'Fighting All My Life'

By Ann Bradley

New York

Sandra Feldman surveys the playground at P.S. 97 in the Baychester section of the Bronx, where dozens of young children with new backpacks and quietly contained energy are lining up for the first day of another school year. More than 50 years ago, Feldman was in their place, starting kindergarten. She can still vividly remember that day.

"Walking into that kindergarten room--it was like a place of many mysteries and miracles," she says. "One section had this little house. That made the biggest impression on me, because I lived in a chaotic home. This was a little house like you saw in books, with a kitchen and a sitting area. There was a music area, with the...