We Are The Freedom Riders

 Learning Objectives

Engagement

·      Play Civil Rights Music Medley (photo/video)

 http://www.teachersdomain.org/asset/iml04_vid_music/

This collection of songs accompanies photographs taken during the Civil Rights movement. These songs, sung during mass meetings and demonstrations, capture the sense of hope and unity among African -Americans and highlight the role of music in the struggle for equal rights. Running time: 3 m.

·      Play the accompanying We Shall Overcome CD for the class or choose one of the many YouTube We Shall Overcome videos.

·      Have students complete the Music Analysis handout while listening to the song.

Statement of Purpose

Music has played an important part in social change throughout history. In this lesson we will learn about the song, We Shall Overcome, and how it became the anthem for the civil rights movement in America. We will learn about a group of people known as the Freedom Riders. It is important to recognize the responsibility all individuals have to take action to protect the rights of all people and to recognize the power that the arts, specifically music, have in our lives.

Instructional Plan

·      Introduce vocabulary for the lesson. Use the Vocabulary for We Shall Overcome handout.

o   Ask each student to indicate their level of understanding about each term by placing a checkmark in the appropriate column.

o   Have students work in groups of 3-4 students to talk about the terms.

o   Lead a class discussion on the terms. Clarify misconceptions and definitions.

o   Ask students to listen for the terms as you read Chapter 1 of We Shall Overcome.

o   Ask students to make notes on their vocabulary handout as you read the chapter.

·      Read Chapter 1 of We Shall Overcome (Keep Your Eyes on the Prize) to the class.

·      After reading the chapter, have students reexamine their Vocabulary handouts and see what words they can now define and use. Have students reconvene with their original group to discuss their new understanding of the vocabulary.

·      Discuss the Freedom Riders and what they hoped to accomplish.

·      Working in pairs students will choose a figure who participated in the Freedom Ride protest. Using the internet and the resources provided (See Related Resources) partners will research their Freedom Rider using the Freedom Rider Bio Graphic Organizer to collect key facts and information to share. Students will prepare for a role-play interview. One of the students will be a news anchor and the other will be the civil rights activist. After collecting information, together the students will create an interview. They will prepare 4-5 key questions with responses.

·      One of the questions for each individual will be about the song, We Shall Overcome. (How did you feel as you sang the song during threatening situations? How do you feel today when you hear the song? Do you still sing the song today and what memories does it evoke?) Encourage students to come up with their own unique question.

·      Model an interview with a student and provide partners time to practice the role-play interview to present to the class. Each interview should be no longer than 5 minutes. Encourage students to look at the photos and dress as the Freedom Riders would have dressed.

·      As partners present interviews, the class will individually record one interesting fact they hear in each interview. After each interview, ask students to do a Think, Pair, Share while the next pair prepares. They will get up and move to someone they have not talked to and discuss their interesting point from the interview. This allows movement and opportunity to process the information.

·      After the interviews, as a class project students will compose an original verse for We Shall Overcome to sing together. Use Verse/Lyric Writing Organizer handout and sample.

·      After the completion of the interview presentations, the class will reenact the Montgomery Bus Terminal incident by joining hands in a circle to sing We Shall Overcome, including their new verse.

·      If possible, consider videoing the interviews and the singing of We Shall Overcome to create a “class documentary” on the Freedom Riders.

Assessment

Partners will research a Freedom Rider, prepare questions for a mock interview, and present the role-play interview to the class.

Closing/Reflection

·      Play video: On Acting Your Conscience interview by Bernard Lafayette Jr. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/people/bernard-lafayette-jr

·      Have students write a short response to the following prompt:

Freedom Riders put their personal lives on hold to devote their energy to a movement that would effect change for people living in oppression. What are examples of personal sacrifice that you’ve seen? What cause would you be willing to sacrifice for? Would you be able to do what the Freedom Riders did? What kinds of inequalities exist in our world? What can you do when you see inequality?

Modifications

·      Plan for student partners who will support each other and work well together.

