Her students "sat at desks made of orange crates, learning from hand-me-down books discarded from the white schools.

On opening day, Emma Booker led her teachers and students from the Knights of Pythias rental hall to the new school.

The school received international attention following a visit by United States President George W. Bush on the morning of September 11, 2001.

He visited the school as part of an effort to promote his administration's education policy, particularly the No Child Left Behind Act.

[8] It was at the school that Bush learned of the second plane crashing into the World Trade Center, and where he made his first public comments about the September 11 attacks.

[11] At about 9:05 a.m. White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card whispered into Bush's ear, "A second plane has hit the second tower.

Bush appeared tense but remained seated for roughly seven minutes and continued to listen while the children read in unison through the story, sometimes repeating lines to meet Mrs. Daniels's standards.

But what kind of message would that send—the president abruptly getting up and walking out on a bunch of inner-city second-graders at their moment in the national limelight?

When Bush appeared, he announced, "This is a difficult moment for America," and instead of the planned topic, addressed the country for several minutes about the plane crashes and the government's immediate response.

[15] A 9/11 Commission staff report titled Improvising a Homeland Defense said, "The President felt he should project strength and calm until he could better understand what was happening.

[17][18][19] Osama bin Laden made reference to the story in an unauthenticated videotaped speech released just prior to the 2004 U.S. presidential election, stating that Bush's reading of the book had given the hijackers more than enough time to carry out the attacks.