Larry Dane Brimner - Master Storyteller - And Other Resources for Teaching Civil Rights History
If you're planning to teach about the civil rights movement, Reach And Teach offers a wealth of resources we hope you'll include in your lesson planning. To start, let's look at three books by an amazing storyteller, Larry Dane Brimner:
Birmingham Sunday
Black & White
We Are One: The Bayard Rustin Story
The Reach And Teach team is in complete agreement with the multitude of awards Larry Dane Brimner has received for his work. Painstakingly researched with incredible detail, these books are finely crafted works of art, compellingly written, sometimes chilling in their depictions, but always keeping the reader so engaged that the books are impossible to put down.
In the years leading up to 1963, racial bombings were so frequent in Birmingham, Alabama, that it acquired the moniker "Bombingham." Until September 15, these attacks had been threatening but not deadly. On that Sunday morning, however, a Klan-planted bomb detonated, killing four little girls. Before the sun had set, another two children would also be killed. This is the story of that tragic day in U.S. history that set the course for civil rights reforms.
In the nineteen fifties and early sixties, Birmingham, Alabama, became known as Bombingham. At the center of this violent time in the fight for civil rights, and standing at opposite ends, were Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene “Bull” Connor. From his pulpit, Shuttlesworth agitated for racial equality, while Commissioner Connor fought for the status quo. Relying on court documents, police and FBI reports, newspapers, interviews, and photographs, author Larry Dane Brimner first covers each man’s life and then brings them together to show how their confrontation brought about significant change to the southern city. The author worked closely with Birmingham’s Civil Rights Institute as well as with Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and his wife.
Bayard (pronounced BUY-ard) Rustin was a man with purpose--and a man with heart. His was a life dedicated to helping others--fighting injustices and discriminations--so that people could live as one. He made his mark working alongside African American labor-leader A. Philip Randolph and provided guidance to Martin Luther King, Jr., about the techniques and principles of Gandhi's nonviolent protest throughout King's short but remarkable civil rights career. He was thrust upon the world stage in 1963 when he spearheaded the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Kirkus (Sep. 1, 2007) had this to say about it: "An effective mix of major historical events and small, telling anecdotes, along with the attractive photo-essay format, make this a fascinating volume, informative and well written."
Now let's look at other resources we've recommended in other stories on our web site. The following comes from our Black History Month Teach-In for 2012.
The Tuskegee Airmen
What better way to launch Black History Month than to celebrate the Tuskegee Airmen! With a new movie arriving in theaters right now about these amazing airmen the team here at Reach And Teach was thrilled to discover that the White House hosted a screening with some of the airmen this week.
Reach And Teach created a free curriculum you can use to teach about the Tuskegee Airmen. Click here to check out that curriculum.
Claudette Colvin "I felt like Sojourner Truth had a hand on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman on the other!" That's how Claudette Colvin describes the feeling she had when the police were demanding she vacate her seat on the bus and move to where the other "coloreds" were seated. She refused and was dragged off that bus and thrown in jail. Unlike Rosa Parks, who famously refused to move to the back of the bus and is credited with ending segregation in public transportation, Claudette was scorned by her community for refusing to obey the police. But it was her action, before Rosa famously sat, that resulted in a landmark court case that made bus segregation illegal in America. Click here to check out a wonderful book by Phillip Hoose on Claudette Colvin and her courageous act of defiance.
Claudette Colvin is not a name that immediately comes to mind for most people when one thinks about the civil rights movement. With Martin Luther King's birthday in January and with February being Black History Month, we wanted to lift up a few names and faces that don't necessarily get the recognition they should. In this article we'll lift up some amazing people who have worked for social, racial, gender, economic, and geo-political justice: Bidi Mason, Bayard Rustin, Viola Desmond, Kim and Reggie Harris, Mildred Loving, Martin Luther King, and Mary Edith Abu-Saba. And, we'll also let you know about some great resources for learning more, celebrating, and singing!