·      Print out biographies for students who need to highlight specific details for graphic organizer.

·      Work with librarian to provide a variety of reading levels both print and electronic, to meet the needs of students.

Extensions

·      Invite a local community organizer or civil rights activist to talk to the class about nonviolent protest. Identify a local issue that students can learn about and become involved in: homeless needs in your community, migrant workers, undocumented workers, etc.

·      For a shorter lesson activity, use website or print out bios of Freedom Riders from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/people Students will use graphic organizer to collect information. Instead of interview role-play students will use information to complete a mini poster on the Freedom Rider or a Bio Cube. See Bio Cube handout or complete the Bio Cube online activity http://www.readwritethink.org/parent-afterschool-resources/games-tools/cube-a-30180.html

·      Consider working with the music teacher to write the new verse of We Shall Overcome and to prepare for the musical performance.

·      Partners will print a picture of their Freedom Rider to post in the classroom with a mini-poster bio. Option: create a class book of the Freedom Riders.

·      Create individual or a class timeline of events of the Freedom Rider movement.

o   Have students work in small groups to create a visual (Drawing, Poster, PowerPoint, Video) for each event.

o   Use the resource

o   http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/timeline

·      Create a human timeline. Assign an event to each student. Students will prepare a short description of their event then stand in timeline order and give their short description. Invite another class or administrator in to see the interactive timeline.

·      Create a timeline of important events where the song We Shall Overcome has been sung.

·      Create a sidewalk timeline using sidewalk chalk. Students place their events in order on the sidewalk and decorate with drawings.

·      Create a class map to trace the Freedom Riders Movement.

o   On a wall map mark the places the Freedom Riders traveled to. Have students work in small groups to create a visual (Poster, PowerPoint, Video) for the events that took place at each location.

o   Use the resource http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/people/ralph-abernathy

·      Living History: Interview a parent, grandparent, neighbor, or friend.

o   What do you think about when you hear the song, We Shall Overcome?

o   If the person is old enough ask them what they remember about the Freedom Rides? Did they know anyone who participated in the Freedom Rides or other Civil Rights Protest?

o   Consider recording for a video or create a class book.

Related Resources

Civil Rights Activists’ Biographies for Interviews

·      Use the website American Experience – Freedom Riders

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/people

o   Assign or allow students to choose one of the freedom riders listed. There is a short biography for each rider and available media is listed on the right side of the page.

o   Bernard LaFayette Jr.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/freedomriders/people/bernard-lafayette-jr

Note videos on page

·      Teachers’ Domain website http://www.teachersdomain.org/

o   James Farmer

http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/iml04.soc.ush.civil.farmer/ 

This interview with civil rights leader James Farmer recalls the Freedom Rides of 1961, when an interracial group rode two buses through the South to test enforcement of recent Supreme Court rulings that banned segregated seating on interstate buses and trains. More than 300 Freedom Riders were arrested and jailed before the Interstate Commerce Commission enforced the rulings. Running time: 6m 45s.

o   Dianne Nash

http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/iml04.soc.ush.civil.nash/

In this interview, civil-rights leader Diane Nash recalls her role in the 1960 Nashville sit-ins, the 1961 Freedom Rides, and the 1965 voting rights campaign in Selma, Alabama. As one of the founders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Nash mobilized her fellow college students to confront segregation and discrimination with nonviolent direct action. Running time: 5m 59s.

Bausum, A. (2005). Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the front lines of the civil rights movement. Washington D.C.: National Geographic Children's Books.

Hoose, P. (2009). Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Levine, E. ( 2000). Freedom's Children: Young civil rights activists tell their own stories. New York: Puffin Books. Grade 5 and up.

Thirty first-person accounts of acts of courage and participation bring the civil rights movement to life in this book. It includes stories of young people like Claudette Colvin, who was arrested for sitting in the front of a bus just weeks before Rosa Parks was arrested for doing the same.

Thinking About Songs as Historical Artifacts graphic organizer.  http://www.loc.gov/teachers/lyrical/tools/