Sit Down and Be Counted: Exploring the Civil Rights Movement with Picture Books

Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down

History is often made by ordinary people taking extraordinary risks.

Such was the case on February 4, 1960, when four black college students took seats at the whites-only lunch counter at Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina. Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down, tells that story with same passion and intensity with which it took place.

The story is told with minimal yet factual narrative, with a delicious dash of figurative language salted throughout (Brian explains why in the video below). The narrative is also punctuated with the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which not only guided the protesters of the time in their nonviolent methods, but may also help young readers of today understand how these crusaders could withstand such abuse and humiliation.

In this video, author Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrator Brian Pinkney discuss the events leading up to the sit-ins (these same events are detailed in an epilogue called "A Final Helping" at book's end). They also discuss the writing and illustration process, and close with a brief overview of the book.

Several segments of this video lend themselves to discussion and extensions for the book: 

• Andrea and Brian discussed the food references used in the book. Why was food mentioned so often? Share a specific passage which employs a food metaphor and ask, What does that passage mean? Why not just come right out and say that? What other food-related metaphors did you hear? In our everyday language, what other metaphors are often used?
• The author and illustrator talked about the need for conducting research using photographs from the time. Why would this be so important? What information might the photographs provide? If the author/illustrator team chose to create a picture book set in a time period before photography was invented, how might they gather information for their pictures? If we also say, "Write what you know," then why do research?
• Toward the end of the video, Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brain Pinkney discuss their own heroes. Why is that included in the video? How might their own heroes have affected their decision to create this book? Why is it important to have heroes? Who are some of your heroes? How could you find out more about them?
• For additional ideas and extensions, check out the teaching guide from Hatchette Book Group, prepared by the very talented Tracie Vaughn Zimmer.

Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins

In Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins, a young narrator describes her family's involvement in the sit-ins and protests which took place in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960. This would serve as a terrific companion book to Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down, since the two books chronicle the same event, but in very different styles and perspectives. Author Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrator Jerome Lagarrigue take a much more linear storytelling approach to the event, and provide many more historical details in the actual narrative.

Once you've read Freedom on the Menu with students, 

• Grab the excellent lesson plan outline, with lots of links to related resources, at author Carole Boston Weatherford's website. 
• Encourage some theatrics with a Readers Theater Script based on Freedom on the Menu.
• Check out some recommended activities for this book including an activity that compares the story of the civil right movement told in newspapers from 1960, a work of historical fiction, and students' own social studies textbook. You'll also found a download meant as a reading guide for Freedom Summer, aimed at parents but also a valuable resource for the classroom.
• Show students this excellent dramatic interpretation of the Greensboro events. (Visit the Smithsonian's History Explorer for related lesson plans as well as transcripts of the video below). Consider having students create their own dramatic retelling of another Civil Rights era event.

Freedom Summer

Freedom Summer begins with this note from author Deborah Wiles:

In the early 1960s the American South had long been a place where Black Americans could not drink from the same drinking fountains as whites, attend the same schools, or enjoy the same public areas. Then the Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law and states that "All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment" of any public place, regardless of "...race, color, religion, or national origin."

I was born a white child in  Mobile, Alabama, and sent summers visiting my beloved Mississippi relatives. When the Civil Rights Act was passed, the town pool closed. So did the roller rink and the ice cream parlor. Rather than lawfully giving blacks the same rights and freedoms as whites, many southern businesses chose to shut their doors in protest. Some of them closed forever.

In this fictional account, two boys, one white and one black, share all the joys of summer together: shooting marbles, swimming in Fiddler's Creek, and cooling down with ice pops, all beautifully portrayed in Jerome Lagarrigue's images (yes, he's the same guy who illustrated Freedom on the Menu). So the boys are excited to learn that the town pool, which previously catered to whites only, will be opened to "everybody under the sun, no matter what color."

But the next day, their eager feet skid to a stop when the boys discover county dump trucks backing up to the pool. The trucks pour hot asphalt where the water used to be. Rather than allow blacks to swim in the pool, the county has tarred it over. "I didn't want to swim in this old pool anyway," the white narrator offers bravely. "I did," replies his friend. "I wanted to swim in this pool. I want to do everything you do."

The title Freedom Summer refers to a movement organized by civil rights workers to register black voters in Mississippi. Even children, who might have been blissfully unaware of tensions before, began to notice the dangers of open friendships between the races.

