Journal three from Rebecca

    

I love reading the book Holding On because of the stories you get to read. I love how they are all written in there perspective because you get to see how they tell their story. I also like how the stories all different from each other. I would recommend people to read this because you get to learn about people’s lives during different time periods.

     One of the profiles that I really enjoyed reading was Harold C. Cotton. I find it amazing that in North Carolina during the Civil Rights struggle that Harold C. Cotton was not only able to run a store but also integrated it as well. During 1952 the Brown vs Board of Education they were trying to segregate schools so children of a different color could have equal opportunity of a higher education. The reaction to the Brown decision was negative and in some cases was violent they had threats and even parents pulling their kids from public school systems. However Harold was lucky to have black and white people sit on the stand side by side peacefully. This was different from the brown case because the reactions were violent.

     The line that stood out to me was that Harold said "From now on, anybody that comes in here can get up on the stand. I don't care whether they close us up or not." This surprised me because he was brave enough to take a stand and do what he wanted to do. He didn't even get it okayed with the man who owned the property. He was very lucky that the man said " If your satisfied, I'm satisfied.”