“Carter Woodson described February as the time we celebrated what we learned about ourselves year-round. By his plan, our study starts March 1.” — Greg Carr

How do you include Black history throughout the year? A good conversation to have with students is the significance of Black History Month in schools across the country.

In the documentary More Than A Month, director Shukree Hassan Tilghman explores these questions while traveling across the country in search of the answer. One of the places he visits is the annual Association for the Study of African American Life and History convention. This year marks the 100th anniversary of ASALH, the organization that launched Black History Month.

This documentary is a great way to initiate conversations in your classrooms about celebrating not only Black History Month, but other commemorative months, heroes, and holidays. Another resource is the book Beyond Heroes and Holidays: A Practical Guide to K-12 Multicultural, Anti-Racist, Education and Staff Development.

Watch a trailer for the film here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOjU9mjo6nA

For the past few weeks, my students have been using Historypin to reinvent their Black History projects. In year’s past, I have explored several options for making these projects more appealing including having the students create poster boards, websites, and even give speeches. I find that with Historypin, students are exposed to so many different elements. They are researching, writing, and incorporating technology into learning.

Tristal Watson is the first Mississippi Teacher Fellow to engage her class in the new Uncovering Mississippi’s Hidden History page on Historypin. As you can see from the examples, below, this Hattiesburg middle school social studies teacher has had great results. Not only are her students learning history, but they are also writing for an audience and sharing what they’ve learned with the world.

The students were responsible for pinning one place, person or event (as outlined in their rubric) each week. Here are three “pins” from her 7th grade U.S. history students. Click on each one to see them on the Historypin map. They are set in Mississippi, Kentucky, and Alabama. (The student “pins” for Mississippi went on both the overall Historypin map and the Uncovering Mississippi’s Hidden History page.)

It is important to have very clear expectations. Since this is a public site, I strongly encourage the use of a template so that the teacher can filter all information before students put it on History Pin. I had to go back and do this after they started, so my students are still in the process of getting all of their work approved. This is a great resource to encourage individual research. I highly recommend using it.

Teaching for Change would like to feature more stories about how teachers engage their students in the use of Historypin. Teachers can create a class profile or have individual students create a profile at Historypin. There are instructions at the Civil Rights Teaching website. Let  project director Julian Hipkins III know if your class participates and/or if you have questions.

“I’d never heard of the White Citizens Council,” said one of the teachers in a workshop facilitated by Julian Hipkins III in Benton County in mid-January.

Hipkins traveled to Ashland, Meridian, and Jackson to meet with teachers, administrators, and partners about Teaching for Change‘s statewide Mississippi effort to promote teaching about Civil Rights Movement and labor history.

The visit was coordinated by The Hill Country Project Executive Director, Roy DeBerry and Freedom Summer volunteer Mark Levy. Both of these movement veterans applied their organizing skills to planning Hipkins’ visit. They made sure that every minute of each day was full and that there were opportunities to meet directly with teachers, community members, and administrators.

At Ashland High School, Hipkins conducted the Medgar Evers lesson with the entire staff. During the lesson, teachers met figures from the Civil Rights Movement focusing on the southern freedom movement in Mississippi. After the lesson, teachers discussed learning about people they had never heard of before, and why it is important for students to know the rich history of Mississippi.

Thanks to the meetings set up by DeBerry and Levy, Hipkins was able to introduce the initiative on teaching about Civil Rights Movement and labor history in Mississippi to: Jake Gadd, Superintendent of Benton County School District and four principals in Benton County, Dr. LaKimberly Hobson, Dr. Sharon Albert, Ms. Rosie Ladd, and Mr. Barry Goolsby; Stacey Everett of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum; and Anna Stephenson, Asha el-Shar, and Dr. Bill Scaggs of the The Meridian Freedom Project; Barbara Andrews and Beverly Sakauye of the National Civil Rights Museum, and Dr. Janet Elizabeth Bordelon of the Institute for Southern Jewish Life

Hipkins also attended a meeting of the Mississippi Civil Rights Education Commission where he shared updates about our initiative including the Mississippi Historypin page and the upcoming Mississippi National History Day competition.

Finally, he met with two initiative partners: Chauncey Spears of the Mississippi Department of Education and Cynthia Palmer of the Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement.