As you discuss this book, you may want to ask

• Why are these two boys friends? What qualities do you look for in a friend?
• Do the changes happening around the two boys strengthen their friendship, or weaken it? Explain.
• John Henry and his older brother, Will, are both black, yet his brother is part of the crew that fills the pool with asphalt. Why would Will choose to do that? How does he feel about it? How do we know?
• What else could the county have done about the pool situation?
• Does this book contain any heroes? What makes a person heroic?

The Other Side

A terrific comparison book to Freedom Summer is The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson, with illustrations by E. B. Lewis. Students can compare the two protagonists of this book (two girls, one white, one black) with the two boys of Freedom Summer.

• How were they alike? Different? 
• How did the children in each book react to the changing times? 
• What part did adults play in each book? 
• In The Other Side, Mama says, "Because that's the way things have always been." Is a similar sentiment expressed in Freedom Summer? What evidence is presented in both books that times are now changing? 
• In The Other Side, what is the fence meant to represent? Is there a similar symbol in Freedom Summer? 
• Do the books seem to contain the same message?
• See the lesson plan at Learning to Give for more activities and extensions. At that same site, another lesson plan on trust also uses The Other Side as a reference.

Below are three more titles you might want to consider as companion books in this discussion of the Civil Rights Movement:

The School is Not White: A True Story of the Civil Rights Movement

In 1965, seven children from one family signed up to attend an all-white school in Mississippi. Although school segregation had been declared illegal eleven years earlier, the schools in Drew, Mississippi were still separated by race, with black schools being far inferior in facilities and supplies.

Unlike the victory in Greensboro which was achieved in less than a year, the ordeal of the Carter family lasted much longer. "Every day, for five years, the children suffered constant humiliations, name-calling, and death threats." Even those white children brave enough to reach out to the Carters were chastised by teachers at the school. Read the story of their unbelievable bravery and ultimate triumph in The School is Not White: A True Story of the Civil Rights Movement, by Doreen Rappaport, with illustrations by Curtis James.

Rosa's Bus: The Ride to Civil Rights

Rosa's Bus: The Ride to Civil Rights chronicles the life story of bus #2857 from its birth in the General Motors Corporation factory in Pontiac Michigan to its brush with junkyard oblivion. Author Jo S. Kittinger provides a unique perspective on the oft-told story of Rosa Parks, and the book as a whole explains the Southern way of life circa 1955. Governed by Jim Crow laws, both black and white folks simply resign themselves to the situation, saying "That's just the way things were." Until Rosa, of course, refuses to give up her seat. Simple yet powerful illustrations by Steven Walker.

Download some comprehension questions written by the author herself.

Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation

You might want to compare Rosa's Bus to Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney. If you're seeking books to help students understand the concepts of boycott and nonviolent resistance, these two are perfect. Use the following questions to help students debrief:

• What are the basic facts given in each book?
• How does each book present those facts?
• Why did the writer and author of each book choose their unique approach?
• Where did each book begin? Where did each end?
• What message can we take away from each book?
• What questions are left unanswered?
• Check out the Boycott Blues Teaching Guide at Harper Collins Children's Books.

Teaching Resource 

If you're looking for a teacher reference, or a book appropriate for readers in grades 6 and up, I can recommend none more highly than A Dream of Freedom: The Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1968. Well organized by year and event, with plenty of period photographs, this is the book that will help you answer all of your students questions (and your own!) about this tumultuous and important time in our nation's history Author Diane McWhorter provides fact in a beautiful tapestry that reads like a story, full of real-life human beings whose individual stories form the larger transformation that we call The Civil Rights Movement.

Web Links for Exploring the Civil Rights Movement

The Civil Rights Movement from Discovery Education

Putting the Movement Back Into Civil Rights Teaching

Songs of the Civil Right Movement

Nonviolent Direct Action at Southern Lunch Counters

(some links inactive)

Timeline of the Civil Rights Era

A Nation Divided: Exploring the Civil War Through Picture Books

The Civil War, or War Between the States, was arguably one of the darkest periods in American history. Over seven hundred thousand lives were lost in the conflict that pitted father against son, brother against brother. If this was such a horrific event, then why study it?

For some teachers, it's a part of their assigned curriculum, but textbooks rarely do justice to the personal perspectives of those who lived through this harrowing time. For other teachers, a common background knowledge of the Civil War is crucial to reading and comprehending Civil War era historical fiction novels such as Charlie Skeddadle, Rifles for Watie, Bull Run, and Soldier's Heart. Even the reader of the tongue-in-cheek misadventures described in the recent Newbery Honor winning The Mostly True Adventures Of Homer P. Figg can benefit from a basic knowledge of Civil War history.