Bridget (Biddy) Mason
Biddy was born in 1815 and given as a "wedding present" to Robert Smith and his new bride. Though he and his wife became Mormon, and the church urged them to free their slaves, they refused to do so. In 1856, Smith was trying to move his family and slaves and Biddy escaped, ending up in Los Angeles. Though Smith caught up with her, a local posse stopped him and Biddy went to court to sue for her freedom. California was a free state and the court eventually granted Biddy and other slaves who were with her their freedom
She worked as a midwife and nurse, saved enough to buy her own home, and became quite wealthy, sharing her wealth and her time with the poor and imprisoned. She was beloved by her community and became an honoree in the California Social Work Hall of Distinction. February 16th is Biddy Mason day!
One of our favorite YA (Young Adult) books is The Call to Shakabaz, an adventure novel about the creative use of nonviolence to overcome a tyrant. One of the characters in that book is a parrot named Bayard Rustin. An odd name for a parrot, until you understand that the real Bayard Rustin was a close and trusted adviser to Martin Luther King. He also happened to be gay (Mr. Rustin, not the parrot).
Rustin, raised by Quakers, was a committed pacifist and spent his adult life working for justice for many different groups of people including laborers, Japanese-Americans being interned, war-resisters, people of color, and homosexuals. Rustin died in 1987 from a perforated appendix. The New York Times included this in his obituary: "Looking back at his career, Mr. Rustin, a Quaker, once wrote: 'The principal factors which influenced my life are 1) nonviolent tactics; 2) constitutional means; 3) democratic procedures; 4) respect for human personality; 5) a belief that all people are one.'"
As you listen to Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech this year, imagine a little parrot sitting on his shoulder who championed nonviolence as the best means to achieve freedom. Bayard Rustin was no parrot, though, he was a lion of a man! Because Rustin was gay, many of King's other colleagues insisted that Rustin stay out of the limelight and most importantly, keep his sexual orientation to himself. We were blessed recently to have a woman stop by our shop, see that we had a civil rights focus, and then say to us "I'll bet I can say a name and you won't know who it is." We took the challenge. She said "Bayard Rustin!" We told her we knew all about Rustin, showed her some of the books, and then she really surprised us by saying that she had spent time in jail with Rustin. She was over 80 years old but as feisty as ever as she shared her jailhouse stories with us. (Our friend Sydney Brown also, it turns out, knew Rustin. Small world.) If you'd like to know more about the way Bayard approached the world, check out this incredible book, Time on Two Crosses: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin.
Like Claudette Colvin, Viola Desmond did her own sitting for social justice. She was also arrested for her action, scorned by her community, but sadly, her case didn't prevail in her homeland of Nova Scotia. She went to a segregated movie theater and insisted on sitting in the whites-only section on the ground floor, instead of the blacks-only balcony. She was arrested, charged, and convicted of...
TAX EVASION!
Yep, seats in the white section cost a penny more in taxes and although she was willing to pay for a seat in the white section, the theater refused to sell her one. So, sitting in the white section deprived the government of one penny in taxes, a crime for which Desmond was convicted. In 2010 she was granted a posthumous pardon.
Kim and Reggie Harris
We got a call one day from Alan Edwards of Appleseed Recordings (Pete Seeger's label) saying "Hey! You guys ought to have some of our records in your store!" He was right. Through that connection we fell in love with Kim and Reggie Harris and their incredible music. Here's how they're described at Appleseed: "Kim and Reggie Harris will never be confused with the legions of navel-gazing singer-songwriters who drift into the category of "contemporary folk." As socially conscious acoustic musicians, the Harrises have been "walking the talk" for over 30 years, performing modern and historical songs that explore societal ills and proffer positive social messages. Whether entrancing festival crowds with their own material or dramatizing the Underground Railroad songs, the duo carry on the folk tradition of preserving important songs from the past and adding meaningful new compositions that reflect the world around them."
We're thrilled to have several of their albums in our shop including a favorite, Let My People Go: A Jewish and African-American Celebration of Freedom. As you listen to songs like We Shall Overcome around Martin Luther King Day, think of Kim and Reggie Harris who will keep on singing songs like that until we do, truly, overcome.
