Allison Acosta 8/5/24 Allison Acosta 8/5/24

School Colors

Podacast by Mark Winston Griffith and Max Freedman
Season one of the School Colors podcast covers the history of Ocean Hill-Brownsville in Brooklyn where Black and Puerto Rican parents tried to exercise power over their schools and they collided head first with the teachers’ union — leading to the longest teachers’ strike in U.S. history in 1968.

Allison Acosta 8/1/23 Allison Acosta 8/1/23

Introduction: Desegregation

Introduction
Throughout U.S. history, communities of color fought for their right to equal access and for human dignity and equity. Desegregation in public schools, transportation, and other accommodations was more than court cases and legal victories. Desegregation was a long struggle led by students, parents, and every day citizens. . . . They were not interested in integration, or the desire to mingle socially or otherwise with whites, but to break and reconstruct institutions that forced people of color into positions of poverty, illiteracy, and political powerlessness.

Josh Davidson 6/30/23 Josh Davidson 6/30/23

Comfort Food: A Lesson for Child of the Civil Rights Movement

Lesson by Paula Young Shelton
Food played an instrumental role during the Civil Rights Movement, bringing people together to plan, gain strength, and organize. Community members played an important role feeding volunteers. This lesson is a companion to the picture book, Child of the Civil Rights Movement.

Josh Davidson 6/30/23 Josh Davidson 6/30/23

Transportation Protests: 1841 to 1992

Reading by Julian Hipkins III and David Busch
The struggle for the desegregation of transportation has a long history in the United States. This timeline outlines some key individuals and organizations who took a stand against segregated transit.

Josh Davidson 6/29/23 Josh Davidson 6/29/23

Sit Down Marie!: Eugenia Fortes at the Hyannis Port Beach

Teaching Reflection by Maggie Donovan
Students react to a story about two young African-American girls who refused to move to the colored section of the Massachusetts beach.

Josh Davidson 6/29/23 Josh Davidson 6/29/23

The Role of Freedom Songs

Reading by SNCC Digital Gateway
One cannot understand the history of the Civil Rights Movement absent the role of freedom songs. Here is a description of their importance from the SNCC Digital Gateway, followed by the song “If You Miss Me from the Back of the Bus.”

Josh Davidson 6/27/23 Josh Davidson 6/27/23

Sit-Ins: A Desegregation Role Play

Lesson by Chris Hoeh
A role play lesson for second grade on sit-ins.

Josh Davidson 6/26/23 Josh Davidson 6/26/23

Montgomery Bus Boycott: Organizing Strategies and Challenges

Teaching Activity by Alana D. Murray
In this activity for middle and high school, students act as organizers and learn about many of the challenges faced by the group who sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott for 381 days.

Josh Davidson 6/26/23 Josh Davidson 6/26/23

Soul Power and the People

Reading by Jenice L. View
Essay recalling memories of school desegregation in 1968 Washington, D.C.

Josh Davidson 6/25/23 Josh Davidson 6/25/23

A School Year Like No Other, Eyes on the Prize: Fighting Back: 1957–1962

Lesson by Bill Bigelow
Students write poetry or prose in reaction to viewing "Eyes on the Prize: Fighting Back 1957-62" and two readings.

Josh Davidson 6/24/23 Josh Davidson 6/24/23

Gallery Walk on the History of Education in Mississippi Through the Lens of Race

Lesson by Julian Hipkins III and Deborah Menkart
Using textbook excerpts, data, quotes, legislation, and images, this gallery walk begins pre-Mississippi in the ancient city of Timbuktu, moves through Reconstruction and Jim Crow, and carries on to present day issues.

Josh Davidson 6/19/23 Josh Davidson 6/19/23

Teaching the 1964 New York City School Boycott

Teaching Reflection by Adam Sanchez
The largest civil rights protest wasn’t in the South, it was in New York City in 1964 when hundreds of thousands of students stayed home to protest school segregation. Here’s how today’s students reacted to a lesson about this historic boycott.

Allison Acosta 6/18/23 Allison Acosta 6/18/23

Warriors Don’t Cry: Connecting History, Literature, and Our Lives

Lesson by Linda Christensen
A unit designed to help students practice behaving as allies. Students read Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Senior High, then create and act out scenes from their own experiences where people act as allies, victims, perpetrators, and witnesses.

Allison Acosta 6/17/23 Allison Acosta 6/17/23

Children's March History Dilemma

Lesson by Chris Seeger
In this lesson, students consider whether they would join fellow Black students in protest in 1963 Birmingham, Alabama, even if they are guaranteed to be arrested?

Josh Davidson 6/16/23 Josh Davidson 6/16/23

Teaching Segregation and Inequality in Housing and Education

Reading by Emilye Crosby
In recent years, there has been an outpouring of wonderful work documenting the structural basis of housing and educational segregation and inequality. This list of materials supplements the resources provided as part of Emilye Crosby’s “A Documents-Based Lesson on the Voting Rights Act: A Case Study of SNCC’s Work in Lowndes County and the Emergence of Black Power.”

Josh Davidson 6/15/23 Josh Davidson 6/15/23

Sarah Louise Keys

Reading by Deborah Menkart
The story of Pfc. Sarah Louise Keys, who refused to relinquish her seat to a white Marine and move to the back of the bus as she traveled from Fort Dix, N.J. to her family’s home in Washington, NC. The driver emptied the bus, directed the other passengers to another vehicle, and barred Keys from boarding it.

Allison Acosta 6/15/23 Allison Acosta 6/15/23

Bravery in Little Rock History Dilemma

Lesson by Chris Seeger
In this lesson, students consider what they would do if they were a white student at at an all-white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas when it is ordered to desegregate and you see a Black student being harassed.

Josh Davidson 6/1/23 Josh Davidson 6/1/23

Freedom’s Main Line: Louisville, Kentucky 1870-1871

Reading by Maria Fleming
An 1870 protest against transportation segregation in Louisville, KY.

Josh Davidson 6/1/23 Josh Davidson 6/1/23

Blackwell v. Issaquena Board of Education

Reading by Dawn Keene
A civil rights suit filed on behalf of 300 African-American students from several schools across Issaquena County in Mississippi.

Josh Davidson 6/1/23 Josh Davidson 6/1/23

Dramatization of the Bus Boycott for First and Second Grade

Lesson by Maggie Donovan
View a video and written procedure for young students to role play the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Josh Davidson 6/1/23 Josh Davidson 6/1/23

Bigger than a Hamburger

Lesson by Maggie Donovan
An activity for young students to understand and visualize the various goals of lunch counter sit-ins inspired by Ella Baker's words, "current demonstrations are concerned with something much bigger than a hamburger."