The Decisive Moment:
The Civil Rights Photographs of
Dr. Ernest Withers
In 2005 the Brooks acquired 122 photographs by Dr. Ernest Withers. This
collection was assembled in 2000 by the Chrysler Museum of Art and traveled
nationally as the first retrospective of Withers’s work. Some of the artist’s most
important photographs chronicle pivotal events of the Civil Rights Movement from
across the American South.
This curriculum guide was developed to provide educational materials to help
teachers integrate some of these compelling photographs into their own
curriculum. A committee comprising teachers from Memphis City and Shelby
County Schools, as well as a history professor from Rhodes College, developed
these lesson plans with classroom connections in language arts, social studies,
and art for 5th through 12th grade students.
Table of Contents
Ernest Withers Biography
p. 2
Ernest Withers Biographical Timeline
p. 3
Suggested Vocabulary
p. 5
Selected Photographs
p. 8
Art Lessons
p. 28
Brief Timeline of the Civil Rights Movement
p. 31
Civil Rights Websites
p. 35
Suggested Reading
p. 36
The Decisive Moment: The Civil Rights Photographs of Dr. Ernest Withers curriculum
guide is generously sponsored by the Thomas W. Briggs Foundation, Inc.
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© Ernest C. Withers, Courtesy Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA
Ernest C. Withers, 327 Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee, 1968
Ernest Withers was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1922. He lived and worked in Memphis
where he used his camera to capture the people, events, and the changes surrounding him.
Withers’s pictures tell the powerful story of the African American experience from the late 1940s
to the 1970s. Featured in the New York Times, Jet, Ebony, the Washington Post, Newsweek,
and Life, his well-known images of the Civil Rights Movement have influenced millions of people
and helped to enact social change.
He began his photography career when he joined the Army in 1942, although he prefers to say
it began when he walked through a crowded high school auditorium (as an underclassman) with
a borrowed camera and photographed visiting guest Margaret Trotter Louis, wife of heavyweight
champion Joe Louis.
After fulfilling his military service Withers embarked on a photographic career in a studio on
Beale Street, taking pictures for weddings, funerals, graduations, passports, as well as portraits.
He also formed a working relationship with the black press and freelanced aggressively,
photographing local newsworthy, social, and political events.
Withers was a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement as a result of the photographic pamphlet
he produced, which documented the murder trial of Emmett Till. That effort mobilized prominent
African Americans to rise up and become involved in the movement. He was witness to several
key Civil Rights moments including: the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the funeral of Medgar Evers,
the Integration of Little Rock High School, the March Against Fear, the Memphis Sanitation
Workers' Strike, and the assassination and funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Withers also documented the music scene on Beale Street, as well as the Negro Baseball
League, and African American social life in Memphis. Three books of his photographs have
been published: Pictures Tell the Story, The Memphis Blues Again, and Negro League
Baseball.
Panopticon Gallery
www.panopt.com
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The Decisive Moment
Ernest Withers Biographical Timeline
1922
Born in Memphis, Tennessee to Pearl and Earl Withers. Ernest was the fifth of six
children
1931
Pearl Withers dies; Earl marries Minnie, a skilled seamstress whom Ernest Withers
credits with teaching him to look closely. This contributes to his interest in
photography when he attends Manassas High School. He became the school’s
semi-official photographer.
1942
Marries Dorothy Curry
1943
Joins the Army to fight in World War II; sent to Pearl Harbor. Learns photography
dark room skills. First child is born.
1944
Sent to Saipan (an island in the western Pacific Ocean) where he takes photographs
of servicemen
1945
World War II ends; Withers returns to Memphis and a system of segregation
1946
Begins to take photographs of Negro Baseball League players and fans. Buys first
studio in North Memphis (one of fourteen locations he would have throughout his
career)
1948
Becomes one of the first nine black men to join the Memphis Police force; serves
until 1951
1950s Begins – and continues – to photograph Beale Street entertainers
1955
Withers and reporter L. Alex Wilson cover the Emmett Till trial in Sumner,
Mississippi. This is the start of substantive civil rights press coverage in the United
States.
1966
Runs unsuccessfully for Shelby County Court position
1968
Covers the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike. On April 4, records crowds at the
Lorraine Motel after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is killed. On the same day, in his
darkroom, Withers develops the only film of King’s collapse, which was taken by Joe
Low.
Awarded the National News Association, Best Photographer of the Year, 1968
1974
Involved in local Memphis politics; visits Africa
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1988
Inducted into the Black Press Hall of Fame; awarded honorary degree from
Memphis College of Art and Massachusetts College of Art
2000
First museum exhibition of Withers’s photographs, Pictures Tell the Story, opens at
the Chrysler Museum of Art, in Norfolk, Virginia and in 2001, travels to the Memphis
Brooks Museum of Art, Tennessee. Withers continued to take photographs.
2004
Awarded the Missouri Honor School Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism
2005
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art acquires photographs from Pictures Tell the Story
for its permanent collection. The collection comprises almost 200 of Withers’s
photographs.
2007
On October 15, Ernest Withers dies from complications due to a stroke.
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The Decisive Moment
Suggested Vocabulary
Art Terms:

Aperture: the circular hole in the front of the camera lens, which controls the amount of
light allowed to pass on to the film from the lens.

Camera: a tool for producing photographs, having a lightproof enclosure with an
aperture and a shuttered lens through which the image of an object is focused and
recorded on a photosensitive film or plate.

Genre: genre is the depiction of subjects and scenes from everyday life, ordinary
people, and common activities.

Lens: a transparent piece of glass or another material, which is shaped to focus the
passage of light through it and into or onto another surface in some other optical device,
such as a camera, magnifying glass, telescope, microscope, projector, etc.

Photography: the art, craft, and science of producing permanent images of objects on
light-sensitive surfaces.

Photograph: an image, especially a positive print, recorded by a camera and
reproduced on a photosensitive surface.

Portrait: a work of art that represents a specific person, a group of people, or an animal.
Portraits usually show what a person looks like as well as revealing something about the
subject’s personality.

Subject: that which is represented in a work of art. It is what the painter paints, or what
the sculptor sculpts, or the photographer photographs. Some of Ernest Withers’s
subjects were the people, places, and events that affected the Civil Rights Movement.

Viewer: in art, the viewer is the person who gazes or observes the work of art.
Sometimes used as a synonym for audience.
Civil Rights and Social Studies Terms:

Amendment: an alteration proposed or put into effect by legislative or constitutional
procedure

Boycott: a group's refusal to have commercial dealings with some organization in
protest against its policies

Civil Rights Movement: the Civil Rights Movement in the United States refers in part to
a set of noted events and reform movements aimed at abolishing public and private acts
of racial discrimination and racism against African Americans between 1954 and 1968,
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particularly in the southern United States. It is sometimes referred to as the Second
Reconstruction era.

Demonstration: a public exhibition of the attitude of a group of persons toward a
controversial issue, or other matter, made by picketing, parading, marching, protesting,
etc.

Discrimination: treatment or consideration based on class or category, rather than
individual merit; partiality or prejudice; unfair treatment of a person or group on the basis
of prejudice.

Equality: the state or quality of being equal; correspondence in quantity, degree, value,
rank, or ability.

Integrate: to give or cause to give members of all races, religions, and ethnic groups an
equal opportunity to belong to, be employed by, be customers of, or vote in (an
organization, place of business, city, state, etc.).

March: an organized walk or procession by a group of people for a specific cause or
issue.

Marshal: (1) an official charged with the arrangement or regulation of ceremonies,
parades, or marches. (2) an administrative officer of a U.S. judicial district who performs
duties similar to those of a sheriff.

Media: the means of communication, as in radio, television, newspapers, and
magazines, that reach or influence people widely

Obstacle: something that obstructs or hinders progress

Poverty: the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support;
the condition of being poor.

Prejudice: an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge,
thought, or reason.

Privilege: any of the rights common to all citizens under a modern constitutional
government

Protest: a formal declaration of disapproval or objection issued by a concerned person,
group, or organization; the act of making a strong public expression of disagreement and
disapproval

Rally: a gathering, especially one intended to inspire enthusiasm for a specific cause.

Rights: that which is due to anyone by just claims, legal guarantees, moral principles,
etc.
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
Riot: a noisy, violent public disorder caused by a group or crowd of persons, as by a
crowd protesting against another group, a government policy, etc., in the streets.

