This past Sunday I wrote a blog post about the new PBS series on the civil rights activists who took on the segregated travel policies in the 1960s by arranging black and white traveling partners on interstate buses to the Deep South, despite the physical violence and abusive arrests that occurred at many of the travel stops. The show is supposed to be an inspiring account of people who put their lives on the line for our country to make progress towards the ideals about equality that are contained in our nation's founding documents.
I just found out that Raleigh is fortunate enough to be the next host of a traveling exhibit connected to the TV series. From June 3-July 1, the Cameron Village Library will display the Freedom Riders Traveling Exhibit, created by the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE in conjunction with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. The traveling display has photographs, newspaper clippings, and audiotaped interviews about the 1961 Freedom Riders. This is a great opportunity to hear from the original Freedom Riders themselves, as well as to get a sense of the times.
Right now the exhibit is in Austin, TX, the tenth stop on the twenty-city tour. After the exhibit in Raleigh, the show will travel on to: Salt Lake City, UT; Lawrence, KA; San Francisco, CA; Tempe, AZ; Birmingham, AL; Seattle, WA; Detroit, MI; and Denver, CO. If your city is not on the list, don't despair; there is also an online exhibit available on the Gilder Lehrman website.
Showing posts with label Civil RIghts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Civil RIghts. Show all posts
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Curriculum Resource: Freedom RIders
Tomorrow starts a new series on PBS about the 1961 civil rights activists known as the Freedom Riders. The Freedom Riders were challenging the laws regarding segregated travel by having interracial couples sitting together on buses, as well as having black people ride in the front section of the bus, which was reserved for blacks. Altogether, 436 Freedom Riders--75% of whom were male, 75% of whom were under 30, but even split between blacks and whites-- participated in 60 different rides within the South, despite the fact that they faced mob violence and arrest during their travels. Their courageous stance not only awakened public awareness of civil right issues, but provoked the Kennedy administration to find a way to end the segregation of buses and trains and terminals involved in interstate travel.
There are several resources for using these programs with middle and high schoolers. There is a study guide entitled Democracy in Action that has background information, discussion questions, and additional online resources for each of the shows. There is a website from which you can download short clips from the entire show, along with some information and thought points. There is also a blog where 40 college students spent 10 days in May tracing the Freedom Riders routes and recording their thoughts and perspectives comparing their ride to the ones the Freedom Riders faced in 1961.
So if you would like to turn these programs into an opportunity to have some fruitful discussion with your tween/teen children or students, check out these resources.
There are several resources for using these programs with middle and high schoolers. There is a study guide entitled Democracy in Action that has background information, discussion questions, and additional online resources for each of the shows. There is a website from which you can download short clips from the entire show, along with some information and thought points. There is also a blog where 40 college students spent 10 days in May tracing the Freedom Riders routes and recording their thoughts and perspectives comparing their ride to the ones the Freedom Riders faced in 1961.
So if you would like to turn these programs into an opportunity to have some fruitful discussion with your tween/teen children or students, check out these resources.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Curriculum Resource: Reconstruction
As I said earlier this week, teaching about the Civil War is tough for us. It is also hard to teach about Reconstruction, which was another non-stellar point in our history. However, in some ways Reconstruction is even harder because of the paucity of resources, especially compared to all the stuff that is available for the Civil War.
Here are some of the curriculum resources we found useful in covering the Reconstruction with our middle schoolers:
A History of US: Reconstruction and Reform 1865-1870 by Joy Hakim is a great overview of the specific time of the Reconstruction. This is a good book for middle schoolers.
Reconstruction and the Rise of Jim Crow 1864-1896 by Christopher Collier and James Lincoln Collier. This one covers a longer time span and is at a bit higher level, so it would probably be appropriate for high school as well as middle schoolers.
They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. This is an excellent book that I reviewed last year when it came out; you can read the full review here. But the short version is that the book describes the evolution of the Ku Klux Klan from its earliest days as sort of a informal frat for ex-Confederates trying to feel better about their defeat to the powerful hate organization it was up through the 1960s, told mostly from first-hand reports. It is appropriate to both middle and high schoolers.