Apart from these pragmatic reasons, though, why should we care about Civil War picture books? First, because the Civil War was the ultimate test of our young country's ability to stand united. Second, because the Civil War is as much a study in human rights as it is in states' rights. And third, because an understanding and appreciation of our existing rights comes only through an examination of the bloody conflict which guaranteed those same freedoms to all citizens.

The Last Brother by Trinka Hakes Noble serves as an excellent introduction to the external and internal conflicts of the Civil War. (You may recall an earlier post on The American Revolution where I praised Noble's The Scarlet Stockings Spy). In this tale, a young bugler is forced to choose between duty to country and loyalty to a friend; in the end, he is able to honor both. Like The Scarlet Stockings Spy, this book is incredibly well researched, using exacting vocabulary within a context that allows young readers to construct meaning, as well as a sense of time and place, without losing the narrative flow. At the same time, it delivers a compelling story that serves a snapshot of the torn allegiances suffered throughout the entire nation at this time.

In the Author's Note, Trinka Hakes Noble explains that the inspiration for The Last Brother came from her own family history:

Nearly one hundred of my ancestors were in the Civil War, which they called the States War. One large Hakes farming family from upstate New York sent all their sons. The youngest, a fourteen-year-old drummer, was the only one who returned. This tragic loss was not uncommon on both sides...

The Last Brother was written with deep respect and honor, not only for my ancestors, but for all who served in the Civil War.

Robert Papp's realistic paintings dramatically frame each page, providing additional impact to the already emotional tale, while showing equal attention to historical detail and accuracy.

Ted Lewin's Red Legs tells the story of nine year-old Stephen's first foray into battle. The text provides just the right amount of information for young readers, who at book's end discover that Stephen and his soldier father are actually Civil War reenactors, or living historians. "Reenactors do it," explains Lewin, "because they love history and wish to honor the memory of the men and boys on both sides who died so long ago."

The book's endnotes explain that the drummer boy is based on the life of Stephen Benjamin Bartow, a Civil War musician from Brooklyn's 14th Regiment, who not only survived the war, but went on to become a mason who helped to build the Brooklyn Bridge. The large format of this book as well as Lewin's bright and detailed paintings make this an excellent foray into the topic. (Check out a study guide for Red Legs provided by the Brooklyn Public Library).

Pink and Say is Patricia Polacco's true-life tale of two Union soldiers, one white and one black, who are caught behind enemy lines. Finding Say wounded on the battlefield, Pink transports him to the abandoned plantation where Pink's family was once enslaved. While there, the boys compare their experiences as soldiers fighting for the same cause.

When Confederate marauders invade the house and kill Moe Moe Bay (Pink's mother), the two boys are forced to flee North.

The bittersweet ending to this book (I won't give it away) delivers an emotional punch when we discover the author's relationship to one of the book's protagonists. If you want to put a personal face on the tragedies of war, get your hands on this book.

Voices of Gettysburg, like Pink and Say, provides personal perspectives of the conflict. In this case, however, we hear the words of several participants, including General Robert E. Lee, Rachel Cormany (a housewife of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania), General George Meade, and Colonel Joshua Chamberlain (once a college professor but now commnader of the Twentieth Maine Infantry).

These and other voices describe for us the anxiety, anger, and anguish surrounding one of the most pivotal battles of the war. If you're asking students to create mock journal entries, then author Sherry Garland has provided some excellent models for you to share.

In 1863, General Lee took the fighting to the North, leading his troops into Pennsylvania. Lincoln mobilized thousand of Union troops to intercept the Rebels. In The Battle of Gettysburg: Would You Lead the Fight? an engaging "you are there" format challenges readers to continually choose between courses of action, given the particulars of an historic situation. Each of the situations is, indeed, taken from history, and succeeding pages reveal the actual courses of action taken by generals and presidents, and the consequences of those actions.

This is the perfect book for students who want to feel that they're a part of history! Photographs, paintings, and battlefield maps round out the easy-to-read text. (Be sure to check out one of the other related titles in this series from Enslow Publishers: Would You Do What Lincoln Did?).