Segregate: to require, often with force, the separation of (a specific racial, religious, or
other group) from the general body of society.

Strike: the stopping of work by employees in support of demands made on their
employer, as for higher pay or improved working conditions.

Unconstitutional: not in accord with the principles set forth in the constitution of a
nation or state.

Uprising: A sometimes-limited popular revolt against a constituted government or its
policies; a rebellion.
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The Decisive Moment
Selected Photographs
© Ernest C. Withers, Courtesy Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA
Don’t Buy Gas Where You Can’t Use the Rest Room, Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee,
1952
A Brief History:
As part of an early civil rights campaign, the bumper sticker in this photograph was printed and
disseminated by the Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL). RCNL was a society
founded to promote a program of civil rights, self-help, and business ownership. It pledged “to
guide our people in their civic responsibilities regarding education, registration and voting, law
enforcement, tax paying, the preservation of property, the value of saving and in all things which
will make us stable, qualified conscientious citizens.” Instead of starting from the “grass roots,”
however, the strategy was to “reach the masses through their chosen leaders” by harnessing
the talents of African Americans with a proven record in business, education, the church, and
various other professional occupations.
The RCNL's most famous member was Medgar Evers (1925–1963). After graduating from
Alcorn State University in 1952, he became the RCNL's program director and helped to
organize a boycott of service stations that failed to provide restrooms for African Americans. As
part of this campaign, the RCNL distributed an estimated twenty thousand bumper stickers with
the slogan “Don’t Buy Gas Where You Can’t Use the Rest Room." Beginning in 1953, RCNL
directly challenged the idea of "separate but equal" and demanded the integration of schools.
Discussion Starters:
 What is the meaning of this bumper sticker? What is the word that describes this
type of protest?
 What situations might the driver of this car encountered?
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


Besides gas station restrooms, what other public facilities were off limits to
African Americans?
How effective do you think this protest would be? What factors would determine
its effectiveness?
Can you think of another example of this type of protest? Have you or your
family ever participated in such a protest?
Activities:
Journal Prompt
 What are some ways in which segregation on the basis of race is harmful to society? Is
the harm done only to those individuals who are discriminated against? Why or why not?
Design a bumper sticker
 Think of a current issue about which you have a strong opinion. Design a bumper
sticker that would persuade others to agree with you.
Research other boycotts
 Boycotts were a common form of protest during the Civil Rights Movement.
Research other examples of boycotts and choose one you find most interesting.
Present a report to your class. Be sure to explain the issue involved, describe the
person or group responsible, and evaluate the overall effectiveness of the
boycott.
Creative Writing
 Imagine that you are the driver of this car and write a short story about the
experience that prompted you to place this sticker on your bumper.
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© Ernest C. Withers, Courtesy Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA
Overton Park Zoo, Memphis, Tennessee, 1950s
A Brief History:
In 1941, a policy was established that allowed only African Americans to visit the Overton Park
Zoo (today called the Memphis Zoo) on Tuesdays. Whites were not allowed on Tuesdays, but
could visit every other day of the week. By the mid 1940s, the separate day for African
Americans had changed to Thursday.
As late as the mid-1950s, African Americans were not allowed admittance to many of
Memphis’s attractions, including the Fairgrounds, the Pink Palace Museum, and the Brooks Art
Gallery (today the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art), in addition to many parks, pools, golf
courses, playgrounds, and libraries. In June of 1952, the Bluff City and Shelby County Councils
of Civil Clubs, representing thirty-one African American organizations, wrote a nine-point
program with the intention of improving recreational facilities for the city’s African Americans.
The program requested changes in the policies of segregation for places like the Zoo and the
Brooks, saying “ . . . how can we teach our children democratic principles or even sell them on
the Southern philosophy of separate but equal, when the ‘equal’ is just a myth?”
On November 7, 1955, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public parks, golf courses,
playgrounds, and swimming pools was unconstitutional, but it would take another five years
before the Zoo and the Brooks would fully open their doors to all races. On December 1, 1960,
the Overton Park Zoo and the Brooks Art Gallery were officially desegregated. Signage at the
Zoo that restricted African American visitors to only visit on Thursdays was taken down, and
both races entered the Zoo without incident.
Discussion Starters:
 Describe what is going on in this photograph. What effect does the chain-link fence have
on the mood?
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



If you were one of the people in this photograph, how do you think you’d feel? Why?
Why do you think African Americans were only allowed to attend the zoo one day a
week?
What effects do you think separating blacks and whites had on the community?
Do signs like this exist today? Is yes, tell where. If no, why not?
Activities:
Journal prompt
 Recall a time when you were excluded from something you wanted to do. Describe what
happened, how it made you feel, and how you feel about the situation now.
Create an advertisement
 Imagine what it was like when the zoo was desegregated. Create an advertisement that
lets the public know that everyone is welcome to attend the zoo whenever they want to
visit.
Research what world events were occurring in the 1950s
 Have your students research some of the other important world events of the 1950s,
particularly events that relate to civil rights and human rights (some examples are listed
below). Have students work in groups to complete their research and present their
findings to the class.
o The Korean War begins when North Korean Communist forces invade South
Korea (June 25, 1950)
o South Africans forced to carry ID cards identifying race (1951)
o East Berliners rise against Communist rule; quelled by tanks (June 17, 1953)
o Dien Bien Phu, French military outpost in Vietnam, falls to Viet Minh army (May
7, 1954) (beginning of the US involvement in Vietnam and the eventual Vietnam
War)
o Algerian War of Independence against France begins (November 1954); France
struggles to maintain colonial rule until 1962, when it agrees to Algeria's
independence.
o Workers' uprising against Communist rule in Poznan, Poland, is crushed (June
28–30, 1956); rebellion inspires Hungarian students to stage a protest against
Communism in Budapest (October 23, 1956)
o Cuban President Fulgencio Batista resigns and flees—Castro takes over
(January 1, 1959)
o Tibet's Dalai Lama escapes to India (March 31, 1959)
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© Ernest C. Withers, Courtesy Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Abernathy on One of the First Desegregated Buses,
Montgomery, Alabama, December 21, 1956
A Brief History:
The Montgomery Bus Boycott officially started on December 1, 1955 when, after a day of work
at Montgomery Fair department store, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus for a
white passenger. Parks was arrested, but it was her act of civil disobedience that was the
catalyst for Montgomery’s African Americans to refuse to ride the city’s buses until they could sit
anywhere they wanted, rather than being relegated to the back when a white person boarded.
Instead of riding the bus, boycotters organized a system of carpools, and many walked where
they needed to go. The bus boycott lasted for 381 days, and ultimately led to a United States
Supreme Court decision that declared the Alabama and Montgomery laws requiring segregated
buses unconstitutional. Finally, on December 21, 1956, Montgomery’s buses were
desegregated. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Abernathy participated in one of the first
desegregated bus rides.
It was the bus boycott that ultimately brought these two influential men together. As boycotts like
the one in Montgomery began to spread to other Southern cities, a group of sixty activists,
including King and Abernathy, met in Atlanta, Georgia in January 1957 to talk about nonviolent
resistance to bring about change. The group soon named themselves the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference and issued a document declaring that civil rights are essential to
democracy, that segregation must end, and that all black people should reject segregation
absolutely and nonviolently.
Discussion Starters:
 As they ride one of the first desegregated buses, what do you think is going through the
minds of Dr. King and Mr. Abernathy?
 What about the white man standing behind them?
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


What is the relationship between the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Civil Rights
Movement?
What would have happened if buses had never become desegregated?
Do you think people today understand the importance of the fact that they can sit
anywhere they want on the bus?
Activities:
Journal Prompt
 Have you ever been in a place where you were not wanted or in a situation where you
knew someone was not welcome? How did you feel about the situation? How could the
situation be resolved?
 Write three diary entries from three different people who rode on the desegregated bus
with Dr. King and Mr. Abernathy.
Plan a celebration for the first desegregated bus ride
 Compile a guest list, design the invitation, organize the event to include speakers and
music, and plan the program. Present your idea for the celebration to the class.
Research other bus boycotts
 There were other bus boycotts that occurred around the country during the same time
period. Create a Venn Diagram comparing the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott to the
one your researched.
- 13 -
© Ernest C. Withers, Courtesy Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA
Young Woman Receives Voter Registration Card, Fayette County, Tennessee, 1960
A Brief History:
Although African Americans had legally been granted the right to vote in 1870, they were
systematically kept from voting by white local and state officials through formal methods, such
as poll taxes and literacy tests, and through cruder methods of fear and intimidation, which
included beatings and lynchings. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement,
under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., demanded the restoration of African
American voting rights. Members of CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) and SNCC (Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) campaigned in heavily African American, rural areas of
Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia to strengthen awareness of voter registration. CORE and
SNCC understood the crucial significance of voter registration; a black voting bloc would be able
to effect social and political change. Enactment of the 1965 federal Voting Rights Act restored
the right to vote to all African Americans.
Discussion Starters:
 What is happening in this photograph? List three or four adjectives that
describe the young woman’s expression and/or emotions.
 How difficult was it for this woman to obtain her voter registration card? What
obstacles might she have had to face?
 How might she have dealt with these obstacles? How would you have dealt with
them?
 Do you think people today are generally this enthusiastic about having the right
to vote? Why or why not?
Activities:
Journal Prompts
 What do you think should be the criteria for voting rights in the United States?
- 14 -

