A story of American courage

Former Springfield College President and University of Massachusetts-Amherst Chancellor Randolph W. Bromery, 78, was asked by the Republican's Newspaper in Education program to share his story of growing up during the 1930s in Maryland as part of the paper's "Exploring Black History" series.

I was born in a small house on Carroll Street in Cumberland, Md., on what I am told was a very cold day in January 1926 and was the second child born to my parents. My sister was born less than a year earlier.

Our house consisted of two stories, a front porch, living room, dining room, kitchen with a side porch and a small bathroom and pantry on the first level and three bedrooms on the second level. Since the house was one room wide, it required a person to pass from one room to the other to reach an adjacent room...

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