Richard and Mildred Loving
As shown in our CIVIO card game, in 1967, the Supreme Court ruled that banning interracial marriage was unconstitutional. The Lovings had gotten married in the District of Columbia where it was legal, and then went back to their home in Virginia. There, they were arrested and prosecuted, with the trial judge ruling that "Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix." The Supreme Court, however, eventually disagreed. You can read a script based on the arguments in this case by clicking here.
The Lovings were not very public people but just before her death in 2007, Mildred spoke about the idea of banning gay marriage, a hot topic in the United States even as Loving v Virginia reached its 40th anniversary. She said "I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about."
Marriage Equality is a big item on the Reach And Teach agenda. We recently published a children's picture book called Operation Marriage, written by Cynthia Chin-Lee and illustrated by Lea Lyon. We're hoping it will be the 21st Century sequel to Heather Has Two Mommies.
BIG NEWS!!!! A new documentary about Midlred and Richard Loving will premier on HBO in February. Click here to check out information about the film.
Wherever There's A Fight
Wherever There's a Fight captures the sweeping story of how freedom and equality have grown in California, from the gold rush right up to the precarious post-9/11 era. The book tells the stories of the brave individuals who have stood up for their rights in the face of social hostility, physical violence, economic hardship, and political stonewalling.
It connects the experiences of early Chinese immigrants subjected to discriminatory laws to those of professionals who challenged McCarthyism and those of people who have fought to gain equal rights in California schools: people of color, people with disabilities, and people standing up for their religious freedom. The authors bring a special focus to the World War II internment of Japanese Americans, focusing on the infamous Korematsu case, which was foreshadowed by a century of civil liberties violations and reverberates in more recent times-regrettably, even today in the Patriot Act. And they follow the ongoing struggles for workers' rights and same-sex marriage.
State and federal constitutions spell out many liberties and rights, but it is the people who challenge prejudice and discrimination that transform those lofty ideals into practical realities. Wherever There's a Fight paints vivid portraits of these people and brings to light their often hidden stories.
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King's Beloved Community
The team at Reach And Teach believes in the power of nonviolence and few in history have lived and died for that belief the way Martin Luther King did. Much of his dream has come true but there is still a very long way to go before we have the "beloved community" he imagined. As we celebrate Black History Month, let's rededicate ourselves to building that kindom one heart at a time.
You can't celebrate Martin Luther King's life, civil rights history, or Black History Month without singing! Check out Freedom Song. Melding memorable music and inspiring history, Freedom Song presents a fresh perspective on the civil rights movement by showing how songs of hope, faith, and freedom strengthened the movement and served as its voice. In this eye-opening account, you'll discover how churches and other groups-from the SNCC Freedom Singers to the Chicago Children's Choir-transformed music both religious and secular into electrifying anthems that furthered the struggle for civil rights.
From rallies to marches to mass meetings, music was ever-present in the movement. People sang songs to give themselves courage and determination, to spread their message to others, to console each other as they sat in jail. The music they shared took many different forms, including traditional spirituals once sung by slaves, jazz and blues music, and gospel, folk, and pop songs. Freedom Song explores in detail the galvanizing roles of numerous songs, including "Lift Every Voice and Sing," "The Battle of Jericho," "Wade in the Water," and "We Shall Overcome."
As Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and many others took a stand against prejudice and segregation, a Chicago minister named Chris Moore started a children's choir that embraced the spirit of the civil rights movement and brought young people of different races together, young people who lent their voices to support African Americans struggling for racial equality. More than 50 years later, the Chicago Children's Choir continues its commitment to freedom and justice. An accompanying CD, Songs on the Road to Freedom, featuresthe CCC performing the songs discussed throughout the book.