How important is having the right to vote? How important is it that citizens
exercise their right to vote?
Group Discussions of the Fifteenth Amendment, Section 1
 Locate a copy of the U.S. Constitution in a book or online. Read the Fifteenth
Amendment, Section 1. In groups of three or four, discuss the following:
 What groups were left out of this amendment? Why do you think they were not
included?
 If this amendment was passed in 1870, why did the young woman in the picture
experience such difficulty registering to vote in 1965?
 In your opinion, could this amendment have been written in a way that would better
ensure voting rights for all American citizens? If so, how?
Write an Essay
 Think of a right or privilege that you believe should be added to the Constitution?
Write an essay telling why this right or privilege is important and describe your
plan for getting public and/or government support for your amendment.
Create a Collage
 Using magazines, newspapers, and various other media, create a collage that
illustrates this young woman’s experience and emotions.
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© Ernest C. Withers, Courtesy Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA
NAACP Protest, Main Street, Memphis, Tennessee, early 1960s
A Brief History:
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (usually abbreviated as
NAACP) is one of the oldest and most influential civil rights organizations in the United States.
The NAACP was founded on February 12, 1909, by a diverse group composed of W.E.B.
Du Bois (African American), Ida B. Wells-Barnett (African American), Henry Moscowitz
(Jewish), Mary White Ovington (white), Oswald Garrison Villard (German-born white), and
William English Walling (white, and son of a former slave owning family). The organization’s
purpose is to work on behalf of the rights of African Americans.
Beginning in the early 1950s, the NAACP undertook a campaign spanning several decades to
bring about the reversal of the “separate but equal” doctrine announced by the Supreme Court's
decision in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). The campaign culminated in a unanimous Supreme
Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that held that state-sponsored
segregation of elementary schools was unconstitutional.
By the mid-1960s, the NAACP was heavily involved in the Civil Rights Movement by pressing
for civil rights legislation, often through peaceful demonstrations, marches, boycotts, and
protests, such as the one in this photograph. In 1964, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act,
which attempted to end racial discrimination in employment, education, and public
accommodations. This was followed by the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
Communism is defined as: a system of social organization in which all economic and social
activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political
party.
- 16 -
Discussion Starters:
 Why are these women protesting? List some words to describe the women’s
expressions. Do their expressions match their actions? How are they different? How are
they the same?
 How would you describe the expression of the little girl behind the women on the left?
 What if a person was to protest a store or restaurant today, would he or she use the
same kinds of signs? What words would be changed?
 If you were going to stage a protest today, what methods would you use to convince
people to participate? What ways would you protest?
Activities:
Journal Prompt
 Have you ever felt like you wanted to protest against a decision that was made on your
behalf, one that you had no part in making? What is important enough to you that you
would want to stage a protest similar to the one in this photo? Tell how you would do it
and who you would get to help you.
Research the NAACP and its founders
 Have your students research the NAACP and what ways their efforts have been
effective in bringing about change in modern times.
 Have your students research the background and biographies of the founders of the
NAACP and what prompted them to start this organization.
Research the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of the 1960s
 Protests, sit-ins, marches, and demonstrations were important activities that helped lead
to the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of the 1960s. Have your students research
these two important milestones in our country’s history and how they have impacted and
changed our society today.
Create your own protest banner
 Have your students work in groups to decide on a cause that they would like to protest.
They should create their own protest signs as well as flyers or pamphlets that they can
distribute to get their message out.
Define and compare
 Write a paragraph (or more) defining and comparing the vocabulary words “integrate”
and “segregate.”
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© Ernest C. Withers, Courtesy Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA
First Day of Integration, Memphis, Tennessee, 1961
A Brief History:
In the 1950s, school segregation was widely accepted throughout the nation. In fact, it was
required by law in most southern states. In 1952, the U. S. Supreme Court heard a number of
school-segregation cases, including Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The Court
decided unanimously in 1954 that segregation was unconstitutional, overthrowing the 1896
Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that had set the “separate but equal” precedent.
In Memphis, on Tuesday, October 3, 1961, thirteen youngsters desegregated the first grades at
four formerly all-white schools: Bruce, Gordon, Rozelle, and Springdale elementary schools.
Pictured from left to right are Michael Willis, Harry Williams, and Dwania Kyles arriving at Bruce.
The students and their parents gathered at an appointed time a block from the school and were
escorted by policemen. The first day of integration was peaceful and without incident.
However, until January 24, 1973, segregation was practiced in most Memphis City Schools. In
that year, court-ordered busing was instituted to help integrate the schools. The order caused a
great deal of controversy, and many white parents withdrew their children from the Memphis
City School system in favor of private schools.
Discussion Starters:
 From the expressions on the students’ faces, how do you think they were feeling?
 What do you think the children’s school environment was like prior to coming to this
school? Why do you think they came to a new school?
 Since there was a police escort, do you think their parents were afraid? If so, why do you
think the parents allowed their children to go to the previously all-white school?
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 Think about a time when you were anxious or afraid about experiencing something new.
Compare and contrast your experience to the children’s experience in the photograph.
Activities:
Point of View
Discuss the perspectives of the people in the children’s lives who are not pictured and the role
they played in the situation. Have the students brainstorm about the people who are “behind the
picture.” Lead the discussion to focus on the parents.
Analyzing Poetry
Many of the songs of the 1960s reflect the times. Expose the students to some of the ballads of
the time. You can either do this with or without the music. An example of a song is Blowing in
the Wind by Bob Dylan. Play or recite two or three songs for the class as an introduction, and
then encourage students to research other songs. Investigate the concepts of theme and mood
with the lyrics. Teach one lesson on metaphors and another on figurative language. Ask: Do
songs today reflect what is going on in society? Ask them to give examples. Caution students
that only songs with acceptable language can be used. The students can write their own poetry
or songs as a means of responding to an issue of today.
Compare and Contrast Art Forms
Withers used photography to capture the flavor of the times just as Norman Rockwell used his
paintings to express his view of American life. The civil rights era had an impact on both men.
Go to the site below and view the Norman Rockwell painting of another first day of integration:
that of Ruby Bridges integrating the New Orleans, Louisiana, schools. Compare Withers’
photograph to Rockwell’s painting.
Literacy Circles
A Conversation with Ruby Bridges
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/race_relations/jan-june97/bridges_2-18.html
Visit the site above as an introduction to reading the book aloud to the class. The Story of Ruby
Bridges by Robert Coles is a picture book and can be read in one sitting. There are questions
on this site for the students to discuss in the literary circles.
Creating a Class Museum
After researching topics and exploring literature related to school desegregation in the 1960s,
the students will apply the information and become archivists. Discuss the idea of archives and,
if possible, visit a local historical museum. Discuss how archives are displayed and used in
exhibits. Students surmise why archives are important to our lives and learning. Have the
students brainstorm on the types of artifacts they might collect or create to construct a
classroom museum. The students may borrow photographs from family members; download
media from that era; conduct real interviews or give mock accounts in newspaper articles for
display; or recreate artifacts such as protest signs or pamphlets circulated at the time. Another
idea is to use drama and to role play in “animated dioramas.” The students play the role of the
civil rights participant, speaking in first person point of the view acting as the civil rights
participant. The students design and set up the displays and give an oral presentation to
students from other classes who “visit” their museum.
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© Ernest C. Withers, Courtesy Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA
I am a Man, Sanitation Workers Strike, Memphis, Tennessee, March 28, 1968
A Brief History:
In February of 1968, two important events that would affect the course of the Civil Rights
Movement and the Labor Movement happened in Memphis, Tennessee. First, on a day of bad
weather, black workers for the sanitation department were sent home with half of their pay while
white workers were sent home with full pay. Secondly, two sanitation workers were crushed to
death in the hydraulic packer of a truck. The local union went on strike. The workers wanted
wages higher than the $1.80 an hour they were currently making, and they felt they should be
eligible for workers’ compensation. Negotiations between the union and the sanitation
department fell apart, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Memphis to focus national
attention on the strike. On March 28, King led a march from the Clayborn Temple in downtown
Memphis, where an estimated five thousand marchers carried signs declaring "I AM A MAN."
Withers, himself, helped make those signs the night before the march.
The march soon turned into riots when a group of 200 young people started breaking the
windows of businesses and looting them. Larry Payne, 16, was shot to death by police, who
were in turn accused of brutality. King, who advocated nonviolence and agonized over the
march's outcome, told the community that the violence and looting were caused by outside
groups bent on increasing racial strife. He vowed to return to the city and lead a peaceful march.
He did return on April 3, only to be served with a restraining order barring him from leading his
planned march on April 8. That evening, he gave what would be his last public speech, known
as the "Mountaintop" speech, in which he unknowingly foretold his death. The next day, April 4,
1968, King was shot while standing on the balcony at the Lorraine Motel. He died an hour later.
Discussion Starters:
 Describe the reasons why the sanitation workers went on strike.
 Compare the sanitation workers’ strike with other strikes in the news (current or recent).
How are they alike? How are they different?
 If you were dissatisfied with the conditions or events that had occurred at your school,
what are some ways you could express your dissatisfaction?
- 20 -

