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Heritage
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Fulfilling
the Dream
Virginia Walden Ford
August 28, 2013
This
week, we celebrate the 50th
anniversary of the March on Washington. My own journey—to provide an
opportunity for quality education for all children—began in Little
Rock,
Arkansas. It continued in Washington, D.C., and has now brought me full
circle
back to Little Rock to stand with parents so that all children can have
the
chance for a great education.
In
1957, Little Rock’s Central High
School became the center of the struggle for educational opportunity.
Arkansas
Governor Orval Faubus had blocked black students from entering Central
High.
President Eisenhower sent in soldiers from 101st Airborne to escort
nine black
students to their school. The controversy continued, and the school
closed the
following year.
A
few years later, my twin sister
and I were among the first black students to enter Central High in the
wake of
the controversy. My father became the first black assistant
superintendent of
the Little Rock public school system.
The
pursuit of educational
excellence and opportunity runs deep in my family.
Years
later, as a mother living in
Washington, D.C., I became involved in the fight for school choice in
our
nation’s capital. A private scholarship became a lifeline for my son,
and I
wanted other families to have the same opportunity. In 2003, that dream
became
a reality with the passage of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program
(DCOSP).
Rereading
“I Have a Dream,” the
speech that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered on August 28, 1963,
I
thought of my days at Central High and how that option made such a big
difference in my life. It was an incredible school that offered the
tools I
needed to move forward successfully.
In
the years I have fought for
educational freedom for American children, much of Dr. King’s speech
has
resonated in my mind. This week, as we remember how proud we all were
that day,
I have reaffirmed my commitment to school choice and call on all
Americans to do
the same…
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the rest of the article at the Heritage
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