Alfreda Hawkins isFraser Elementary School's librarian. We found her one morning preparing for a day with Fraser's students. She spoke to us about role models for African-American youth, issues facing the black community in general and in the Charleston area, and about memories of her own school days. At one point, a former classmate and friend, Lizzie Madison, a first-grade teacher at Fraser, appeared and added her story to Ms. Hawkins'.

While we waited for Ms. Hawkins to speak with us during her break, we surveyed the library and found it a model of multicultural learning techniques. Ms. Hawkins has carefully decorated the room with inspirational stories and pictures of black leaders, as well as those of other ethnicities and races. She shared with us her belief in the importance of students seeing role models recognizable to them. She applies the same diligence to her choice of the library's reading material. A cursory scan of some shelves revealed books ranging from Nina Simon's Why Am I Different to Etiquette, Jr. Hawkins searches for items that represent paradigms for multiculturalism and integration. Her approach joins perfectly with that of Fraser's vision.

Ms. Hawkins sees a huge difference between her educational experience, that of her son, and that of students at Fraser today. Though she attended all black schools, she learned no formal black history in the classroom. She learned the majority of her knowledge of slavery from church and family stories. The little she did acquire from the classroom regarding black history centered mainly on figureheads like Harriet Tubman. These lessons emphasized her generation's priviledge and were intended to show young black students how much they too could overcome. She and Ms. Madison also remember the librarian at their local black public library as an inspiration. This librarian read stories about black children and black communities and encouraged Hawkins and Madison to embrace their heritage. Hawkins still considers Jr., A Boy of Charleston (Lattimore), a book her old librarian first shared with her, a classic and she keeps it shelved prominently in the library.

Both Ms. Hawkins and Ms. Madison seem optimistic about the future of education for the African-American community. While Fraser stands as an exception to the rule in Charleston county, Hawkins notes that, on the whole, young white teachers throughout the city and its surroundings understand their black students' culture in ways she never thought possible. She sees the growing multicultural bent in education as promising and indicative of continuing progress and reform.