If workers were not allowed to form unions or associations to help with labor issues, how
do you think employers would treat their workers and why?
Activities:
Journal Prompt
 Do you think strikes are the most effective way to express labor concerns? Why or why
not?
Brainstorm about other marches or strikes in history
 Think about another time when people used a march or strike to protest. Draw a Venn
Diagram comparing the Sanitation Workers strike with the one you came up with.
Imagine that the President has outlawed music in the United States
 As a way to protest, you want to organize a march for your school. Make a list of
everything you will need for the march. Create a flyer advertising the march, and write a
letter to the President expressing your feelings about the music ban.
Research the marches that took place from 1965 to 1968
 Draw a map of the United States and place a dot where each march took place. Do you
notice any trends regarding the location of the strikes?
- 21 -
© Ernest C. Withers, Courtesy Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA
Main Street Riots, Sanitation Workers’ Strike, Memphis, Tennessee, March 28, 1968
A Brief History:
The “I AM A MAN” march, organized by African American sanitation workers who were
protesting for equality on the job, took place on March 28, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. The
procession soon turned to riots when a group of 200 young people began breaking the windows
of Main Street businesses and looting them. Larry Payne, 16, was shot to death by police, who
in turn were accused of brutality. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was an advocate for nonviolence, agonized over the outcome of the march. He told the community that he believed the
looting and violence were caused by outside groups intent on increasing racial strife, and
promised to return to Memphis and lead a peaceful march. Unfortunately, that peaceful march
never occurred.
Discussion Starters:
 What is going on in this picture? How would describe the mood of the people? What do
you see that makes you say this?
 Interpret, or state in your own words, the reasons why an African American strike in the
1960s caused so much tension in the community?
 Why do peaceful marches sometimes become violent riots? List some of the motives
that cause protestors to turn to violence.
 Can you propose an alternate way to express discontent instead of rioting?
Activities:
Journal Prompt
 If something you had worked very hard for had not turned out the way you had
anticipated, how would you respond? Give three different responses and explain each.
- 22 -
Research the 1992 Los Angeles riots
 These riots took place after the beating of Rodney King. Create a table identifying the
causes and effects of each riot.
Pretend you are reporter
 Imagine you could interview someone involved in the “I AM A MAN” march and the Main
Street Riots. Write a newspaper article, which includes quotes from some of the people
involved and give the different points of view from each participant.
- 23 -
© Ernest C. Withers, Courtesy Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA
Crowds Outside the Lorraine Motel, Poor People’s Campaign Rally, Memphis, Tennessee,
May 2, 1968
A Brief History:
This photograph depicts the Poor Peoples’ Campaign Rally led by Reverend Ralph D.
Abernathy at the Lorraine Motel on May 2, 1968, almost one month after Dr. King’s
assassination on April 4, 1968. Under Dr. King’s leadership, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC) organized the Poor Peoples’ Campaign to push for legislation for radical
economic reform to benefit poor people of all races, religions, and backgrounds across the
nation. Nine caravans of poor people started from different sections of America on May 2 and
picked up demonstrators along the way. On May 12, 1968, the first waves of demonstrators
arrived in Washington, D.C. and were sent out to various federal agencies to protest and spread
the message of the campaign. Although Reverend Ralph D. Abernathy had taken over as SCLC
president following King's death, the campaign's leadership lacked the momentum that King
might have provided. The combined setbacks of bad press, Robert Kennedy's assassination
(June 5, 1968), and an overwhelming number of protesters (7,000 at its peak) further limited the
campaign's effectiveness. The Poor People's Campaign closed camp on June 19, 1968.
If the legislation had passed, Dr. King’s Economic Bill of Rights would have significantly
increased urban employment, raised wages for the working lower class, and provided adequate
housing for the urban poor. The SCLC believed that achieving economic equality was a crucial
“second phase” of the Civil Rights Movement and a necessary step to end the riots in major
cities across the nation. In this photograph, the microphones are placed directly in front of the
spot where Dr. King was assassinated.
Discussion Starters:
Imagine that you are in the audience. Look around and describe your surroundings.
 What is the mood of the gathering?
 Describe the weather. How do you think the weather may have affected the mood and
energy of the crowd?
- 24 -




What sounds do you hear?
What is everyone looking at?
What are the microphones for?
Why did the event planners invite the media?
Activities:
Journal Prompts
 Do we need another Poor People’s Campaign today? Why or why not?
 Analyze the effect of poverty on society. What problems does poverty cause?
 How can you and your generation help end poverty?
Write and deliver a speech “from the balcony of the Lorraine Motel”
 Write and deliver a 2-4 minute motivational speech. Pretend that you are Reverend
Ralph D. Abernathy, the new president of the SCLC, speaking to the crowd in the
picture. What would you say?
Create a photographic time line
 Many pictures have been taken of the Lorraine Motel throughout the years. This simple
group activity challenges students to trace the history of the Lorraine Motel through
pictures. The time line will start with images of Dr. King’s assassination and should
include the groundbreaking of the National Civil Rights Museum (1987), the opening of
the museum (1991), various Freedom Award Winners posing on the balcony, and
snapshots of students and family members. Each student will present his/her
photograph to the class and post it on to the time line.
- 25 -
© Ernest C. Withers, Courtesy Panopticon Gallery, Boston, MA
Mule Train Leaves for Washington, Poor Peoples' March, Marks, Mississippi, 1968
A Brief History:
This photograph captures the beginning of the Poor Peoples’ Campaign in Marks, Mississippi.
Under Dr. King’s leadership, the SCLC organized the Poor Peoples’ Campaign to push
legislation for radical economic reform to benefit poor people across the nation. The SCLC
believed that achieving economic equality was a crucial “second phase” of the Civil Rights
Movement and a necessary step to end the riots in major cities across the country. The
campaign’s goals were to eliminate unemployment, guarantee a fair annual income, and
increase construction of low-income housing. Ultimately, the SCLC wanted Congress to sign a
$30 billion anti-poverty package into law.
Despite Dr. King’s assassination on April 4, 1968, SCLC leadership continued preparations for
this massive march. The first wave of people arrived in Washington D. C. on May 12, 1968,
which mobilized protests across the nation. At its peak, the campaign brought 7,000 people to
Washington to live in “Resurrection City,” a settlement of tents. Congress failed to realize the
goals of the Poor People’s Campaign, and on June 19, the campaign came to an end and the
settlement was closed.
Discussion Starters:
 What is going on in this photograph?
 Imagine and explain the types of problems marshals might encounter on a long march. A
marshal is an official charged with the arrangement or regulation of ceremonies,
parades, or marches.
 What would you pack for a journey like this? Remember, you might be away from home
for more than a month!
 What type of mood are the marchers in? What do you think they are thinking about?
Describe how you would feel if you were embarking on a trip with no return date
planned.
- 26 -
Activities:
Journal Prompts
"It must not be just black people," argued Dr. King, "it must be all poor people. We must
include American Indians, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, and even poor whites."



