Guest Blog: Reflections on Teaching Civil Rights in 4th Grade

Suzanne Kolsun Jackson
Guest Blog
Reflections on Teaching Civil Rights in Fourth Grade
By Suzanne Kolsun Jackson
 
The literature that we read changes who we are. We know that books have the power to make a difference in our lives and in the lives of the children we teach.
 
In Fourth Grade at Colorado Academy, we read the biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in our study of civil rights, and we read about the courageous lives of women like Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges.
 
As a Fourth grade teacher, my reflections on the life of Dr. King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement have a lot to do with what I want to reflect upon with my students about this time in American History. I am continually amazed by the courage of the many individuals involved in the Civil Rights Movement.
 
I think of Rosa Parks who refused to give up her seat on that bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Rosa Parks worked as a seamstress, and one of the first things that happened to her after she resisted on that bus was she lost her job. That took real courage.
 
We study the life of Ruby Bridges, one of the first black children asked to attend an all-white school and thereby help with desegregation. Escorted by Federal Marshals, Ruby had to pass through an angry mob each day in order to enter a schoolroom where she would be the lone student. She had a compassionate heart toward those who wished her harm. These are important lessons for fourth graders to think about.
           
We learn about Bull Connor and the many children who were hit with fire hoses for standing up with Dr. King. We talk about the fact that Dr. King had four children of his own, and we acknowledge the courage he must have had, knowing that his own children could be threatened or harmed. Students are amazed to learn that Dr. King's house was bombed with his wife and child in it at one point. Luckily, they escaped unharmed, but students marvel at the many acts of courage shown by those who fought for civil rights in the 1960's.  A  message of hope is delivered by all of these courageous people in the face of hatred.
 
Fourth graders think hard about standing together against any form of any hatred in our own lives. If Dr. King were here, he would no doubt remind us that we are all on the same side.
 
The Newbery award-winning novel The Watsons Go To Birmingham 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis helps round out our examination of this time in history. By getting to know the Watsons of Flint, Michigan as they journey to Birmingham, Alabama just at the time that a church is bombed and four little girls are killed, students are once again propelled into the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. Students write their own reflections and reviews of the books.
 
They come to care very deeply about Byron, Kenny, and Joetta Watson and their wonderful parents. Never will a class laugh louder than in the opening chapter when thirteen year old Byron gets his lips stuck on the car mirror as he attempts to kiss his gorgeous image in the subzero Michigan weather. To have this comical, loving family run straight smack into the hate-filled events of Birmingham in 1963 is to feel the pain directly. What do fourth graders gain from this reading experience? They are given the opportunity to reflect on real events first hand and then to think about where courage and kindness might fit into making the world a better place.
 
Suzanne Kolsun Jackson is a fourth grade teacher at Colorado Academy. She is the recipient of the 1997 Frances Newton Outstanding Faculty Award, 1994 Yoeman Fisher Award for Teaching Excellence, and the McHugh Award for the study of writing. She is a Master Teacher and has been at C.A. since 1981. Suzanne has taught in places as diverse as inner-city London, small-town Connecticut, and the Pine Ridge Reservation in Porcupine, South Dakota.
 
Educated in England at the University of Manchester and the University of London, Goldsmiths's College, she earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in American Studies, a Diploma in Education, and an M.A.L.S. from Wesleyan University and St. John's College in Santa Fe, NM.  She spent the 1989-90 school year as a Fulbright Exchange Teacher in Edinburgh, Scotland. 
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