Journal #6 Fish out of Water

For this assignment I wanted to do something a little bit different than writing about an event I attended. After reading the directions, I realized that this would be a perfect opportunity to talk about my experience taking the course African American Studies 2A and 2B at SJSU. This course was taught by two extraordinary teachers as well as human beings -- Dr. Steven Millner as well as Dr. Ruth Wilson. I was not very hesitant when deciding to take this course because I needed a history course and I wanted to find out a little more about the African American culture. When I walked into the class for 2A I realized that I was of the few Caucasian people in the class. It was primarily African Americans. Because the course was about the history of African Americans and the terrible things they had to go through, I naturally felt a little out of place after the first day. Little did I know that this course would turn out to be the best class I had ever taken.

It only took me about a week to settle in to the class and feel very comfortable on a daily basis. The first semester I took 2A, which examined the early history of African Americans during the slave era. After listening to Dr. Millner and Dr. Wilson give daily lectures I learned for the first time how important a caring professor could be. The way those two teachers were able to convey such passion and knowledge about their culture's history and still help us students follow along inspired me in a way that I had never felt before.

Midway through my first semester taking the course, I began to develop a good relationship with Dr. Millner and he would often find humor at my ability to blush when called upon. I seemed to grow on him and become one of his favorite students. Although the work was difficult, it was okay because I was enjoying being in the class and learning new things. It meant a lot to Dr. Millner that I stayed in the course -- not only for the first semester, but I came back for the second semester as well.

After returning for my second semester of the course, 2B, I walked in the first day of class as I had done before. This time was different. I still was one of two Caucasian males in the class, but I now knew that I had nothing to be nervous about. Throughout the semester I felt more like a veteran, having taken the similar course the semester prior. This course was about more recent history -- discussing things like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X, along with the Watts riots and so on. When I walked out of the final on my last day of class, I shook Dr. Millner's hand and thanked him for an amazing year. I told him what a huge impact he had on me and he told me how much he enjoyed me being in his class. Who would have thought, the one class I was most nervous about day 1 was the class that I felt most comfortable in. Go figure.