Why did Dr. King encourage many groups of people to march? What did they have in
common? How many people could have gotten involved?
Why do you think the U.S. government became worried that Dr. King could start a
massive uprising?
What would you do if you were President? Weigh the pros and cons of agreeing to the
SCLC’s request for a $30 billion economic aid package.
Design Your Own Protest March on Washington
(Small Group Activity: 2 - 4 students)
 This assignment would work best as a culminating project for a unit on the Civil Rights
Movement. Each group will choose a problem in their community that they want
Washington to address. Within their groups, students will design four aspects of the
campaign: 1) the goals of the march; 2) the legislation they want Congress to approve;
3) the media coverage; and 4) the logistical planning – travel plans, maps,
accommodations, fundraising, and budgeting.
 Teachers could easily adapt project requirements to match the learning level of their
students.
- 27 -
The Decisive Moment
Art Lessons
Lesson 1: Creating Stories from Photographs
Activity:
Photography/Writing
Theme:
Social Issues/Storytelling
Time Frame:
Four 45-minute class periods
Objectives:
 The student will have a better understanding about how photographs “speak” to us or tell
a story.
 The student will describe photographs and give interpretations of their own to the class.
 The student will learn to read images in different ways and make it a personal
experience for them.
Materials:
Journal/Notebook
Pen/Pencil
Disposable/Digital camera
*for disposable camera, have students split up into groups and take 6
photographs each
Visual Aides:
Handouts of Ernest Withers photographs
Digital images of Withers photographs, if available
Projector (for images), if available
Motivation:
 Show Ernest Withers’s photographs depicting social events involving African Americans
in Memphis during the 1960s.
 Ask questions about the photographs the students are viewing:
 Who/what is the photograph about?
 What happened right before the photograph was taken?
 What is the subject?
o What does it look like?
o What is happening in the photograph?
o What would you see/hear/smell?
 What happened right after the photograph was taken?
 Discuss how and why different students have different interpretations for the same
photographs.
- 28 -