As a result of this visit, there are now more opportunities for the current teacher fellows and new teachers that are applying to participate. Hipkins will return to Mississippi in March for the Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement Annual Conference and the Mississippi National History Day competition.

Have you flown into Mississippi’s capital city recently? If so, you would have entered the recently named Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport. Finally, people are hearing the name of Medgar Evers, a champion for voting and human rights in Mississippi.

But it is just a first step. At best, most people know that Evers worked with the NAACP and was murdered in his driveway.

Middle school teacher Anthony Golding wanted to be sure his students recognized more than Evers’ name, digging deeper into his life and legacy.

Golding used the lesson Meet Medgar Evers: Introduction to the Southern Freedom Movement with his class of 8th grade students at Tupelo Middle School. Golding was introduced to this lesson as part of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement and Labor History Teaching Fellowship. He is one of sixteen teacher fellows in the 2014-2015 cohort.

Each student received a short bio of a person or institution that played an instrumental role in the southern freedom movement, connected to the life of Medgar Evers. These included Evers’ parents, high school activists Joyce and Dorie Ladner, the Sovereignty Commission, and many more.

The activity gave students a deeper understanding of the voting rights struggle in the late 50’s and early 60’s in Mississippi. Here’s what they said about what they learned and about the lesson:

I learned more by doing the activity because before I thought he was just a man that was murdered…now I see that he really helped people and was a great influence. – Makhia

The lesson was interesting as you get a closer look at Medgar Evers’ life. It gave a better insight than the book.– Alison

I will remember more about Medgar Evers because we acted out the lesson. – Quadarius

The lesson was a fun way of learning. Can we do this more often? – Robbie

Golding added:

The students really enjoyed being able to talk about the life of Medgar Evers rather than just listen. Many of my students requested that we do an activity like this in the future.

“I’d only heard of Medgar Evers. I did not know the names and stories of so many other Civil Rights Movement activists in Mississippi,” said one the dozens of teachers in workshops offered by Teaching for Change curriculum specialist Julian Hipkins III and Freedom Summer volunteer Mark Levy in Starkville, Mississippi last week.

While at Mississippi State University in Starkville to attend the Remembering Freedom Summer: Building a Better Future (Oct. 19-21, 2014), Hipkins and Levy took the message of the conference to schools and teacher education programs in the area. Mark Levy worked with Dr. Devon Brenner of Mississippi State University (MSU) to schedule the educator sessions, offered as part of our two-year W.K. Kellogg Foundation funded initiative on teaching about the Civil Rights Movement and labor history in Mississippi. Here are highlights from their time in Mississippi.

Saturday, October 18

They met with Mississippi State University history professor Jason Morgan Ward, author of Defending White Democracy: The Making of a Segregationist Movement and the Remaking of Racial Politics, 1936-1965. They discussed the history of Mississippi, contemporary hate groups throughout the U.S., and the educational opportunities for students at MSU.

Sunday, October 19

They met with Mississippi State University doctoral student Shane McGregor about his research on white privilege and social justice/equity issues. They offered a workshop for elementary education students in their social studies methods class. Students did the Big Shoes to Fill activity with the prompt “write about a time you stood up against injustice.” Once participants completed their shoes, students met in small groups to discuss their stories. Then each group shared one shoe story with the entire group. One participant shared that he often witnessed one of his high school classmates being bullied because he was gay, but he never intervened. Tragically, the student committed suicide. The participant stated that the death of his classmate always haunted him and that from that moment on he made the commitment to no longer be a bystander, but always an ally. Levy shared the present day social justice example of students in Colorado who are challenging the school board attempts to censor history.

Students reviewed materials that could be used in a classroom. In small groups, they examined multicultural picture books about the Civil Rights Movement. Participants were asked to come up with activities that they would do with their students. During the discussion of Mississippi Morning, a student stated, “I don’t know what I would do with this.” Mississippi Morning is the story of a son who learns that his father is a member of the Ku Klux Klan. When other participants were asked for suggestions, the meeting overflowed with ideas about how to handle the sensitive content. Each participant received a copy of A Place at the Table to take home. To introduce an effective practice to prepare for special guest presentations, students worked in small groups using the Question Formulation Technique. The questions they developed formed the basis of their dialogue with Levy about his experiences during Freedom Summer. In the evening, Levy and Hipkins attended a performance of Freedom High about Freedom Summer 1964. It was followed by a video question and answer session with playwright Adam Kraar. After the play, Levy and Hipkins joined some of the other veterans for a photo with the director of African-American studies at MSU, Dr. Stephen Middleton.

