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Stand Up for Your Rights for Teachers and Parents
This site covers three important issues, brought to life through individual stories. The issues include women's right to vote, explored through the stories of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony; religious freedom, examined through the trial of Anne Hutchinson in Puritan New England; and the battle for civil rights, told through the story of school desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas.
An interview with Melba Beals, one of the Little Rock Nine, tells how she felt as one of the first African American students to attend Little Rock's Central High. Kids can find out more about the many struggles as well as the personalities involved in the civil rights movement through games and quizzes that will pique their interest to find out more.
For Teachers:
- Melba Beals' description of her experience as one of the Little Rock Nine in the site's Buzz section is extremely compelling. Have students read Beals' interview and then compare Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges, which tells the story of Bridges' experience as the first black elementary school student at William Frantz Public School in New Orleans three years later. To give students context for Beals' and Bridges' experiences, introduce the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision and its significance in the civil rights movement.
Then you could expand students' study of first-person accounts from this period by reading Freedom's Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories by Ellen Levine, as well as by collecting oral histories locally. Have students interview parents, relatives, neighbors, friends who are willing to share their memories of events in the 1950s and '60s relating to the civil rights movement. As a class brainstorm a list of possible questions and practice interviewing in pairs. Talk about the importance of careful and respectful listening. Students can share their interviews through class presentations or by working together to create a bulletin board display or mural, using excerpts from the oral histories, Beals' and Bridges' accounts, Martin Luther King Jr.'s speeches, and other words and images that reflect the civil rights movement.
- Each election, observers are dismayed at the low turnout at the voting booths. Help students understand how priceless the right to vote is by looking at the history of voter rights in this country. After reading Women and the Vote, break students into groups to delve more deeply into one aspect of voting, from the requirements for voter registration during our first elections, to women's suffrage and voting rights for African Americans, on both the state and the federal level. Create a timeline that illustrates the changes in the people allowed to vote through our country's history. Depending on the age of your students, you may also want to have a group research voter turnout in presidential elections over the last 100 years. Knowing what they do about the battles that were won to reach universal suffrage, what do students think about current voter apathy? Have students design a campaign to increase voter registration in your community.
- This issue of WayBack focuses on the concept of citizens' rights, a very, very big subject. Have students explore the different features of the site. What are some similarities among the different struggles featured? What are some of the differences? What are other movements they'd like to know more about? Break students into groups and have each choose a specific movement to research further. Students should look for the issue(s) being addressed by the movement, the historical context, and the key personalities involved in the struggle. What strategies did participants use to press their views? How successful were they? How are conditions today?
For Parents:
- As a parent, sometimes you feel like you're expected to be an expert in everything. This can be particularly challenging in areas of recent history. If you grew up in the middle of the civil rights movement, for example, you didn't study it in school and you may have been too young to remember everything that was happening. You can explore a topic with your child without feeling like you need to know all the answers. Your curiosity and willingness to ask questions and look for answers provides a great model for your child. Investigate topics relating to the civil rights movement with your child by playing Test Your Civil Rights Brainpower or Who's Who?. If there are people or events you or your child want to know more about, ask your librarian for book suggestions.
- Read Melba Beals' interview with your child and talk about it. Share any experiences or memories you have of the civil rights movement or other incidents of social injustice. Talk about how Beals handled her experience, where she found strength, and what lessons you can take away from it. What could you do if faced with a situation where someone is being treated unjustly because of his or her gender, race, ethnicity, or other "difference"? You can bring this to your child's level by talking about bullying and teasing at school. Why is it important to act even if you are a bystander?
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