Talk with the students about using a camera the following day and have them brainstorm
some ideas they may have for their photographic stories.
Talk about how Ernest Withers used photography to document events that had social
implications, and how the student can create stories using photographs of their own.
Procedure:
Day 1
o
o
o
o
The student will view and review Ernest Withers photographs that depict stories.
The student will respond to the questions that the teacher asks for in discussion.
The student will discuss environments for picture taking.
The students will start dividing into groups to begin discussions on the next class
activity in which they will use cameras.
Day 2
o The students will separate into 8 groups of 4.
o Each group will choose an area of the school to photograph (cafeteria, office,
classrooms, playground, etc…)
o Each individual will create 6 photographs in their group setting.
o The student will return the disposable camera for processing, labeled with a
number to represent the group. Digital images will be downloaded to the
computer for printing.
o The group will write a list, which includes each person’s name, the date, and the
title of the assignment.
Day 3
o The student will receive their printed photographs.
o The student will individually choose his/her favorite image, and write a short
paragraph about the photograph.
o The student will describe why they chose the setting they did.
o The student will describe why they think their photograph is a good storytelling
image.
o The student will write a one-two page essay that tells a story from their image.
They can use their imaginations, and the stories do not have to be realistic or
true.
Day 4
o The student will return to their previous groups.
o The student will look at another group’s photographs and evaluate them.
o Each student will choose one photograph to describe a “story” and tell why he or
she chose that particular image.
o The student will describe the subject, imagery, setting, and any related art
elements.
Evaluation:
The student will be evaluated based on the written assignments, class
discussion/participation, the interpretation of the photographs, and the use of their
imagination. The student will also be graded based on whether or not they grasped the
concept of storytelling through art and their motivation to try to understand the lesson.
- 29 -
Lesson 2: Our First Day of School
Activity:
Photography/Writing
Theme:
Social Issues/Storytelling
Time Frame:
30 minutes
Objectives:
The students will create portraits depicting the way that they felt on the first day of school.
Materials:
Painted Car side
Digital camera
Printer
Construction Paper
Markers
Glue
Scissors
Visual Aides:
Ernest Withers, 1st Day of Memphis Integration, 1961
Motivation:
 Show Ernest Withers’s photograph, 1st Day of Memphis Integration, 1961
 Ask questions about the photographs the students are viewing.
 Who/what is the photograph about?
 What happened right before the photograph was taken?
 What happened right after the photograph was taken?
 Ask them what feelings they think these children might have felt on their first day of
school?
 Who are these children? Brother and sister? Neighbors?
 How far away is your school from your home? How do you get to school?
 Ask them to write down how they felt on their first day of school on several pieces of
construction paper, using single words. (I.e. happy, excited, scared, shy, nervous, lonely
etc…)
Procedure:
 Separate students into pairs; have them line up along the wall.
 Tell them they are going to recreate Ernest Withers photograph and ask them to act out
how they felt on their first day of school.
 Have each pair of students pose behind the car prop.
 With a digital camera take a photograph of the pair, and print a copy for both students.
 Have the students use the words they had previously written and place them on the car
to decorate it. The students may add symbols to represent feelings, if they choose. On
the back of their image, have the students write a brief statement about how they felt on
their first day of school.
- 30 -
The Decisive Moment
Brief Timeline of the Civil Rights Movement
1950
U.S. Supreme Court rules against classroom and social segregation at the University of
Oklahoma. The Court also strikes down an Interstate Commerce Commission ruling requiring
black railroad passengers to eat behind a partition in dining cars.
1. Don't Buy Gas Where You Can't Use the Restroom, Beale Street, Memphis, 1952
1953
Supreme Court bans segregation in Washington, D.C., restaurants.
2. Overton Park Zoo, 1950's
1954
The Supreme Court rules on the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas,
unanimously agreeing that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. The ruling paves
the way for large-scale desegregation. The decision overturns the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson
ruling that sanctioned "separate but equal" segregation of the races, ruling that "separate
educational facilities are inherently unequal." It is a victory for NAACP attorney Thurgood
Marshall, who will later return to the Supreme Court as the nation's first black justice.
1955
Supreme Court prohibits segregation of recreation facilities like playgrounds. Interstate
Commerce Commission bans segregation in interstate buses, waiting rooms, and railroad
coaches.
Fourteen-year-old Chicagoan Emmett Till is visiting family in Mississippi when he is kidnapped,
brutally beaten, shot, and dumped in the Tallahatchie River for allegedly whistling at a white
woman. Two white men, J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, are arrested for the murder and acquitted
by an all-white jury. They later boast about committing the murder in a Look magazine interview.
The case becomes a cause célèbre of the Civil Rights Movement.
Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama, spurring a
boycott lasting more than a year.
1956
Montgomery bus boycott ends after federal court rules that racial segregation on the Alabama
city's buses is unconstitutional. Bus segregation is outlawed in Tallahassee, Florida.
3. Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy on One of the First Desegregated
Buses, Montgomery, AL December 21, 1956
1957
Civil Rights Act, permitting the federal government to sue on behalf of citizens and creating the
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
- 31 -
Nine students integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Eisenhower sends paratroopers to enforce the desegregation.
1960
President Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960, giving federal government
responsibility in civil rights issues.
Four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College begin a sit-in at a
segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to
stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar nonviolent protests throughout the South.
Six months later the original four protesters are served lunch at the same Woolworth's counter.
Student sit-ins would be effective throughout the Deep South in integrating parks, swimming
pools, theaters, libraries, and other public facilities.
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is founded at Shaw University, in
Raleigh, North Carolina, providing young blacks with a place in the civil rights movement. The
SNCC later grows into a more radical organization, especially under the leadership of Stokely
Carmichael.
4. Young Woman Receives Voter Registration Card, Fayette County, TN, 1960
1961
The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) begins sending student volunteers on bus trips to test
the implementation of new laws prohibiting segregation in interstate travel facilities. One of the
first two groups of "freedom riders," as they are called, encounters its first problem two weeks
later, when a mob in Alabama sets the riders' bus on fire. The program continues, and by the
end of the summer 1,000 volunteers, black and white, have participated.
5. NAACP Protest, Main Street, Memphis, 1960s
Albany, Georgia movement fails to desegregate the city but showcases movement music with
Bernice Johnson Reagon.
James Meredith becomes the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi.
Violence and riots surrounding the incident cause President Kennedy to send 5,000 federal
troops.
6. First Day of Integration, 1961
1963
Martin Luther King is arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham,
Alabama; he writes his seminal “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” arguing that individuals have the
moral duty to disobey unjust laws.
During civil rights protests in Birmingham, Alabama, Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene
"Bull" Connor uses fire hoses and police dogs on black demonstrators. These images of
brutality, which are televised and published widely, are instrumental in gaining sympathy for the
Civil Rights Movement around the world.
- 32 -
Four young girls (Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins)
attending Sunday school are killed when a bomb explodes at the Sixteenth Street Baptist
Church, a popular location for civil rights meetings. Riots erupt in Birmingham, leading to the
deaths of two more black youths.
Mississippi's NAACP field secretary, 37-year-old Medgar Evers, is murdered outside his home.
Byron De La Beckwith is tried twice in 1964, both trials resulting in hung juries. Thirty years later
he is convicted for murdering Evers.
More than 250,000 civil rights demonstrators march on Washington, D.C., where Martin Luther
King delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech.
1964
24th Amendment, which outlaws the poll tax requirement, is ratified and added to U.S.
Constitution.
U.S. Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting discrimination in public places,
schools, lodging, federal programs, and employment.
Martin Luther King Jr. receives the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), a network of civil rights groups that includes
CORE and SNCC, launches a massive effort to register black voters during what becomes
known as the Freedom Summer. It also sends delegates to the Democratic National
Convention to protest—and attempt to unseat—the official all-white Mississippi contingent.
President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The most sweeping civil rights legislation
since Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race,
color, religion, or national origin. The law also provides the federal government with the powers
to enforce desegregation.
The bodies of three civil-rights workers—two white, one black—are found in an earthen dam, six
weeks into a federal investigation backed by President Johnson. James E. Chaney, 21; Andrew
Goodman, 21; and Michael Schwerner, 24, had been working to register black voters in
Mississippi, and, on June 21, had gone to investigate the burning of a black church. They were
arrested by the police on speeding charges, incarcerated for several hours, and then released
after dark into the hands of the Ku Klux Klan, who murdered them.
1965
Malcolm X, Black Nationalist and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, is shot to
death. It is believed the assailants are members of the Black Muslim faith, which Malcolm had
recently abandoned in favor of orthodox Islam.
Blacks begin a march to Montgomery in support of voting rights but are stopped at the Pettus
Bridge by a police blockade. Fifty marchers are hospitalized after police use tear gas, whips,
and clubs against them. The incident is dubbed "Bloody Sunday" by the media. The march is
considered the catalyst for pushing through the voting rights act five months later.
- 33 -
Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to register
to vote. Literacy tests, poll taxes, and other such requirements that were used to restrict black
voting are made illegal.
Race riots erupt in a black section of Los Angeles.
Asserting that civil rights laws alone are not enough to remedy discrimination, President
Johnson issues Executive Order 11246, which enforces affirmative action for the first time. It
requires government contractors to "take affirmative action" toward prospective minority
employees in all aspects of hiring and employment.
1966
Civil rights activist James Meredith is wounded by a sniper during a voter registration march.
The next day, nearly 4,000 blacks register to vote.
Edward W. Brooke of Massachusetts elected first black U.S. senator since Reconstruction.
Barbara Jordan becomes first black to serve in Texas state senate since 1883. She later serves
in U.S. Congress before death in January 1996.
1967
Stokely Carmichael, a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), coins
the phrase "black power" in a speech in Seattle. He defines it as an assertion of black pride and
"the coming together of black people to fight for their liberation by any means necessary." The
term's radicalism alarms many who believe the civil rights movement's effectiveness and moral
