E. R. Braithwaite

Edward Ricardo Braithwaite

Final Days

Greenslade Secondary School

Picture Not So Perfect

Early Life

• privileged beginning in life
• great education, achievements, and parental pride surrounding me
• attended Queen's College, Guyana then the City College of New York (1940)
• University of Cambridge (1949)

-earned a bachelor's degree and a doctorate in physics

• different than normal schools
• trouble with students

-advice from Miss Clintridge(Clinty)

Turning Point:

• Morning recess
• went to the staffroom for tea
• came back to find a smoky classroom
• boys and girls around fireplace
• pushed through to see a surprise...

• school year coming to an end
• student's growth prepared them for their future
• Christmas parties

-Juniors disrespectful

-Senior dance:

*Pamela danced with me

*talk continued tomorrow

• Parcel given to me
• inscribed into the parcel: To Sir, With Love

I love my children.

• reporters came in to take pictures
• asked to take picture with class because of color
• refused offer

-not many colored teachers in England

• pictures made school look bad

-kids smoking and girls shown as inappropriate

Works Cited

"E. R. Braithwaite." Biography and Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2014.

Persaud, Petamber. "E. R. Braithwaite." E. R. Braithwaite Getting under Your Skin, a Thorn in the Flesh. N.p., 14 Jan. 2007. Web. 06 Oct. 2014.

"Piano Tuners Seek Amazon Jungle Harmony." BBC News. N.p., 14 Nov. 2002. Web. 07 Oct. 2014.

Braithwaite, E. R. To Sir, with Love. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1959. Print.

Born June 27, 1920

in Georgetown, Guyana

Death Call

Jobs

Learning While Teaching

• conversations every day
• headmaster would join in
• only reason I stayed teaching: a challenge
• change was astonishing

• Seales' mother died
• class decided to get flowers
• wouldn't take flowers to his house because of color
• all lessons didn't matter
• headmaster saw this as good thing
• returned to class
• Pamela Dare offered to take flowers

Funeral:

• Saturday 10 a.m.
• angry at class on bus ride there
• in tears to find most, if not all, of my class standing there

• During World War II, joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot

-felt no discrimination based on skin color or ethnicity

• After war, there was a struggle to find a job

-electrical firm advertising for technicians: Too well educated and wouldn't fit in with others

• schoolteacher in the East End of London: Greenslade Secondary School