Fire in the Ashes is based on Kozol’s original text, entitiled Amazing Grace. In that text, Kozol mentions Reverand Overall’s
discussion of what he calls “little miracles”. These are the ways in which it is the propensity of people within our culture to
focus on the limited number of success stories that exist within marginalized populations. For example, praising rags to riches
stories instead of focusing on the reality of the social trend or pattern.
Find an example within the media (newspapers, Oprah or other talk shows, news programming, magazines, the internet, etc.) of a
“little miracle”. Provide an initial posts that outlines an overview of the person’s marginalization and their route to success.
When responding to the posts of your student colleagues, indicate how you might feel if you were a member of the group that didn’t
make it. How would you feel about your own efforts and abilities? What about the tendency for others outside the group to use the
success of one or two members of a group to focus on what is ‘wrong’ with the individuals who can’t succeed?