Mary Edith (Bentley) Abu-Saba, Ph.D
Since we started our article with the name of someone you might not instantly have recognized from the civil rights movement, we'll close this article with one more name you might not recognize. Our friend, Mary Edith (Bentley) Abu-Saba, helped us pick the little shop we now operate in San Mateo. She was part of the Rebuilding Alliance team (who share our space) and after having looked at place after place after place, where one person loved the place but someone else not so much, we were at the end of the line and figuring that we wouldn't find anyplace that we all loved. One last place, though, was yet to be seen. When the realtor unlocked the door, Mary Edith took one look, walked across the shop to the far corner, sat down on the floor near a window overlooking the outdoor garden. "This is it!" she declared with her arms crossed. "I am not moving until you sign the lease."
This wasn't Mary's first experience sitting down and refusing to move until she got her way. Way back on December 14th, 1960, she sat down at Patterson's Drug Store Lunch Counter in Lynchburg Virginia. She had gone to the store to talk to the owner, to ask him to change his policy and allow African Americans to sit down and eat there. The owner wasn't interested in talking and she and her companions sat down at the counter and refused to budge. The police were called and still they sat. Eventually, she and her friends were arrested and became known as the Patterson Six.
In December 2010, Mary Edith was recognized by Randolph College for her courageous act, but the college and town weren't very impressed with her back in 1960! She was tried and convicted and served 30 days in jail. Click here to check out the full story about Mary Edith.
We recently asked Mary Edith to look check out our newest book, Operation Marriage, and consider sharing comments we could use as part of the book launch. Here's what she said: "I have been involved in civil rights issues since college days when I served a 30-day jail sentence for sitting at a lunch counter with three other whites and two African-Americans, just having a cup of coffee," says Mary Bentley Abu-Saba, Ph.D. "Here we are now, having to dig through the weeds of another civil rights issue: marriage equality. The beauty and emotion of this book flows from its presentation through children's eyes. The simplicity of children's thinking can effectively pierce the rough hewn edges of adult logic!! Every school library should have this book and be proud!"
And the team at Reach And Teach is proud to have Dr. Abu-Saba, now retired and living too far away in North Carolina, as a friend! Thank you for sitting down in that far corner of our shop at 178 South Blvd. and thank you for sitting down at Patterson's! Oh yeah... and thank you for all the oranges and bananas!
Other Resources for Civil Rights / Black History Month
Cesar Chavez Day Prompts Searches - We're Working to Provide Good Results!
by Craig Wiesner
Each year, starting in late February, we start to see lots of folks searching for Cesar Chavez information and tools for putting together high quality service learning. We're glad you found us and we'll make this page worth your while!
In the last few years, we've interviewed teachers across the country, learning how they hunt for resources for pulling together innovative lesson plans, or as some like to say, thinking outside the textbook. We hope that more and more they'll find their way to Reach And Teach to both find great stuff and to share great stuff!
Children and Trauma: Understanding Impact & Strengthening Resilience
Children and Trauma: Understanding Impact & Strengthening Resilience Training Series
March - May 2012
The Campaign to End Child Homelessness presents a series of webinars on trauma and trauma-informed care. Join trainer Kathleen Guarino this spring for a four-part training on homelessness, trauma, trauma-informed care, and self-care for service providers. Each month from February - May, the Campaign will be offering opportunities to learn more about how trauma can impact all facets of a person's life. Special focus will be given to children and families who are experiencing homelessness and how organizations can provide trauma-informed services to these populations.
This self-paced, online course provides an historical perspective of homelessness in the United States, a discussion of current trends in how we respond, and a view of the future as we work as a nation not just to manage homelessness, but to end it. This free course is available now - use code "ncfhFree".
Becoming homeless is traumatic for children and is often compounded by other traumatic stressors. Traumatic experiences can have a significant impact on all aspects of a child's emotional and physical health and development. By understanding traumatic stress, shelter providers and others who work with homeless children can build safe environments for children to heal. This webinar will provide an overview of trauma in the lives of children experiencing homelessness; define traumatic stress and discuss its impact on children; explore mitigating factors in a child's response to traumatic events; and begin to identify ways to help children and families heal.Register today.
