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Yale Needs Women


How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant
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Have you ever been in a position where you were an extreme minority because of your race? How did it affect how you behaved? How others behaved towards you? Compare this to a situation in which your race was in the majority.

Created: 06/24/21

Replies: 3

Posted Jun. 24, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 3442

Have you ever been in a position where you were an extreme minority because of your race? How did it affect how you behaved? How others behaved towards you? Compare this to a situation in which your race was in the majority.

"I was out of my mind frightened. It wasn't so much Yale as coming to a white college," says one of the black women freshmen. Have you ever been in a position where you were an extreme minority because of your race? How did it affect how you behaved? How others behaved towards you? Compare this to a situation in which your race was in the majority.


Posted Jun. 25, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
kimk

Join Date: 10/16/10

Posts: 889

RE: Have you ever been in a position ...

In elementary school I was one of two white children in my 2nd grade class. I don't recall feeling terribly different from the other kids, but I also know I didn't have many friends so I suppose the racial lines had already been drawn. I played with the neighbors, who were white, and I don't recall ever having Black kids over.


Posted Jun. 26, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
veronicaj

Join Date: 05/25/17

Posts: 21

RE: Have you ever been in a position ...

Growing up in Milwaukee in the 50's I lived in a neighborhood where the only other girls had parents that didn't want them playing with a Catholic. I also had an older sister who was epileptic and physically and mentally handicapped. Back in the 50's that illness was considered a big stigma. I went to a Catholic school, was friends with the boys in the neighborhood, so I never felt isolated. What the experiences did do is give me empathy towards who shunned for whatever reason, religion, nationality, color and physical/mental disabilities.


Posted Jul. 11, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
acstrine

Join Date: 02/06/17

Posts: 438

RE: Have you ever been in a position ...

I do a lot of volunteer work in Guaymas, Sonora. Often times I am the only American/Caucasian/English speaker. I have never been treated poorly. I understand and speak Spanish more slowly (obviously) than the people I am working with so sometimes I feel like I am on the fringes of the activity or just working alone in a group. However, I have always been treated with kindness.

I did have an experience in a local pet store once. I asked the owner a question (in Spanish), and his response was too fast for me to understand the first time. I asked him to repeat it. He immediately switched to English and berated me, lumping me in with “all Americans” who tell Mexicans to speak English. He suggested I learn to speak better Spanish. I felt very defensive and continued speaking to him in Spanish, explaining that I did have a teacher, and was still learning. He wasn’t interested in my excuses. I was embarrassed to be singled out like that. I was ashamed that he probably had a very bad experience with another native English speaker that caused him to react to me this way. At the same time, I understood exactly why he did what he did. I understood his anger and frustration. In the end, it was a very good experience for me to have. It helped me be more aware of how others may feel in similar types of situations. I am more empathetic as a result.


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