Photo: Allec Gomes | Unsplash
When Daniel Gill was 9 years old, he was invited to a birthday party in his apartment building in New York City. He brought his best friend, Archie, and they rang the bell, holding wrapped presents. The mom opened the door. Her gaze fell on Archie, who was black. "We have no more chairs," she said. After a confused Gill offered to sit on the floor and the mom repeated herself, the true meaning of her statement landed with Gillhe was welcome, but Archie wasn't because of the color of his skin. The moment stayed with Gill for the rest of his life and has guided his work. He became a teacher and worked to integrate schools in New Jersey. He has told the story to generations of students over his 52 years of teaching. And he keeps an empty chair in the center of his classroom so that students know, "This is an accepting place. When they forget that, I point to the chair," he said. Gill's story has netted him a book deal for a children's story about the chair. "The story about the chair is a story about the importance of friendship and being open and how you have to stand up for your friends. It's about how adults can be biased, but not openly, and how you have to act on whatever you feel is wrong, and know you are not alone," Gill said.
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