April- Developing a Trauma-Informed Approach to Support Children and Their Families
Date and Time TBD
May- Building a Culture of Self-Care to Support Service Providers
Date and Time TBD
Homelessness and Trauma
Homelessness and trauma are inextricably linked. Many people who experience homelessness have also suffered from physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence, injury, and other traumatic events. Trauma can impact all facets of a person's life and can result in challenges that include mental health and substance issues, struggles maintaining housing and employment, and difficulties in relationships. Trauma-informed services take into account how trauma impacts people on a daily basis.
About the Trainer
Kathleen Guarino, LMHC, is the Director of Training at The National Center on Family Homelessness. She provides trainings on traumatic stress throughout the country and is an expert on the effects of violence and trauma in the lives of children and families.
About the Campaign to End Child Homelessness
TheCampaign to End Child Homelessnessseeks to galvanize the public and political will necessary to end this crisis. Because it is unacceptable for any child to be homeless for even one night, the Campaign to End Child Homelessness is a call to action with the goals of increasing public awareness, informing state and local policies, and improving programs and services to better address the needs of homeless children and families. The Campaign to End Child Homelessness is an initiative ofThe National Center on Family Homelessness.
If you are planning a peace event in the coming weeks, you may want to consider using this book as part of a children's activity.
While on a peace delegation in Afghanistan, we heard the stories of many children, whose lives had been shattered by war.
One boy had nearly lost both arms and legs to a cluster bomb. A young girl had lost her mother, her sisters, her brothers, her cousins, her aunt and uncle, all to one bunker buster that went astray. We've told their stories dozens of times now in the hopes of helping people to understand the true consequences of war.
A few weeks after returning to the United States from that trip, I had an appointment in downtown Palo Alto. I took the free shuttle which also carried middle-school children from their homes to school.
One pair of boys was talking about war, making exploding noises and whooshing sounds like airplanes. To them, the idea of war was really cool, like the video games kids play. I could only think of those two little kids in Afghanistan, and the reality of war.
One of my prayers was to find a way to teach children about war, in a gentle but compelling way. Today, we have a book which helps do just that. It is called Playing War and it is available in our web store.
We recently used that book during an interfaith worship service, remembering the start of the Iraq war. Three Stanford students read the book to the children (and adults) attending the service. Each of the young women played roles from within the story. It was an incredibly moving time.
The rest of this story is written by the wonderful teaching team at Tilbury House (the publisher of Playing War) and provides suggested activities and additional resources to use along with the book, Playing War.
We, the Children of the World, assert our inalienable right to be heard and to have a political voice at the United Nations and at the highest levels of governments worldwide.
We, the Children of the World, must live with justice, with peace and freedom, but above all, with the dignity we deserve.
We, the Children of the World, require a Marshall Plan, a Geneva Convention, and a World Children’s Court of Human Rights which meets regularly to listen to the testimonies as to what is actually happening to us. We intend to provide our own testimonies.
We, the Children of the World, demand the right to be taken to safe shelters in situations of war.
We, the Children of the World, consider hunger, disease, forced labour, and all forms of abuse and exploitation perpetrated upon us to be war.
We, the Children of the World, have had no political voice. We demand such a voice.
We, the Children of the World, will develop our own leadership, and set an example that will show governments how to live in peace and freedom.
We, the Children of the World, serve notice on our abusers and exploiters, whoever they may be, that from this day hence, we will begin the process of holding you responsible for our suffering.
– Betty Williams 1997
Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan-Maguire co-founded Community of Peace People, an organization that promoted peace in Ireland and now works for peace around the world. The two women received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976.
Institute for Humane Education Recommends 10 Great Resources for Social Justice Teaching
We're pleased to be recipients of the Institute for Humane Education's newsletter and this week received this incredible list of resources we thought we should also share with you! Here's what they recommend:
10 GREAT RESOURCES FOR INTEGRATING SOCIAL JUSTICE INTO YOUR CURRICULUM
by Marsha Rakestraw, Online Communities & Special Projects Manager
With global challenges growing and violence, injustice, cruelty and destruction flourishing, you know that it's even more essential to address issues of social justice (human rights, environmental preservation, animal protection, media, culture & consumerism) with your students -- to help them think critically and creatively about the world and their place in it. But with all the tests and standards and demands on your time, how do you do it? You're not alone in your passion to integrate justice and equity into education; there are numerous useful resources available, and we've compiled (in no particular order) 10 terrific ones for you to explore.
