School Colors
Desegregation Allison Acosta Desegregation Allison Acosta

School Colors

Podacast by Mark Winston Griffith and Max Freedman
Season one of the School Colors podcast covers the history of Ocean Hill-Brownsville in Brooklyn where Black and Puerto Rican parents tried to exercise power over their schools and they collided head first with the teachers’ union — leading to the longest teachers’ strike in U.S. history in 1968.

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Introduction: Desegregation
Desegregation Allison Acosta Desegregation Allison Acosta

Introduction: Desegregation

Introduction
Throughout U.S. history, communities of color fought for their right to equal access and for human dignity and equity. Desegregation in public schools, transportation, and other accommodations was more than court cases and legal victories. Desegregation was a long struggle led by students, parents, and every day citizens. . . . They were not interested in integration, or the desire to mingle socially or otherwise with whites, but to break and reconstruct institutions that forced people of color into positions of poverty, illiteracy, and political powerlessness.

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Montgomery Bus Boycott Mythbuster Quiz
Desegregation Allison Acosta Desegregation Allison Acosta

Montgomery Bus Boycott Mythbuster Quiz

Quiz by Teaching for Change
Students are often taught the simplistic narrative that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in Montgomery, the buses were desegregated, and the Civil Rights Movement was launched. This quiz helps surface and challenge many of the myths about the boycott.

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The Role of Freedom Songs
Desegregation Josh Davidson Desegregation Josh Davidson

The Role of Freedom Songs

Reading by SNCC Digital Gateway
One cannot understand the history of the Civil Rights Movement absent the role of freedom songs. Here is a description of their importance from the SNCC Digital Gateway, followed by the song “If You Miss Me from the Back of the Bus.”

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Teaching the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Desegregation Josh Davidson Desegregation Josh Davidson

Teaching the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Reading by Teaching for Change
Students learn that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in Montgomery, the buses were desegregated, and the Civil Rights Movement was launched. The disconnect between Parks’ arrest and the 381-day boycott creates the illusion that it was a spontaneous response to her civil disobedience. This, however, discounts the strategic brilliance and courage of the African American community in Montgomery.

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