Bringing the Civil Rights Movement into 21st Century Classrooms

First Name: Angela                              Current Event Posting Number: 3
Topic: Civil Rights
Title of Article: Bringing the 20th Century Civil Rights Movement into 21st Century Classrooms
Author: Charlayne Hunter-Gault
Publication Name: Huffington Post: The Blog
Date of Publication: April 12th, 2012
Length of Article: 1,267 words

                        In honor of Not in Our Schools week and our current civil rights unit, I thought it would only be appropriate to pick an article that shows the importance of bringing exposure and knowledge to students about the power of the Civil Rights Movement as well as the dangers of racism. Charlayne Hunter-Gault writes about a high school meeting with high school seniors who were to graduate on May 17^th, and none of them knew the historic significance of that day. On May 17^th, 1954, the Supreme Court of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruled that segregation in public schools was ruled unconstitutional. It was this case that opened the floodgates to future activity against segregation in America. The truth is many of the classrooms in America aren’t teaching the steps young people, around our age, took back then to fight for their right in saying “freedom for all” and their guaranteed equal constitutional rights regardless of race, creed or color. The article talks about the Law Center’s report that showed how “born frees” in South Africa, or the young people born after Nelson Mandela was released, associate the struggle for rights in America with only Mandela, Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. However, today’s students know little or nothing about the efforts of the youth that participated in the Civil Rights Movement, sometimes known as “shock troops”. They participated in sit-ins at lunch counters, endured arrest (sometimes being sent to infamous prisons), tortured, and in some cases murdered. However, they demanded the same services as whites, and it was this demand that sparked the determination from students in black college campuses and communities all over the South, that allowed people like Charlayne to be where she is now. Their pledge was “keep on keepin’ on”.

            However, segregation, although not as publicly widespread as before, still exists. According to a recent study by the Manhattan Institute, some schools have re-segregated and some unemployment statistics show that black unemployment twice that of non-Hispanic whites. The same is true in South Africa where 7.5 out of the 49 million, mostly black, are unemployed. 18-25 year olds have the highest unemployment with over half unemployed. And with all of this evidence, Charlayne concludes that it important this history is taught to students. She says that history teaches us: “No matter the challenge, we CAN overcome.”, and the constant need for citizen involvement to make sure the government keeps its promises to its people.

And with that, I would like to conclude with an excerpt from a letter Charlayne received from one of the seniors who attended her meeting that I learned from and found meaningful:              “It’s difficult to imagine a school where everyone easily fits into an indentical mold. I don’t comprehend where greatness would lie in a world where everyone looks alike, act alike and thinks alike…Personally, I feel that a life filled with sameness and a lack of change is no life at all. To live, you must disturb your universe. With variety, one is able to have true knowledge and see the connectivity and beauty of the world.”