B is for Battle Cry: A Civil War Alphabet provides a fascinating look at all things Civil War, literally from A (Abraham Lincoln) to Z (Zouave, a brightly dressed soldier whose garb was inspired by African units fighting with the French in North Africa in the 1830s). Each page features a fantastic painting by illustrator David Geister, and poetry and prose by author Patricia Bauer. Students can read as far as they want on each page, as the text "drills down" to more specific topics. The page on Trains, for example, not only discusses their impact on the war, but also points out other innovations (submarines, rifled cannons, photography) which made the Civil War one of the first truly modern wars. If you're looking for a book that reads like a narrative, but acts as a reference, this should be on your classroom shelf.

You Wouldn't Want to Be a Civil War Soldier is from the "You Wouldn't Want to..." series of nonfiction books created by British author David Salariya. The series has since been taken on by several other writers, although the extremely talented David Antram continues to illustrate most titles. In a previous post about Salariya, I mentioned that the Manchester Evening News called this series "a fascinating full-on colour weapon in the battle to get kids to remember historical facts." This title continues in that tradition, sharing facts about army life that are rarely remembered today. The typical lot of the foot soldier on either side was boredom, filth, and hunger, only occasionally punctuated by horrific and bloody battles. This book begs the question, "So why did they do it?" and then answers that question. Again, a great resource for fictional eyewitness accounts, and one of those books that will be read at will in the classroom, especially by your boys.

Hands-On Extensions

For hands-on projects in the classroom, I can recommend no book more highly than Maxine Anderson's Great Civil War Projects You Can Build Yourself. First, this book comes from a long line of excellent resource books for teachers and students from Nomad Press (read a rave about them in an earlier post). Second, the book itself is an incredible source of information about the innovations and technology of the war. You could easily make those topics alone the focus of a related Science unit, and this book would yield enough activities for at least an entire marking period. Ample background about the war and the people who fought it would, in fact, make this an excellent stand-alone "textbook" for any classroom, grades four and up. Third, the activities are easily "doable," and actually pretty cool! I can't say the same for some other hands-on books that I skimmed and quickly dismissed. Few of the projects here require special materials, and most could be made by students with little assistance. Imagine creating a battlefield camera and a telegraph that actually work! (Check out a free resource from this book at their site).

Sites to See and Stuff to Do Online

Harpers Weekly was the primary contemporary source of news about the Civil War. Now you can see all of its archived issues in one place! At Sons of the South you can view the paper by week and year, or study specific battles.

To use the Harpers Weekly resource in class, team students up to research the main facts of a single battle, and then summarize those facts into three to four paragraphs. Using the The Newspaper Clip Generator (pictured) allows students to create a fictitious newspaper article with a realistic look, while at the same time limiting them in both space and word count. This forces them to tell only the most important facts.

The Brooklyn Public Library provides a number of lesson plans and resources about the Civil War, with special focus on Women, Slavery, Soldiers and Daily Life. The downloadable lesson plans take advantage of the interactive resources offered at the site, as well as easily attained picture books, like Ted Lewin's Red Legs, Anne Rockwell's Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth, and Shana Corey's You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer! Also available there, an easy to understand glossary which would be the perfect supplement to any Civil War unit.

If you're looking for more interactive-type reviews, check out Mr. Nussbaum's Civil War activities. There you'll find cloze passages, self-checking reading comprehension selections, time lines, word searches, and more.

Along that same line, you'll find several self-checking quizzes, reading resources, and lots of links at Mountain City Elementary's Civil War page. It looks old-school Internet, but I promise you, take the time to look around and you won't be disappointed! Explore the links to discover lots of reading and history integrated projects which are easily adaptable to your classroom.

The PBS companion site to The Civil War, a film by Ken Burns, features not only the expected classroom activities, but also a pretty neat project involving digital storytelling.

You might like what you see there, or that same idea could just as easily be executed using PhotoStory, Movie Maker, VoiceThread, Prezi, and even Power Point.


Note that the movie below, along with filmed interviews, makes extensive use of period photographs to tell its story.


Other resources at other sites include animated battle maps (such as this one of The Battle of Gettysburg), annotated time lines, student sites, short reading selections, and ready-to-go lesson plans created by teachers.

If you can't find what you're looking for anywhere else, or if your students are researching specific topics of the war (such as music, poetry, money, stamps, etc.), then try this comprehensive site from Dakota State University or this annotated outline from Great American History.

I'd love to hear your ideas as well, or to learn about a book or site that I neglected to mention. Leave a comment below!

Recommended Picture Books for Black History, Part II

This post is way overdue! But the fact is, the books I'm about to share are great for any time of the year, and certainly need not be limited to Black History Month. Be sure to also check out Part One of this post for more great ideas!