authority crucially depend on nonviolent civil disobedience.
In Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court rules that prohibiting interracial marriage is
unconstitutional. Sixteen states that still banned interracial marriage at the time are forced to
revise their laws.
Major race riots take place in Newark (July 12–16) and Detroit (July 23–30).
1968
7. Am a Man, Sanitation Workers Strike, Memphis, March 28, 1968
8. Main Street Riots, Sanitation Workers Strike, Memphis, March 28, 1968
9. Crowds Outside the Lorraine Motel after the Assassination, Memphis, April 8, 1968
10. Mule Train Leaves for Washington, Poor Peoples' March, Marks, MS, 1968
* Ernest Withers, 327 Beale, Memphis, 1968
Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated after addressing striking garbage workers in Memphis, TN.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the 1968 Housing Act prohibiting discrimination in sale,
rental or lease of housing.
Shirley Chisholm of New York is first black woman elected to U.S. Congress.
The Poor People’s Campaign brings fifty thousand demonstrators to Washington, D.C.
- 34 -
The Decisive Moment
Civil Rights Websites
Voices of Civil Rights:
http://www.voicesofcivilrights.org/timeline/aarpTimeline.html
Teaching Tolerance:
http://www.tolerance.org/teach/about/index.jsp
Separate is not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education:
http://americanhistory.si.edu/Brown/history/index.html
DMOZ: Open Directory – Civil Rights Movement:
http://dmoz.org/Society/History/By_Region/North_America/United_States/Civil_Rights_Moveme
nt/
Civil Rights Movement Veterans:
http://www.crmvet.org/index.htm
Voting Rights Act Timeline of the ACLU:
http://www.aclu.org/votingrights/gen/12999res20050304.html
Journey to Civil Rights – Scholastic (Grades 1-2):
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/lessonplan.jsp?id=47
The Civil Rights Era – Library of Congress:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart9.html
The Civil Rights Documentation Project:
http://www.usm.edu/crdp/html/timeline.shtml
Powerful Days: The Photography of Charles Moore:
http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/features/moore/mooreIndex.shtml
Voices of the Civil Rights Era:
http://www.voicesofcivilrights.org/
Education for Liberation:
http://www.edliberation.org/
A to Z Teacher Stuff:
http://atozteacherstuff.com/Themes/Black_History/index.shtml
- 35 -
The Decisive Moment
Suggested Reading
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BOOKS
 Bridges, Ruby. Through My Eyes, Scholastic Press, 1999. ISBN: 0590189239
Kindergarten-Grade 4
Surrounded by federal marshals, 6-year-old Ruby Bridges became the first black student ever at the allwhite William Frantz Public School in New Orleans, Louisiana, on November 14, 1960. Perhaps never
had so much hatred been directed at so perfect a symbol of innocence--which makes it all the more
remarkable that her memoir, simple in language and rich in history and sepia-toned photographs, is
informed mainly by a sort of bewildered compassion. Throughout, readers will find quotes from
newspapers of the time, family members, and teachers; sidebars illustrating how Ruby Bridges pops up in
both John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and a Norman Rockwell painting; and a fascinating update on
Bridges' life and civil rights work. A personal, deeply moving historical documentary about a staggeringly
courageous little girl at the center of events that already seem unbelievable.
 Coles, Robert and George Ford (Illustrator) The Story of Ruby Bridges, New
York: Scholastic Paperbacks, Reprint edition 2004. ISBN: 0439598443
Kindergarten-Grade 4
Sustained by family and faith, one brave six-year-old child found the strength to walk alone through
howling protesters and enter a whites-only school in New Orleans in 1960. Ruby Bridges did it every day
for weeks that turned into months. The white parents withdrew their kids, and Ruby sat alone with her
teacher in an empty classroom in an empty building and learned her lessons. Harvard professor Coles
tells one girl's heroic story, part of the history of ordinary people who have changed the world. Ford's
moving watercolor paintings mixed with acrylic ink are predominantly in sepia shades of brown and red.
They capture the physical warmth of Ruby's family and community, the immense powers against her, and
her shining inner strength.
 Golenbock, Peter and Paul Bacon (Illustrator). Teammates, Voyager Books;
Reissue edition, 1992. ISBN: 0152842861
Kindergarten-Grade 6
The event described in Teammates occurred during Jackie Robinson's first season with the Dodgers.
Listening to the hatred that spilled out of the stands, Pee Wee Reese left his position at shortstop, walked
over to Robinson at first base, put his around Robinson's shoulder, chatted for a few moments, and then
returned to his position. The crowd was stunned into silence. Golenbock has taken a single moment of
baseball history, set it in its social context, and created a simple and moving tribute to courage and
brotherhood. Bacon has illustrated the book with an effective blend of photographs and drawings.
Golenbock briefly but clearly describes the background of Robinson's entry into the National League, as
well as Reese's background as a southerner and as the player with the most to fear if Robinson were
successful--both men were shortstops (although Robinson would ultimately play second base). This is a
wonderful and important story, beautifully presented.
- 36 -
 Mitchell, Margaree King. Granddaddy's Gift: Troll Communications, 1998.
ISBN: 0816740119
Kindergarten-Grade 3
International Reading Association Teacher's Choice Award.
A young African-American woman reminisces about a memorable incident from her Mississippi childhood
in the 1960s. When a lawyer addressed a local gathering looking for volunteers to register to vote, the
girl's grandfather was the only one to step forward. That same day he had impressed upon her the
importance of going to school, telling her, "I want you to learn as much as you can so when you grow up,
you can choose what you want to do. I didn't have that choice." Readers are told why the man's actions
were dangerous, how his livelihood was threatened because he wished to exercise his constitutional
right, and how his granddaughter's life was affected by his bravery. The text explains a complex social
and political situation in a manner that children can understand. The illustrations are done in rich, deep
tones of browns, greens, and black. The grandfather is portrayed as a man of great wisdom and dignity,
reminding the girl to press on even in the face of danger. A lovely, intelligent look at a chapter of
American history.
 Ringgold, Faith. If A Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks, Aladdin, reprint
2003. ISBN: 0689856768
Kindergarten-Grade 4
A talking bus is literally the vehicle for this picture-book biography. Marcie, on her way to school, finds
herself on a driverless bus occupied by a group of unfamiliar passengers who don't seem to notice she's
there. A disembodied voice tells her that this used to be the Cleveland Avenue bus but is now the Rosa
Parks bus, and then launches into an account of the woman's life. Ringgold recounts the dramatic events
triggered by Parks' refusal to give up her seat: the Montgomery bus boycott; the leadership, persecution,
and death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; the Supreme Court decision to ban bus segregation; and public
recognition of the woman who started it all. The story ends when Parks herself enters the bus for a
birthday celebration with the passengers who are now revealed as personages from her history.
Ringgold's colorful, textured acrylic-on-canvas paper paintings are a perfect complement to the stark
realism of the events and the simple dignity of the subject.
 Ringgold, Faith. My Dream of Martin Luther King, Knopf Books for Young
Readers, 1995. ISBN: 0517599767
Kindergarten-Grade 4
Does the dream of Martin Luther King live on? Yes, says the narrator of this resonant picture book, which
uses the peculiar logic of dreams to take the reader beyond straight biography into a more personal,
heartfelt interpretation of King's legacy. In a dream, the narrator sees King as a boy experiencing both the
well-known incidents of his childhood and those of his early adult life. Dream logic makes this switch not
only acceptable but reasonable, suggesting the childhood roots of the man's concerns. The dream
changes again: King, now shown as an adult, presides over the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, and, in his great speech in Washington, proclaims his dream. The narrator dreams, too, of
his death, but also of mourners "trading in bags containing our prejudice, hate, ignorance, violence, and
fear for the slain hero's dream." As she awakens, we share with her a powerful message: "EVERY GOOD
THING STARTS WITH A DREAM."
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MIDDLE SCHOOL BOOKS
 Baicker, Karen. Civil Rights (Primary Sources Teaching Kit), Scholastic, 2003.
$10.95 ISBN: 0590378430
Grades 4-8
Packed with reproducible primary sources -- from an NAACP pamphlet to Jim Crow-era signs – this
collection of authentic documents will capture students' interest in the events and people of the Civil
Rights Movement.
 Finlayson, Reggie. We Shall Overcome: The History of the American Civil
Rights Movement, Lerner Publishing Group, 2002. ISBN: 0822506475
Grade 5-9
Following a brief overview, Finlayson focuses on the events of the 1950s and '60s, with the last chapter
bringing readers up to the current day. Information is given about the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the
Selma March, and the Freedom Riders. The roles of major leaders, including Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Medgar Evers, Thurgood Marshall, and Ralph Abernathy, are also explored. The author makes use of
lyrics from civil rights songs to help emphasize the emotions of the people involved. Abundant black-andwhite photographs provide a visual image of the times. This is an excellent resource for reports, and a
worthy addition to history collections.
 Fradin, Dennis Brindell and Judith Bloom Fradin. Ida B. Wells: Mother of the
Civil Rights Movement, Clarion Books, 2000. ISBN: 0395898986
Grade 5 and Up
This stellar biography of one of history's most inspiring women offers an excellent overview of Wells' life
and contributions. Born a slave, she went on to become a schoolteacher, probation officer, journalist, and
activist who fought for the right of black women to vote, helped to create the NAACP, and almost singlehandedly halted the horrific practice of lynching. The account of her relationships with famous
personalities like Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Tubman provides an accurate
sense of her importance during her lifetime. The Fradins make poignant comparisons between their
subject's life and those of figures like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks, while showing how Wells
paved the way for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Black-and-white photographs and
reproductions enhance the clear, well-written text and give readers a feel for the times in which Wells
lived and the obstacles she had to overcome. A bibliography, picture credits, and index are included.
 Friedman, Debra. Picture This: Fun Photography and Crafts, Kids Can Press,
Ltd., 2003. ISBN: 1553370473
Grades 4-8
The word photography means "drawing with light." Kids can discover how lighting, angles and
composition can bring the world into focus. With fun photography projects, related craft ideas and a
glossary, this book lets everyone get in the picture!
 Haskins, Jim. Black Stars of the Civil Rights Movement, Jossey-Bass, 2002.
ISBN: 047122068X
Grades 4-9
Black Stars of the Civil Rights Movement collects inspiring biographical profiles of major Civil Rights
figures – as well as the stories of unsung heroes and heroines typically left out of history books – bringing
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influential African Americans to life. Writing in collaboration with a group of outstanding African American
children’s book authors, award-winning Jim Haskins produces well-rounded portraits of twenty notable
lives, describing their backgrounds, challenges, and achievements. This fun and informative book also
explains a critical period in American history and how its accomplishments continue to affect the lives of
all Americans to this day. The thoroughly researched stories of courage and determination in Black Stars
of the Civil Rights Movement are sure to touch the lives of young readers.
 Johnson, Neil L. Photography Guide for Kids, National Geographic Children's
Books, 2001. ISBN: 0792263707
Grades 4-7
A wonderful introduction to photography. Clear, color images and an easy-to-understand text explain
concepts that will help novice photographers get started. The basics of cameras, film, lighting, film speed,
