow go to Harvard and speak like that? “I wants to reddish to vote.”
CLASS Yes.
STOKELY Would he be embarrassed?
CLASS Yes . . . No!
ZELMA He wouldn’t be, but I would. It doesn’t sound right.
STOKELY Suppose someone from Harvard came to Holmes County and said, “I want to register to vote?” Would they be embarrassed?
ZELMA No.
STOKELY Is it embarrassing at Harvard but not in Holmes County? The way you speak?
MILTON It’s inherited. It’s depending on where you come from. The people at Harvard would understand.
STOKELY Do you think the people at Harvard should forgive you?
MILTON The people at Harvard should help teach us correct English.
ALMA Why should we change if we understand what we mean ?
SHIRLEY It is embarrassing.
STOKELY Which way do most people talk?
CLASS Like on the left.
(He asks each student. All but two say “Left.” One says that Southerners speak like on the left, Northerners on the right. Another says that Southerners speak like on the left, but the majority of people speak like on the right.)
STOKELY Which way do television and radio people speak?
CLASS Left.
(There was a distinction made by the class between Northern commentators and local programs. Most programs were local and spoke like on the left, they said.)
STOKELY Which way do teachers speak?
CLASS On the left, except in class.
STOKELY If most people speak on the left, why are they trying to change these people?
GLADYS If you don’t talk right, society rejects you. It embarrasses other people if you don’t talk right.
HANK But Mississippi society, ours, isn’t embarrassed by it.
SHIRLEY But the middle class wouldn’t class us with them.
HANK They won’t accept “reddish.” What is reddish? It’s Negro dialect and it’s something you eat.
STOKELY Will society reject you if you don’t speak like on the right side of the board? Gladys said society would reject you.
GLADYS You might as well face it, man! What we gotta do is go out and become middle class. If you can’t speak good English, you don’t have a car, a job, or anything.
STOKELY If society rejects you because you don’t speak good English, should you learn to speak good English?
CLASS No!
ALMA I’m tired of doing what society say. Let society say “reddish” for a while. People ought to just accept each other.
ZELMA I think we should be speaking just like we always have.
ALMA If I change for society, I wouldn’t be free anyway.
ERNESTINE I’d like to learn correct English for my own sake.
SHIRLEY I would too.
ALMA If the majority speaks on the left, then a minority must rule society. Why do we have to change to be accepted by the minority group?
(Lunchtime.)
STOKELY Let’s think about two questions for next time: What is society? Who makes the rules for society?
The class lasted a little more than an hour. It moved very quickly. It was very good. That is, people learned. I think they learned because:
Among other things, they themselves concluded:
I recorded the whole class because it is a whole thing—one thing. That is why people learned. At least, that is why I learned.
I don’t want to make conclusions or proposals. I think Stokely’s class can stand on its own. Not only that, I think it is better than anything I could say. Just two things: he spoke to where they were at, and they were at different places, and the places changed during the movement of the discussion. Secondly, he trusted them and he trusted himself . . . and they trusted him.