George Crum and the Saratoga Chips, written by Gaylia Taylor and illustrated by Frank Morrison, is a terrific tale of invention. Having always felt like an outsider because of the color of his skin, George Crum thinks he's finally found in his place as chef at a prestigious Saratoga Springs restaurant. But when a customer's complaint makes him feel inferior, his inventiveness helps to create one of America's finest "delicacies," now enjoyed in almost every American home.

Students, of course, love to create, so some exercises in invention are in order as an extension to this fun book. There tons of sites on invention, but I'm a teacher, and I know you don't want messy, time-consuming projects to litter your classroom! Here instead are a few simple, neat web links to explore:

• African American Inventors is a site designed for upper grade students, but can be easily navigated with just a little assistance. There students can research achievements of an assigned Black American. If you need a few names to get started, see Cengage Learning's Invent-O-Rama page.
• Meet Me at The Corner is a cool virtual field trip site, and their video on Kid Inventors' Day is supplemented with some simple follow-up questions and activities.
• Whizzball allows students to either solve or create a pathway of gadgets to move a ball from one place to another in a Mousetrap-like environment. Extremely open-ended and adaptable to many skill levels.
• The History of Invention is a cool invention timeline which can be scrolled either vertically or horizontally. There students can learn about the origins of the "stuff" they use every day.

Jimmy "Wink" Winkfield is the inspiration behind The Last Black King of the Kentucky Derby, written by Crystal Hubbard and illustrated by Robert McGuire. Jimmy Winkfield is the only black Jockey to win two Kentucky Derby titles back to back, and for this honor was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs. This book chronicles his determination to win on and off the track in the face of increasing racism in the world of horse racing.

• After reading this book, students may want to explore the world of horse racing, and the Reading Recommendations page from the official Kentucky Derby Museum is a good place to start.
• For more information about black jockeys, and Isaac Murphy in particular (mentioned in The Last Black King as one of racing's most successful riders), check out the article African-Americans in Racing.
• Lee and Low books provides an interesting interview with author Crystal Hubbard. In addition to speaking about The Last Black King, Hubbard discusses what readers can learn from books about sports. Reading that interview may spark an idea for a wider reading of sports picture books (see Floyd Cooper's titles below). Also be sure to check out Hubbard's most recent book, Catching the Moon: The Story of a Young Girl's Baseball Dream.
• And of course, here's a silly horse racing game your students will probably enjoy.

Muhammad Ali: Champion of the World, written by Jonah Winter and illustrated by Francois Roca, tells the tale of the man who would be King, not on the race track, but in the boxing ring.

This is the true Ali: proud, controversial, devastating. Roca's thick, sculpturesque paintings are the perfect complement to Winter's narrative, which echoes the language and rhythm of the Book of Genesis. All in all, a satisfying, fact-filled tribute to the Champion of the World.

Be sure to check out Ali's complete biography, as this book is certain to prompt questions from many students. From Ali's own official site, you'll find many video segments of his greatest fights.

Willie and the All Stars, written and illustrated by Floyd Cooper, is one of that author's finest titles. While many of us know Floyd Cooper as simply an illustrator, providing beautiful images for the words of others (as in Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea, by Joyce Carol Thomas), Willie and the All-Stars establishes Cooper as a double threat talent.

Young Willie dreams of playing professional baseball one day, but is dissuaded from pursuing that dream because, after all, Blacks don't play in the major leagues in 1942 America. He's close to giving up hope until one day a neighbor gives him tickets to an exhibition game between Negro League and Major League All-Stars at Wrigley Field. The Negro League players, led by Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson, quickly impress the crowd with their determination playing style, and through their grit edge the much-favored major leaguers for the win. The book ends with a glimmer of hope for Willie and boys like him as white and black players shake hands on the field at game's end. An author's note adds a bit of history regarding the Negro Leagues.

This book would, of course, be a perfect companion title to Let Them Play, mentioned in my Recommended Picture Books for Black History Month, Part I post. Let Them Play details the struggle of young players which mirrored those of their idols.

Following a reading of Willie and the All Stars, students may wish to explore the history of Negro Leagues. A good place to start would be Carole Boston Weatherford's A Negro League Scrapbook or Kadir Nelson's excellent We Are the Ship. See my Going Extra Innings with Baseball Picture Books post for questions, lessons, and more online extensions.

For further research and activities, you'll find everything you need at the Negro Baseball League site at 42Explore (Four to Explore). Using the resources there, students can create a baseball card, player biography, or team poster, or complete a webquest on Negro Baseball.