EdChange – A goldmine of social justice resources, EdChange and its sister sites offer more useful essays, activities, tools, links and other goodies than you can shake a number 2 pencil at. (Be sure to check out our interview with EdChange gurus Paul Gorski & Jennifer Hickman.)
Americans Who Tell the Truth – Focused on changemakers in the U.S., these paintings by Robert Shetterly capture the words and wisdom of people not afraid to speak the truth and work for a better world. In addition to the portraits and short bios of those featured, the website includes suggested curriculum and a blog to help educators spark ideas for helping students understand their heritage and inspire their futures.
Education for Liberation Network – Our favorite part of ELN’s website is their EdLib Lab, an interactive database of teaching materials, curriculum and resources compiled from other organizations. It’s searchable by categories such as grade level, topic, keyword, and material type, and something new is added frequently. You can also submit your own.
Rethinking Schools – RS has a whole slew of publications that should be added to your “must read” list. Focused on educational reform and issues of equity and social justice, RS offers insightful, innovative, and useful essays, teaching ideas, analysis and more through its quarterly magazine and numerous books.
Teaching Tolerance – A project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, TT is a bastion of educational materials and ideas useful in integrating the social justice lens into your classroom. Between the quarterly magazine, classroom activities, blog, and other resources, there is plenty to delight and inspire.
Radical Math – Want to integrate social justice into your math classes? On the RM website you’ll find hundreds of lesson plans, articles, charts, books, websites and other resources that you can find by subject, math topic or resource type.
Black Ants & Buddhists – One of my favorite education books ever, and required reading for our students, Black Ants & Buddhists: Teaching Critically and Thinking Differently in the Primary Grades by Mary Cowhey, outlines her experiences integrating social justice, activism, community participation and critical thinking into her first and second grade classes in order to nurture “more informed, articulate, active and participatory citizens who know the power of their own voices.” A great and inspiring resource whether you teach young ones or not.
Planning to Change the World – A collaboration between Education for Liberation and the New York Collective of Radical Educators, this planning book for teachers offers ideas, essays, lesson plans, quotes and tips for helping teachers “translate their vision of a just education into concrete classroom activities.”
“Social Justice and Language Arts” (pdf) – A great article by Christopher Greenslate, one of IHE’s M.Ed. graduates, and a language arts/social justice teacher. Yes, it’s only a single resource, but it serves as a wonderful template of specific ideas and examples for integrating issues of animal protection, human rights, environmental protection and cultural issues into language arts teaching.
Free Education Kit - The Children's March
Learn how some brave children in Alabama brought an end to the era of segregation! The Southern Poverty Law Center's Tolerance.org offers free video and teacher's kit for middle and upper grades.
What Franklin Roosevelt Learned from a Passamaquoddy Named Tomah Joseph (and how much you can teach about using this book)
Reach And Teach is really excited to offer a brand new book called Remember Me - Tomah Joseph's Gift to Franklin Roosevelt. In the next few pages, we'll introduce the book and the many ways it can be weaved into a wonderful variety of teachable moments.
"This lovely book captures, in both words and images, the growing friendship between the young boy who would become the 32nd president of the United States and Tomah Joseph, a Passamaquoddy elder and canoe guide. Although this story focuses on his skills as a guide and educator, Tomah Joseph was also a gifted artist, a fine dancer and storyteller, and a tribal governor. His beautifully etched drawings record Passamaquoddy oral history, life in "the old time," and also include references to his contemporary world. Written by a Passamaquoddy, this story is a wonderful addition to the growing volume of children's literature that respectfully and accurately presents Native people to a wider audience." -Joan Lester, author of History on Birchbark: The Art of Tomah Joseph, Passamaquoddy
Reach And Teach is pleased to help promote Teaching Tolerance's Summer of Social Justice ideas for professional development this Summer. After their full article (used with permission from Teaching Tolerance) we'd also like to offer some Reach And Teach resources you might want to consider.
