QDo you know how much the truth can impact a society? Well watch this video to see how the truth changed the civil rights movement:
That video was created by Izzy and myself after a unit we learned called We Shall Overcome. In this unit we learned all about the Civil rights movement and looked into the question: How can the actions of an individual change a system? At the beginning of this unit I knew that the world is and has been very racist however I never really thought of how it had changed overtime. That there was more to the civil rights movement then simply Martin Luther King.
For this unit we learned chromatically, meaning starting pre 1950s and ending in 1968. For the 50’s we learned about what slavery and racism was. How in that time there were the Jim Crowe laws that were put in place to segregate the blacks from whites. I found learning about this eye opening because it showed just how terribly people were treated.
While we were learning about this we were also reading the book Dear Martin. This book is about “ Dear Martin, her first novel, is loosely based on a series of true events involving the shooting deaths of unarmed African American teenagers. Shaken by the various responses to these incidents–and to the pro-justice movement that sprang up as a result–Stone began the project in an attempt to examine current affairs through the lens of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s teachings.” -Goodreads.
This book was really interesting to read because it showed how racism is not gone but really is still very present in modern day. How a young boy was shot and killed and how that lead to a domino effect because it was so shocking to the main character who was African American. While we were reading this book we also did an activity called a Socratic Seminar . A Socratic seminar is “a formal discussion, based on a text, in which the leader asks open-ended questions. Within the context of the discussion, students listen closely to the comments of others, thinking critically for themselves, and articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of others.” In total this unit we had 5 Socratic seminars that we participated in. The first one was on the first section of the book and it was a little rough to say the least. However as time went on and we got more comfortable saying what we thought and preparing questions for the discussion it got better and better. We also were to prepare a sheet so that we could better prepare for the discussion as well as fill out a sheet after to truly reflect on what was said.
Here are examples of my sheets:
In this unit we also learned about people and events such as Emmitt Till, the montogomery bus boycott and many more events. Here is a timeline of some of the events that were important to the civil rights movement and that we learned about.
Time Line
1865 Abraham Lincoln created Emancipation amendment: The fifth amendment got rid of slaves
Civil war: The Union; the north won 1865-1877 Reconstruction era: after the war when they rebuilt what was lost 1896 Jim Crow laws: a set of racist rules, separate but equal (a state by state decision as to how they applied) 1954 Brown Vs Board: desegregation of public schools, was still separate and not equal 1955 Emmett Till: Public display of his body to show how terribly he was treated; lead to a trial and a worldwide story about a 14 year old who was killed 1955-1956 Rosa Parks and Montgomery Bus Boycott: Desegregation of buses 1957 Little Rock Nine: Test case 1960 Lunch Counter Sit In: SNCC 1961 Freedom Riders: Desegregate interstate buses 1963 Birmingham: Civil rights act 1964, was a horrible time simply because they were walking the streets. This was when dogs, fire hydrants and more terrible attacked peaceful people 1963 March on Washington: Civil rights act 1964 1964 Freedom Summer: register to vote,3 people killed because they helped people register to vote 1965 Selma To Montgomery Marches: Right to vote 1965 Voting Rights Act
At the beginning of this unit we were told this would be a film heavy unit and I can tell you it definitely was. We watched movies and documentaries such as A Long Walk Home, Selma, 1968 and many other videos and movies. I found this a very effective way of learning things because it showed real life experiences. If I was reading a book I would not be able to see or relate to the things that I saw.
While we were learning all about these life changing events we were also creating the video that you saw at the beginning of the post. This video was based on one of our need to know questions which we had thought of as a class. We were put in pairs and I was happily assigned with Izzy who I haven’t really worked with recently. We decided on the question:
Why is it important for things not to be sugar coated?
We both found this a very interesting topic because as we would soon learn how much of a role the truth played in the civil rights movement. Below I’d out video layout to show what we put into the video.
Video Layout
People are scared of reality, however it is necessary to not sugar coat events such as Emmitt Till, Damiloa Taylor and Carrie Best in order to change the system.
Damilola Taylor and Emmitt Till were both murdered by white people because of their race. In both cases the deaths were covered up by the media and it wasn’t until their parents decided to spill out what really happened.
