He Was the Only Black Boy in His Class. His Life Changed the Day He Found out Why
Joseph VanderWaag was in fifth grade the first time he was called the n-word
By Theresa Vargas
Joseph VanderWaag still remembers the question written on the chalkboard the day he realized how he became the only black boy in his class.
How does Black History Month affect you?
The students in his eighth-grade social studies class were supposed to write their answers in their journals, but no one did. When the teacher called on several to discuss the question, they responded mostly with shrugs and silence.
None of that surprised VanderWaag. He hadn’t expected his classmates to have a connection to black history. A picture from his kindergarten class shows him with 14 other boys, their tiny arms locked around one another. His is one of two brown faces in the group, and not long after the photo was taken, the other boy suddenly stopped coming to school. VanderWaag asked about his friend — Where did he go? What happened? — but he never got answers from adults who either couldn’t or wouldn’t give them.
In the years that followed, he grew used to classmates reminding him he was different. Some students called him “Blackie.” Others called…