Black Voices from Reconstruction 1865-1877 by John David Smith. While not as engaging as the previous book, this one also contains personal and first-hand sources and covers some broader subjects of the time than were left out of the KKK book. Again, this could be used by middle and higher schoolers.
Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule by Harriette Gillem Robinet. A bit different from the previous titled, this is a fictionalized account of what life might have been like for a small group of freed African Americans, written by an author whose ancestors had been slaves of Robert E. Lee's. This is a middle school level book.
The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow is the website for an award-winning educational documentary series that explores segregation from Reconstruction through the modern Civil Rights movement. I haven't seen the videos themselves, but they sound like they would be really good to watch. However, on the website, you can view a timeline of major events from Reconstruction up to the mid-20th Century, interact with maps and other online resources, read the stories of some significant black leaders from the Reconstruction on, and access lesson plans for both middle school and high school grades.
As always, if someone has some other good resources to add to this list, please put them in the comments below.
Here are some of the curriculum resources we found useful in covering the Reconstruction with our middle schoolers:
A History of US: Reconstruction and Reform 1865-1870 by Joy Hakim is a great overview of the specific time of the Reconstruction. This is a good book for middle schoolers.
Reconstruction and the Rise of Jim Crow 1864-1896 by Christopher Collier and James Lincoln Collier. This one covers a longer time span and is at a bit higher level, so it would probably be appropriate for high school as well as middle schoolers.
They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. This is an excellent book that I reviewed last year when it came out; you can read the full review here. But the short version is that the book describes the evolution of the Ku Klux Klan from its earliest days as sort of a informal frat for ex-Confederates trying to feel better about their defeat to the powerful hate organization it was up through the 1960s, told mostly from first-hand reports. It is appropriate to both middle and high schoolers.
Black Voices from Reconstruction 1865-1877 by John David Smith. While not as engaging as the previous book, this one also contains personal and first-hand sources and covers some broader subjects of the time than were left out of the KKK book. Again, this could be used by middle and higher schoolers.
Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule by Harriette Gillem Robinet. A bit different from the previous titled, this is a fictionalized account of what life might have been like for a small group of freed African Americans, written by an author whose ancestors had been slaves of Robert E. Lee's. This is a middle school level book.
The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow is the website for an award-winning educational documentary series that explores segregation from Reconstruction through the modern Civil Rights movement. I haven't seen the videos themselves, but they sound like they would be really good to watch. However, on the website, you can view a timeline of major events from Reconstruction up to the mid-20th Century, interact with maps and other online resources, read the stories of some significant black leaders from the Reconstruction on, and access lesson plans for both middle school and high school grades.
As always, if someone has some other good resources to add to this list, please put them in the comments below.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Norman Rockwell: Painter of the American Story
This week our homeschool group went on an educational tour of the exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Art entitled "American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell." It is a fabulous exhibit, and, as always, the Museum has put together a wonderful educational tour that is perfect for middle schoolers.
Both the exhibit in general and the tour in particular focus on Rockwell as an artist whose work always tells a story. And, in general, that story is something sweet or humorous or heart warming about America. But his stories are not just about America as a concept; their are odes to the everyday, to the common folk, to the ordinary mini-dramas that most of us overlook every day. Yet, as you look at his art, it makes you think, "These things--these common, everyday people and occurrences--they are so beautiful, so filled with meaning and emotion. How can I pass by them every day and miss them?"
Norman Rockwell himself said about his art:
Without thinking too much about it in specific terms, I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed. My fundamental purpose is to interpret the typical American....
I think this is a great message for middle schoolers today to hear, born as they were into a culture that seems to worship celebrity over almost everything else and everyone is striving for their 15 minutes of fame promised them by Andy Warhol. His art is a great companion to the poems of Walt Whitman, the plays of Thornton Wilder, the music of Aaron Copeland, all American artists who found inspiration not in the high and mighty, but in the American Everyman.
