Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
-Martin Luther King Jr.
Books on the Civil Rights Movement
They Marched: The People's Campaign for Voting Rights That Changed America shows a side of the Civil Rights Movement that focuses on voting. There are many examples of African Americans and the troubles they had when trying to register to vote from tests to violence. Teachers can use this to demonstrate the importance of having the right to vote, and the civic duty that they will have one day.
The Story of the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement in Photographs is a great tool to use in the classroom because it is not only informative, but it provides a lot of photos that were taken during the Civil Rights Movement. These photos are explained and given context, which makes it a great tool to teach with.
Birmingham Sunday is a good book to use when focusing on the Birmingham church bombing. This book sheds some light on this tragedy in a way that is accessible to students.
Freedom walkers: The story of the Montgomery bus boycott talks about the impact of the Montgomery bus boycott, and Dr. King's peaceful protest strategies. This is a great thing to teach students because it shows that there are ways to protest without violence.
The main focus of Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice focuses on an African American woman named Claudette Colvin and the things she did to fight for her Civil Rights from a very young age. One of the things she did was refuse to give up her seat on a bus months prior to Rosa Parks, she also participated in the Montgomery bus boycott, and was involved in the Browder v. Gayle supreme-court case. This is a great way for students to see the impact actions can have and how they can be advocates for a cause at any age.
Going to school during the civil rights movement is centered around the big points of the Civil Rights Movement. It is a great tool because it has activities in it that allow students to simulate what it was like to go to school in the segregated south. The first activity has students create a paper-mâché globes, and the other involves a video called "Study a Sit-In".
We've Got a Job: The 1963 Birmingham Children's March allows middle school aged children to hear the voices of the revolution and how children just like them defeated the odds and the impact that that had on their lives. It provides an opportunity for teachers to assign students to do a project in which they could read about one of the activists and present information about them.
Remember: The journey to school integration is a great look into the lives of students during the Civil Rights Movement and their education once Brown Vs. The Board of Education passed. It would be a good book to read aloud because it has little poetic like descriptions that make the pictures come to life.