September 6, 2024
George Dawson was born in Marshall, Texas in 1898. His grandparents and great-grandparents had been slaves. One of his earlier childhood memories was seeing a 17-year-old Black boy get lynched.
Until he was 98 years old, Dawson was illiterate. According to Wikipedia, however, in 1996 he received a visit from someone affiliated with a local adult education program, and took it upon himself to learn to read, and then began studying for his GED.
In 2000, he received national attention when his autobiography (“Life Is So Good”) was published. He was featured in People magazine and appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show. After his death at the age of 103, a middle school was named in his honor.
That school — the George Dawson Middle School in the affluent Dallas suburb of Southlake — recently placed his autobiography “under review,” meaning that it has been removed from the school library’s shelves lest middle schoolers learn about the history of lynching, racism, segregation and the civil rights movement.
Ironic, ain’t it?