He is also a great role model, however, for the care he put into his work as well as his prodigious production abilities. The tour and exhibit depict how carefully he worked on his illustrations--posing live models, taking photographs, making multiple sketches, then one complete drawing of the final piece before capturing it on canvas. When you see how much work went into each detail of each painting, you really can't imagine how the man managed to produce more than 4,000 original works. This really hits home in one large room of the exhibit, where they show all 323 covers of the Saturday Evening Post he created in the 47 years he was their chief illustrator. You look at all those masterpieces, month after month, year after year, and you can't help but be impressed.
However, not all of Rockwell's art was goodness and light. In his latter years, instead of resting on his laurels, he began to explore some of the civil rights issues that had been prohibited from his Saturday Evening Post covers. Here, the tour guide was phenomenal. She took the students through the story of Rockwell's painting, Southern Justice (Murder in Mississippi), the very chilling depiction of the murder of civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James Chaney in 1964 (click on this link to see the picture itself). The children were silent and riveted as the tour guide told them about this event and Rockwell's attempts to convey it on canvas. It's a powerful picture and a powerful story, and very appropriate for middle schoolers, who are grappling with understanding the darker side of history than most of us glossed over when they were in elementary school.
The exhibit will be in Raleigh until January 30, so if you can get there to see it before then, I recommend you do so. The exhibit reminded me of perhaps Wilder's most famous quote in Our Town: Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?--every, every minute? Well, if anyone ever did, it was Norman Rockwell.
Both the exhibit in general and the tour in particular focus on Rockwell as an artist whose work always tells a story. And, in general, that story is something sweet or humorous or heart warming about America. But his stories are not just about America as a concept; their are odes to the everyday, to the common folk, to the ordinary mini-dramas that most of us overlook every day. Yet, as you look at his art, it makes you think, "These things--these common, everyday people and occurrences--they are so beautiful, so filled with meaning and emotion. How can I pass by them every day and miss them?"
Norman Rockwell himself said about his art:
Without thinking too much about it in specific terms, I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed. My fundamental purpose is to interpret the typical American....
Commonplaces never become tiresome. It is we who become tired when we cease to be curious and appreciative.
I think this is a great message for middle schoolers today to hear, born as they were into a culture that seems to worship celebrity over almost everything else and everyone is striving for their 15 minutes of fame promised them by Andy Warhol. His art is a great companion to the poems of Walt Whitman, the plays of Thornton Wilder, the music of Aaron Copeland, all American artists who found inspiration not in the high and mighty, but in the American Everyman.
He is also a great role model, however, for the care he put into his work as well as his prodigious production abilities. The tour and exhibit depict how carefully he worked on his illustrations--posing live models, taking photographs, making multiple sketches, then one complete drawing of the final piece before capturing it on canvas. When you see how much work went into each detail of each painting, you really can't imagine how the man managed to produce more than 4,000 original works. This really hits home in one large room of the exhibit, where they show all 323 covers of the Saturday Evening Post he created in the 47 years he was their chief illustrator. You look at all those masterpieces, month after month, year after year, and you can't help but be impressed.
However, not all of Rockwell's art was goodness and light. In his latter years, instead of resting on his laurels, he began to explore some of the civil rights issues that had been prohibited from his Saturday Evening Post covers. Here, the tour guide was phenomenal. She took the students through the story of Rockwell's painting, Southern Justice (Murder in Mississippi), the very chilling depiction of the murder of civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James Chaney in 1964 (click on this link to see the picture itself). The children were silent and riveted as the tour guide told them about this event and Rockwell's attempts to convey it on canvas. It's a powerful picture and a powerful story, and very appropriate for middle schoolers, who are grappling with understanding the darker side of history than most of us glossed over when they were in elementary school.
The exhibit will be in Raleigh until January 30, so if you can get there to see it before then, I recommend you do so. The exhibit reminded me of perhaps Wilder's most famous quote in Our Town: Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?--every, every minute? Well, if anyone ever did, it was Norman Rockwell.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Curriculum Resource: They Called Themselves the K.K.K.