February is Black History Month and our friends at Tolerance.org have put together a wonderful set of resources for teachers, parents, youth group leaders and other community folks.
We also have some great products you might want to check out for Black History Month, especially our newest title, Freedom Song. Explore the civil rights movement in the United States and the anti-Apartheid movement of South Africa through words, pictures, and incredible music (performed by the Chicago Children's Choir).
In the years leading up to 1963, racial bombings were so frequent in Birmingham, Alabama, that it acquired the moniker "Bombingham." Until September 15, these attacks had been threatening but not deadly. On that Sunday morning, however, a Klan-planted bomb detonated, killing four little girls. Before the sun had set, another two children would also be killed. This is the story of that tragic day in U.S. history that set the course for civil rights reforms. 
Bayard (pronounced BUY-ard) Rustin was a man with purpose--and a man with heart. His was a life dedicated to helping others--fighting injustices and discriminations--so that people could live as one. He made his mark working alongside African American labor-leader A. Philip Randolph and provided guidance to Martin Luther King, Jr., about the techniques and principles of Gandhi's nonviolent protest throughout King's short but remarkable civil rights career. He was thrust upon the world stage in 1963 when he spearheaded the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Kirkus (Sep. 1, 2007) had this to say about it: "An effective mix of major historical events and small, telling anecdotes, along with the attractive photo-essay format, make this a fascinating volume, informative and well written."
One of our favorite YA (Young Adult) books is 
As you listen to Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech this year, imagine a little parrot sitting on his shoulder who championed nonviolence as the best means to achieve freedom. Bayard Rustin was no parrot, though, he was a lion of a man! Because Rustin was gay, many of King's other colleagues insisted that Rustin stay out of the limelight and most importantly, keep his sexual orientation to himself. We were blessed recently to have a woman stop by our shop, see that we had a civil rights focus, and then say to us "I'll bet I can say a name and you won't know who it is." We took the challenge. She said "Bayard Rustin!" We told her we knew all about Rustin, showed her some of the books, and then she really surprised us by saying that she had spent time in jail with Rustin. She was over 80 years old but as feisty as ever as she shared her jailhouse stories with us. (Our friend Sydney Brown also, it turns out, knew Rustin. Small world.) If you'd like to know more about the way Bayard approached the world, check out this incredible book, 
We got a call one day from Alan Edwards of Appleseed Recordings (Pete Seeger's label) saying "Hey! You guys ought to have some of our records in your store!" He was right. Through that connection we fell in love with Kim and Reggie Harris and their incredible music. Here's how they're described at Appleseed: "Kim and Reggie Harris will never be confused with the legions of navel-gazing singer-songwriters who drift into the category of "contemporary folk." As socially conscious acoustic musicians, the Harrises have been "walking the talk" for over 30 years, performing modern and historical songs that explore societal ills and proffer positive social messages. Whether entrancing festival crowds with their own material or dramatizing the Underground Railroad songs, the duo carry on the folk tradition of preserving important songs from the past and adding meaningful new compositions that reflect the world around them."
As shown in our 
Since we started our article with the name of someone you might not instantly have recognized from the civil rights movement, we'll close this article with one more name you might not recognize. Our friend, Mary Edith (Bentley) Abu-Saba, helped us pick the 
With global challenges growing and violence, injustice, cruelty and destruction flourishing, you know that it's even more essential to address issues of social justice (human rights, environmental preservation, animal protection, media, culture & consumerism) with your students -- to help them think critically and creatively about the world and their place in it. But with all the tests and standards and demands on your time, how do you do it? You're not alone in your passion to integrate justice and equity into education; there are numerous useful resources available, and we've compiled (in no particular order) 10 terrific ones for you to explore.
