Would You March?

ELA21.4.14 Demonstrate comprehension of literary and informational text by utilizing its content when discussing or writing in response to the text.

ELA21.4.37 Write an argument to persuade the reader to take an action or adopt a position, using an introduction, logical reasoning supported by evidence from relevant sources, and linking words to connect their argument to the evidence.

SS10.4.14 Analyze the modern Civil Rights Movement to determine the social, political, and economic impact on Alabama.

SS10.4.14.2 Describing events of the modern Civil Rights Movement, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, the Freedom Riders bus bombing, and the Selma-to-Montgomery March

Students will be able to:

• Read first-hand accounts of the Children’s March.
• Gather information to support their decision to participate in the Children’s March.
• Apply previous knowledge to construct timelines and write summaries of the events.
• Choose one event to commemorate by designing a mock historical marker.

This writing unit is planned to take 2-3 weeks of daily 30-minute lessons but will vary according to students’ editing needs.

• Handouts (Linked Above)
• The Youngest Marcher by Cynthia Levinson
• We’ve Got a Job by Cynthia Levinson

• Day 1 Students will investigate primary sources and build their background knowledge on two major Civil Rights events (Rosa Parks’ arrest and the March on Washington)
• Day 2 Students will read the book The Youngest Marcher, which focuses on the youngest child who participated in the Children’s Crusade. They will investigate new primary sources which focus on the Children’s Crusade.
• Day 3 Students will read Virginia Jones’ account of growing up in Birmingham as a young white woman and being unaware of the Civil Rights violence and unrest happening around her. Students will write responses to the question: What surprises you most about this account?
• Day 4 Students will look at events happening in Homewood that occurred simultaneously in Birmingham. The teacher will explain that Homewood (and Mountain Brook) looked at merging with Birmingham in both 1959 and 1964, and Homewood City Schools were established in 1970. Students will investigate newspaper articles to try to determine the causes behind these events.
• Day 5 Students will cut out a set of national timeline events, which do not include dates, and arrange them in chronological order on their desks using their background knowledge from the previous days and reasoning skills.
• Day 6 Students will be synthesizing what they have learned with a summary. Using their timelines from the previous day and any materials they would like to consult from previous days, students will write a summary of the events that addresses these questions: 1) How would you describe our past? What do you hope for the future?
• Day 7 Teacher will show students examples of historical markers and explain that they will be choosing one event, person, or place that they have learned about to create a historical marker for. In no more than 50 words, students will write a description of what their marker is commemorating, who was involved, where the event took place, when it took place, and why it should be remembered.