If you are looking for a terrific resource on a difficult subject--racism, Reconstruction, and the history of American hate groups--I wholeheartedly recommend Susan Campbell Bartoletti's new book, They Called Themselves the K.K.K: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group. Bartoletti is no stranger to substantive non-fiction books for adolescents; she won a Newbery Honor for her 2005 publication of Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow. But she has done such a great job on this book, it is no wonder that it is also on many people's short list for another potential Newbery Award.
According to the author, the inspiration for the book came when she saw a statue of the renowned Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was also supposedly the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, and wondered to herself, "Where are the memorials for the victims of KKK violence?" After finding out from the Southern Poverty Law Center that there were no such memorials, Bertoletti knew that she had to write this book.
However, what is great about this book is that Bertoletti tries to understand the complex history of this paramilitary white suprematist group from both sides. Her book explores how common, ordinary, usually decent people could get involved in such a violent group, and even believe that they were doing God's work. It also demonstrates the strength and courage of common, ordinary people, both black and white, who stood up against the Klan. Her work contains much more information about the politics behind Reconstruction than is usually available for middle school or high school history. And the work is all the more effective by the even-handed way she approaches the topic, allowing young people to draw their own conclusions rather than preaching to them.
One way Bertoletti achieves this is by relying heavily on first-hand accounts and primary source materials. She uses quotes from both proponents and victims of the Klan in a masterful way. And while she doesn't gloss over the violence and death of this terrible time in our history, she also doesn't focus on it so much that it becomes too intense for a middle school audience.
Bertoletti's book is a much-needed addition to the middle school or high school history curriculum about the aftermath of the Civil War. But it is also a valuable resource for talking about current events. I love that she identifies the KKK as "an American terrorist group"--a great wake-up call for our post 9/11 youth who think all terrorists come from outside our borders. The book also contains a Civil Rights Timeline and a comprehensive Bibliography and Notes section that is also useful in extending the dialogue.
So this may not seem like the kind of book you want to be reading during our holly, jolly holidays. But the author, who besides writing about the Klan and Hitler's youth has also tackled such difficult topics as famine, youth labor rights, and working in a coal mine, says that the only way she knows to deal with the dark is to try to shine a light on it. As we approach the winter solstice, it's great to know that we have this outstanding reference to help shine some light on some of our nation's darkest hours.
According to the author, the inspiration for the book came when she saw a statue of the renowned Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was also supposedly the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, and wondered to herself, "Where are the memorials for the victims of KKK violence?" After finding out from the Southern Poverty Law Center that there were no such memorials, Bertoletti knew that she had to write this book.
However, what is great about this book is that Bertoletti tries to understand the complex history of this paramilitary white suprematist group from both sides. Her book explores how common, ordinary, usually decent people could get involved in such a violent group, and even believe that they were doing God's work. It also demonstrates the strength and courage of common, ordinary people, both black and white, who stood up against the Klan. Her work contains much more information about the politics behind Reconstruction than is usually available for middle school or high school history. And the work is all the more effective by the even-handed way she approaches the topic, allowing young people to draw their own conclusions rather than preaching to them.
One way Bertoletti achieves this is by relying heavily on first-hand accounts and primary source materials. She uses quotes from both proponents and victims of the Klan in a masterful way. And while she doesn't gloss over the violence and death of this terrible time in our history, she also doesn't focus on it so much that it becomes too intense for a middle school audience.
Bertoletti's book is a much-needed addition to the middle school or high school history curriculum about the aftermath of the Civil War. But it is also a valuable resource for talking about current events. I love that she identifies the KKK as "an American terrorist group"--a great wake-up call for our post 9/11 youth who think all terrorists come from outside our borders. The book also contains a Civil Rights Timeline and a comprehensive Bibliography and Notes section that is also useful in extending the dialogue.
So this may not seem like the kind of book you want to be reading during our holly, jolly holidays. But the author, who besides writing about the Klan and Hitler's youth has also tackled such difficult topics as famine, youth labor rights, and working in a coal mine, says that the only way she knows to deal with the dark is to try to shine a light on it. As we approach the winter solstice, it's great to know that we have this outstanding reference to help shine some light on some of our nation's darkest hours.
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