Black to the Past

Chapter 7

By the time eighth period rolled around Wilson, Jalen, Halle, and Meredith had had it with school. They walked into Ms. Hansen's class room. She was sitting at her desk typing on her laptop. Ms. Hansen's desk faced the windows which were on the opposite wall from the door so her back was to all the kids as they filed in. Halle reached her first, clustered behind her were her fellow detention-mates.

"Ms. Hansen," Halle began.

"Ms. Hansen," Wilson said almost at the same time as Michael.

"Excuse me," Ms. Hansen said as she continued typing the email she was working on. The kids continued to stand behind her waiting for her to close the laptop and give them her attention.

"Please have a seat. I know you all want to beg off detention. I may have the solution to your problem."

The kids went and took their seats. They all sat as far away from each other as possible. Wilson sat in the back of the classroom in the row nearest the door. Two rows over from him in the front sat Jalen who much to his chagrin sat next to Halle. Meredith sat in the back of the row near the windows. She didn't pay much attention in history class anyway and always found a way to be on her phone in class. Jalen rested his head on his right hand as he did everyday in this class. It was horribly boring and all the stupid kids were in this class with him. It was a shame there was no Honors History course at Heights. Just APUSH and this sorry excuse for a class where nothing was ever learned!

"Okay, class. Thank you for your patience. You may now put your phones away as I have a special assignment to hand out," Ms. Hansen said as she pushed away from her desk and headed for the board.

"As you all know, each year the community has an MLK Jr. Day Project that it invites children in grades k-12 to participate in. This is a voluntary project for the community. Each year the community receives less and less entries so I've decided to make this a part of my curriculum this year. This year's topic is "If you could go back in time, how would you warn Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to avoid assassination and would he listen to you? Why or why not?"

A groan went up through the classroom. The kids were looking at one another and their teacher in disbelief. "I thought that we didn't have to do any projects in this class?"

"Who said that?" Ms. Hansen said shaking her head in disbelief while mimicking a video of a character from one of her favorite t.v. shows.

"Ms. Hansen, this is supposed to be the easy, history class," Meredith said from the back of the room.

"Meredith, if life were any easier for you, you wouldn't have to carry your own head on your shoulders," Ms. Hansen said in disbelief.

"The assignment is given. It is going to require research, planning, you'll have to know what was around during that time period and what wasn't. There were no cell phones, no laptops, no iPads."

"There wasn't even color t.v.," one student shouted out, gaining laughter from a few kids sitting nearby.

"And those are the kinds of things you'll need to learn in accuracy. You can't just make up something and put it in the report or it will be wrong. I want accurate information. I want the report to be written as if you were actually there and could help shape the future. Rewrite history as it were. You may work together in groups or find a partner. However, I have four students that will work together on this project if they would like to avoid a certain, shall we say, uncomfortable situation."

All the kids stopped to look around. They were waiting to see which group was being pre-assigned. "Mr. Bullock, Mr. Farrier, Miss Blackmon, and Miss Hall. The four of you are assigned to work together."