Monday, October 20

During the morning plenary, Hollis Watkins led the audience in a rendition of Freedom Songs. This was followed by a a panel discussion with Dave Dennis, Chude Allen, Mark Levy, Dr. Doris Derby, Wilbur Colom, and Hollis Watkins.

Levy served on a panel for the conference session titled “The Life of a Freedom Summer Volunteer.” The moderator was Dr. Ravi Perry with discussants Dr. Doris Derby, Chude Allen, Mark Levy, Dr. Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons, and Dr. Anthony Harris. Each veteran spoke about their experiences during Freedom Summer and its lasting impact on their lives.

Hipkins met Susan Follett, author of an historical novel for adults and teens about Freedom Summer called The Fog Machine (2014).

Following the panel, Levy and Hipkins met with a group of secondary education majors. Levy opened up by asking students about their education and what they had learned about the Civil Rights Movement. Then students took the Civil Rights Mythbuster quiz. They were amazed to hear myths that they had believed as facts and how much misinformation they had received in their own schooling. Cries of “what???” and “I did not know that!” filled the room. Once students recovered from the quiz, the group began the Medgar Evers and the Southern Freedom Movement role play. In this activity, students took on the persona of people active in or opposed to the southern Freedom Movement at the time Medgar Evers was involved. After about 10 minutes of interviewing fellow participants, the group debriefed. They appreciated the interactive nature of the lesson.

This activity was followed with a Q&A with Levy using the Question Formulation Technique. During this session, a question was posed about the current voter ID law in Mississippi. Levy spoke at length about the lack of evidence to support such laws and the idea that in a democracy, it should be as easy as possible for citizens to vote.

Later in the afternoon, Levy and Hipkins met with freshmen and sophomore recipients of the Mississippi Excellence in Teaching Program scholarship. In exchange for their scholarship, students will teach for five years in the state of Mississippi. The session started with the Big Shoes to Fill. The stories of students standing up to injustice were powerful. They took the Civil Rights Mythbuster quiz and many students expressed shock at answers they believed to be correct. This activity was followed by the Medgar Evers lesson.

Levy spoke with them about his experiences during Freedom Summer as well as thoughts on the current state of education in the United States.

While at the conference, Hipkins was able to meet with Mississippi Civil Rights Movement and Labor History Education Initiative teacher fellows and partners. These included high school history teachers, Allison Barnette and Julie Heintz and partners, Dr. Michael Williams, Roy DeBerry, and Cynthia Palmer.

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Tuesday, October 21

On Tuesday morning, Levy and Hipkins visited East Oktibbeha High School. They took a tour of the school led by Mississippi State University Assistant Professor Dr. Kenneth Anthony and taught two classes of high school students. Each session began with Levy showing a short video montage of pictures that he took during Freedom Summer.

Hipkins introduced students to the “Unsung Heroes” lesson. Students walked around the room and met different “Unsung Heroes” while wearing a picture of their hero.

During the activity debrief, students shared that they had never heard of most (if not) all of the characters. Hipkins shared the connection between some of the historical events or people that students were familiar with and the characters that they were introduced to.

This was followed by a Q&A session with Levy.

The 3pm conference session, “What Did You Learn in School Today?: Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching,” had close to 50 social studies methods students in attendance. Ms. Sadie Martin, Levy’s student at the 1964 Freedom School in Meridian, Mississippi, was one of the session presenters.

Martin described the segregation that existed in Meridian in 1964 and how she was able to persevere in the face of racist bullying. She also shared memories of being a student at the Meridian Freedom School. Martin shared powerful stories of how she was able to survive encounters with racism and her disdain for the “silent majority.” Then Hipkins introduced participants to the Medgar Evers activity.

Following the Medgar Evers activity, participants were asked to form questions for Levy. During the Q&A session, Levy described the generosity and bravery of his host family in Meridian.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

The Remembering Freedom Summer 50th anniversary conference and teacher workshops provided an amazing opportunity to celebrate and learn.

The gathering served as a time to look back while thinking of new ways that the state and country can move forward to provide equal opportunities to all.