Freedom Riders

• A twelve year old girl trying to help by carrying glasses of water to victims of a firebombed bus while a mob of Klu Klux Klan members surged around her.
• Alabama governor, John Patterson, railing against “outside agitators – black men and white women” who were coming to Alabama to rile up the “good people of local communities” by riding a bus together.
• College students signing their last will and testament before stepping onto a bus headed to Alabama and Mississippi, expecting to be beaten and killed.
• Bull Conner, the police commissioner of Birmingham, cutting a deal with the KKK promising 15 minutes to “burn, bomb, kill, maim, I don’t give a god-damn what you do. I will guarantee that not one soul will be arrested in the 15 minutes” after Freedom Riders got off the bus.
• A reporter not wanting to look black Freedom Riders in the eye as they entered a “Whites Only” waiting area, knowing that death for the Riders was very likely just minutes away. And later stepping between the Riders and members of a Birmingham mob in an attempt to keep that from happening.

The Freedom Rides of 1961 happened a long time ago. And for your students, the events of that summer seem absolutely ancient. But the PBS special, Freedom Riders, that aired last year as part of the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Rides is an incredibly powerful tool for helping your kids understand the context of the Civil Rights movement.

PBS does a wonderful job of combining oral interviews from participants, photos, news footage, newspaper coverage, and video clips to create a truly engaging and emotional documentary. The film helps put a human face on both those fighting for civil rights and those fighting to retain the entrenched culture of Jim Crow.

At an hour and 51 minutes, the video is too long for a single classroom period. And, normally, I suggest that very few movies are good enough and powerful enough to show in their entirety. While it would be possible to chunk pieces of this story out, Freedom Riders just may be the exception.

PBS has maintained the Freedom Riders site with its access to teacher materials such as a study guide, instructional materials and links to related resources at EDSITEment. You can find tons of background information on the riders, the context of the period, and a handy timeline. The video is showing on PBS throughout the month of February but you can also stream in directly off the PBS site.

Freedom Riders is a story of amazing courage and bravery. Of racism and extreme bigotry, of cruelty. Simple acts of kindness. Of turning the other cheek and turning a blind eye.

Ultimately, it is a story of America. At its best and its worst. And it’s a story that our kids need to hear.

Tip of the Week – 2012 Black History Month Resources

Updated 2/8/2013
Head over to the latest 2013 list

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It’s not that hard to find a ton of Black History Month resources. But sometimes it’s a bit difficult to find good ones. So I’ve spent some time putting together a short list of useful Black History month teaching materials.

Letters of Note: “To My Old Master” and Flight to Freedom Underground Railroad simulation.

African American History Month from the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

pays tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society.

The National Archives has a great Black History Month site. New resources are clearly marked and all look great!

ThinkFinity, the great metasearch tool from the Verizon Foundation, put together a series of nine lesson plans.

eHow created an interesting take of the Black History Month lesson plan idea called How to Write Lesson Plans for Black History Month.

I really like the stuff that the Smithsonian has put together. There’s a wide variety of goodies – from artists to authors to musicians. They’ve also created an incredible African American Cultural Heritage Tour with images, audio, questions and quizzes.

The History Channel’s Black History site has a ton of videos, quizzes, images and information.

The National Archives has a huge list of Black History resources. Use this together with four great sites from the Library of Congress – The African American Mosaic, African American Odyssey, Civil Rights Exhibitions and Presentations and From Slavery to Civil Rights.

PBS created a couple of really nice collections – Africans in America and African American World.

The NAACP and Verizon put together a very nice multimedia and interactive timeline of the past 100 years of African American History.

Larry Ferlazzo always has great lists of stuff and his African American list is no exception. (Be prepared to spend some time here!)

Before you jump into lesson plans, read The Do’s and Don’ts of Teaching Black History, a good guide from Teaching Tolerance.

A collection of lesson plan sites:

• National Museum of African American History and Culture
• EDSITEment
• TeacherVision
• Teach-nology
• New York Times
• Education World
• The Lesson Plans Page
• African American: Free Resources and Materials
• Scholastic
• Teacher Ideas: New York Times Learning Network

Have fun!

Tip of the Week – Black History Month Resources

Updated 2/8/2013
Looking for the latest 2013 version? Head on over.

——

It’s not that hard to find a ton of Black History Month resources. But sometimes it’s a bit difficult to find good ones. So I’ve spent some time putting together a short list of useful Black History month teaching materials.

African American History Month from the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

pays tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society.

The National Archives has a great Black History Month site. New resources are clearly marked and all look great!

ThinkFinity, the great metasearch tool from the Verizon Foundation, put together a series of nine lesson plans.

eHow created an interesting take of the Black History Month lesson plan idea called How to Write Lesson Plans for Black History Month.

I really like the stuff that the Smithsonian has put together. There’s a wide variety of goodies – from artists to authors to musicians. They’ve also created an incredible African American Cultural Heritage Tour with images, audio, questions and quizzes.

The History Channel’s Black History site has a ton of videos, quizzes, images and information.

The National Archives has a huge list of Black History resources. Use this together with four great sites from the Library of Congress – The African American Mosaic, African American Odyssey, Civil Rights Exhibitions and Presentations and From Slavery to Civil Rights.

PBS created a couple of really nice collections – Africans in America and African American World.

The NAACP and Verizon put together a very nice multimedia and interactive timeline of the past 100 years of African American History.

Before you jump into lesson plans, read The Do’s and Don’ts of Teaching Black History, a good guide from Teaching Tolerance.

A collection of lesson plan sites:

• National Museum of African American History and Culture
• EDSITEment
• TeacherVision
• Teach-nology
• New York Times
• Education World
• The Lesson Plans Page
• eHow

Have fun!

Black History Month resources and lesson plans

Update 2/8/2013 – I’ve updated the list! When you’re done here, head over to the 2013 version.

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Finding Black History Month lesson plans and teaching resources is not that tough. Finding good ones . . . a bit more difficult.

Bessie Coleman, first ever licensed African-American pilot at Bio.com

So I’ve spent some time over the last few days, trying to sift through the hundreds of places that are posting Black History Month materials. And I think I’ve come up with a pretty good list. The stuff from the National Archives and the Library of Congress seems especially good.

African American History Month from the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum:

pays tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society.

NARA has its own Black History Month site. New resources are clearly marked and all look great!

ThinkFinity, the great metasearch tool from the Verizon Foundation, put together a series of nine lesson plans.

eHow created an interesting take of the Black History Month lesson plan idea called How to Write Lesson Plans for Black History Month.

Education World offers a wide variety of resources including lesson plans, activities, games, recipes, sounds and resources.

The Teach-nology people have developed a very nice list of over 50 lesson plans, biographies and numerous worksheets that could lead to great conversation.

I also like the very extensive list of lesson plans posted by the LessonPlansPage. They also have nice list of additional resources.

And finally, the Bio.com folks have an awesome, interactive site with biographies, timelines, videos, games, photos and basic historical background section.

Good luck! And enjoy.