lenses, depth of field, and "how a camera sees" are covered in language that is technical but not overly
complex. A large portion of the book is devoted to composition, offering information on some solid,
important techniques. Photographing different subjects (animals, people, sports, and landscapes) is
examined. The examples are child-friendly and before and after shots offer visual explanations.
Suggestions from National Geographic photographers are provided along with samples of their work. The
up-to-date text also mentions disposable cameras and a two-page diagram shows how digital photos are
sent via computer. This book is a great starting point for budding photographers and will provide some
useful tips for those with experience.
 King, Casey, and Linda Barrett Osbourne. Oh, Freedom!: Kids Talk About the
Civil Rights Movement With the People Who Made It Happen, Alfred Knopf,
1999. ISBN: 0613056213
Grade 4-8
This book is a unique collection of oral histories about the Civil Rights Movement that grew out of a
fourth-grade assignment. The thirty-one interviews, all conducted by children, are organized into three
sections: "Life Under Segregation," "The Movement to End Legalized Segregation," and "The Struggle to
End Poverty and Discrimination." Each part of the book is introduced by background information that
provides a thorough historical context. The interviews are brief – usually two pages – and include a blackand-white photo of the student and the interviewee. In addition, well-chosen historical photos support the
text. Some civil rights notables appear, such as James Farmer, but most of the participants are parents or
other relatives and friends. Each one has a unique perspective, such as the minister of an interracial
church who is a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, and an Asian-American woman who worked for civil
rights because of her experiences in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. This book is
important for the stories it tells, the pictures it shows, and especially for its prevailing message that we are
all a part of history, and we can all share and appreciate one another's experiences.
 Koestler-Grack, Rachel A. Going to School During the Civil Rights Movement,
Capstone Press, 2001. ISBN: 0736807993.
Grades 4-6
Looking at childhood is a good way to study the history of ordinary people. Going to School During the
Civil Rights Movement frames the school facts with a general overview of the time and then focuses on
the classroom. Framed by the history of segregation and the protest movement that changed it, the
classroom story is a stirring close-up of the separate, unequal schools and the brave young people who
fought against them. Moving sepia-tone photos appear on every page. Sidebars and special features that
include craft activities and brief biographies, add both facts and fun.
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 McWhorter, Diane. A Dream of Freedom: The Civil Rights Movement from 1954
to 1968, Scholastic Nonfiction, 2004. ISBN: 0439576784
Grade 5-9
Motivated by her naive, youthful acceptance of racial injustice as a white, privileged child in Birmingham,
Alabama, McWhorter directs her compelling retrospective at readers who likewise may not realize that
history swirls around them. After a prologue that describes the emergence and impact of segregation in
the United States, chapters follow chronologically, highlighting pivotal events, people, successes, and
failures of "The Movement." Against the backdrop of the constitutional and moral struggle between the
White House and Southern politicians, the author recounts the flamboyant resilience of Birmingham's
Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, the battered determination of student leader John Lewis, the nonviolent
leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the sacrificial commitment of the Freedom Riders. She also
explores J. Edgar Hoover's covert manipulation of the FBI, the power struggle between the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC),
the shift from nonviolence to Black Power and urban race riots, and the national political focus on the
Vietnam War. Protests, marches, boycotts, and infamous tragedies are sequenced and analyzed as
catalysts that fueled the movement. Numerous archival photos add a powerful visual dimension to the
text. This engaging, stirring narrative offers a balanced presentation of the heroism and idealism as well
as the political turmoil surrounding and within the civil rights movement.
 Rochelle, Belinda. Witnesses to Freedom: Young People Who Fought for Civil
Rights, Puffin; Reprint edition, 1997. ISBN: 0140384324
Grade 5-8
While adult leaders' contributions to the Civil Rights Movement have been well chronicled, those made by
young people have not received as much attention. Rochelle relates the pivotal roles played by young
African Americans in nine major events, including the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, the
Montgomery bus boycott, and the lunch-counter sit-ins at Woolworth in North Carolina. A chapter is
devoted to each event. The author describes the circumstances surrounding each occurrence and
highlights the experiences and feelings of those involved. Ranging in age from eight to their upper teens,
the subjects poignantly describe how their commitment to their cause propelled them to take a stand for
freedom, often at great personal risk. Some of the individuals portrayed may not be well known, but their
stories are inspiring and touching. Rochelle does a commendable job of explaining issues and relating
events in an understandable manner. The black-and-white photographs adequately reinforce the text, and
the jacket photo is striking and appealing.
 Turck, Mary C. The Civil Rights Movement for Kids: A History with 21
Activities, Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2000. ISBN: 155652370X
Grade 4-8
A comprehensive history and guide to one of the defining movements of the 20th century. Beginning with
the early days of segregation and ending with civil rights today, readers discover not only the work and
speeches of the notable leaders, but also how children participated in the struggle. A balanced discussion
notes tactical differences between the different groups and their actions. The text is tightly written with a
strong voice that rings out in its recounting of past injustices. The ultimate message is that while the
movement witnessed extraordinary accomplishments in the past 50 years, new challenges await young
people of the new century; knowledge of the past is the foundation of future action. Activities include
reenacting a lunch-counter sit-in, organizing a workshop on nonviolence, and holding a freedom film
festival. The entire Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 are appended.
Black-and-white photos from newspapers, magazines, and the National Archives and a few drawings
enhance the text. Although independent students will find a wealth of information here, this enormous
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effort begs for sensitive, knowledgeable adults to use it as a tool in guiding young people in the study of
human rights for all.
HIGH SCHOOL BOOKS
 Altman, Linda Jacobs. The American Civil Rights Movement: The AfricanAmerican Struggle for Equality, Enslow Publishers, 2004. ISBN: 0766019446
Grade 8 Up
While many books on the subject concentrate on one or two central figures, Altman chronicles the various
independent mini-movements that came to be known as the Civil Rights Movement. She looks at the long
list of NAACP legal actions that culminated in Brown vs. Board of Education and describes the
Montgomery Bus Boycott, the lunch-counter sit-ins orchestrated by college students, and the Freedom
Rides in the South. Organizations such as CORE, SNCC, and SCLC are discussed, as is key legislation
enacted by Congress. Informative, captioned black-and-white photographs are included. This satisfying
treatment paints a picture of a multilayered and complex social movement. Readers without previous
knowledge of the subject should come away with an appreciation of the courage and sacrifice of all
participants in the struggle.
 Beifuss, Joan Turner. At the River I Stand: Memphis, the 1968 Strike, and
Martin Luther King, Carlson Publishing, 1989. ISBN: 0926019007
Grade 9 Up
Little remembered today but for its awful climax, the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike was a powerful
episode in the Civil Rights Movement. An oral history project begun in the wake of the King assassination
made possible this remarkable book, first published locally in 1985. It is a well-crafted, frequently eloquent
narrative history of the strike.
 Bullard, Sara. Free At Last: A History of the Civil Rights Movement and Those
Who Died in the Struggle, Oxford University Press, 1994. ISBN: 0195094506
Grades 6-10
What happened in the South during the 1950s and 1960s still affects our lives today. This insightful
volume, introduced by Julian Bond, was developed as part of the "Teaching Tolerance" program at the
Southern Poverty Law Center. In a format easily accessible to a wide range of readers, the book provides
a brief history of blacks in the U.S., then discusses the Civil Rights Movement chronologically. Although
the first part of the book does not cover any particular incident in depth--there is one five-sentence
paragraph about Rosa Parks – the narrative unveils the history clearly and poignantly. Each double-page
spread contains captioned black-and-white photos that will have significant impact on the reader. Perhaps
the strongest part of the book is the last section, which describes the lives and deaths of 40 people, black
and white, who were an integral part of the movement. Although many of those included are well known,
others may be new names to most readers.
 Hardy, Sheila Jackson and P. Stephen Hardy. Extraordinary People of the Civil
Rights Movement, Children's Press, 2007. ISBN: 051629847X
Grade 9 Up
This refreshing book looks at the achievements of seldom-mentioned leaders of the Civil Rights
Movement, filling a gap in the literature of the period. In addition to biographical sketches of sixty-one key
individuals and organizations of the era, most of which are accompanied by a black-and-white
photograph, the text provides an overview of the events leading up to the movement. The profiles begin
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with Asa Philip Randolph and end with Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon. The book also looks at the
Greensboro Four, the Freedom Riders, and those who were killed in the often-forgotten Orangeburg
massacre. In short, this title recounts countless acts of raw courage and heroism from ordinary people
who did extraordinary things, risking their own lives. This is a time that must be remembered, and these
are people who deserve to be celebrated. This book does just those things.
 Mayer, Robert (Editor). At Issue in History - The Civil Rights Act of 1964,
Greenhaven Press, 2004. ISBN: 0737723041
Grade 9 Up
This book reviews the history of the landmark legislation, the debate that surrounded it, and its legacy
through essays and articles written at the time and more recent pieces that examine the progress made
and outlook for the future. The anthology brings together selections by such noted participants as John F.
Kennedy, Barry Goldwater, Roy Wilkins, and Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as later commentators such
as Robert Novak and Nicholas Lemann. A useful collection of primary and secondary sources for reports.
 Morgan, Terri, and Shmuel Thaler. Photography: Take Your Best Shot. Lerner
Publishing Group, 1991. ISBN: 0822596059
Grade 6-9
Addressed to would-be and novice photographers, this slim volume covers the gamut from the operation
of a camera to career opportunities. Each double-page spread has at least one photograph to illustrate
the text. Chapters vary in length from two to ten pages, and one of the best addresses picture
composition. Emphasis is on the single-lens reflex camera and its accessories such as filters, lenses, and
electronic flash attachments.
 The Civil Rights Movement Knowledge Cards. Pomegranate Communications,
2001. ISBN: 0764917501
This deck of 48 Knowledge Cards™ offers a concise illustrated history of the civil rights movement and a
chance to make the acquaintance of many brave, brilliant people. Each card has a photo of an important
event or person on one side and a brief biography or account on the other. From legally sanctioned
segregation--which wasn't limited to the Deep South--to Freedom Riders rolling into the country of white
rage; from Brown v. Board of Education to Rosa Parks; from Dr. King's Southern Christian Leadership
Conference to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, these cards tell the story of a turbulent
era and a proud achievement.
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