Historical:
Emmett Till who was only 14 was murdered by Roy and Milo Bryant after he whistled at a white women. His body was shown on display for all to see at a church in south Chicago, and a big crowd showed up. People brought their kids so that they could see what happened to Emmitt. Then the story was published in Jet an African American magazine that spread the story both nationally and worldwide. Emmitts mum not sugarcoating the story caused what could have been one of the first major sparks of the civil rights movement.
Current:
Damilola Taylor
Was murdered by a group of white kids and the police lied about it and said he just tripped on glass. His parents stood up and not sugar coating the whole murder. Even today there is a youth centre in honour of Damilola Taylor.
Donald Glover (this is America)
Canadian
Carrie Best
Was born on the 4th of March 1903 in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, Carrie became a civil rights activist. She was sparked by such movement as African American girls forcefully being removed from the Roseland Theatre which caused her to fight back by going to the theatre with her son, and attempting to buy a ticket for the white only area and then sitting there and forcefully being removed by the police. She did not sugar coat to her son because she knew he needed to see what happens. And though she did file a lawsuit and lost she did not give up. Carrie felt so strongly that she created one of the first Nova Scotia African American owned and published newspapers, The Clarion. For a decade, The Clarion covered many important issues and advocated for Black rights. In 1956, it was renamed The Negro Citizen and began national circulation.
Resources:
Canadian:
Websites such as the Canadian encyclopedia as well as reading the Clarion witch Carrie Best published and owned. As well as the CBC article about her, there are many articles on her we will read
Current:
Past:
We watched the movie and we can rewatch certain parts in order to get specific quotes, this will help the video. We also already have notes and a written paragraph on this subject. However we will use other websites/videos to get needed information.
Habits of mind:
We will use our past knowledge we have learned through this unit to help contribute to the project. We can relate the past situations on people not sugar coating and relate it to current situations. The past blog posts we have done will help us during the video.
ISTE standards:
We will find the needed information through technology and will also be able to use our past technology skills from the last few years and more specifically the video unit we did last year in order to create the video.
Once we knew what we wanted to say in the video we then created the script.
Script
Thesis: People are scared of reality however the un sugar coated truth is needed to change a system.
Question: If these people had sugar coated these groundbreaking moments, would the Civil Rights Movement have still advanced?
Intro:
Throughout history, ground breaking events have advanced the Civil Rights Movement and have changed multiple systems.
However, the reason these events were publicized is because individuals have un sugar coated the truth or in other words not made the truth superficially attractive or acceptable to the public.
So the real question is, if these people had sugar coated these groundbreaking moments, would the Civil Rights Movement have still advanced?
The truth is, people are scared of reality however the un sugar coated truth is needed to change a system.
Canadian:
The first example of someone who did not sugar coat the truth is Carrie Best
Carrie Was born on the 4th of March 1903 in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia,
She was first sparked to make a difference when viola davis was forcefully being removed from the Roseland Theatre.
After this experience Carrie was motivated to fight back by going to the theatre with her son, and attempting to buy a ticket for the white only area and then sitting there and forcefully being removed by the police.
She did not sugar coat to her son because she knew he needed to see what happens. And though she did file a lawsuit and lost she did not give up. Carrie felt so strongly that she created one of the first Nova Scotia African American owned and published newspapers, The Clarion. For a decade, The Clarion covered many important issues and advocated for Black rights. In 1956, it was renamed The Negro Citizen and began national circulation.
As you can see Carrie Best truly did not sugar coat the truth because she saw just how necessary it was for people to see the truth
, even her young son. It is important not be oblivious to the world around you.
Historic: Emmett Till
Another instance when the truth was unsugarcoated and resulted in a contribution towards a movement was when Emmett Till was murdered.
Emmett Till was only 14 years old when he was murdered by two white men for wolf whistling at a white women.
Emmett wasn’t the only black individual to murdered in that time period, There are so many murders that get pushed under the covers to prevent change and people are afraid to face reality.
No one knew what the outcome would be, would the movement just get pushed back?
The reason Emmett Till’s event contributed to the civil rights movement was because it was all over the media, all because of Mamie Till. She made the decision to put the body of Emmett Till on display at the funeral. People then saw the truth of what really happened and were horrified. It caused fear, and anger towards white people. Black people were woken up and realized what white people were capable of.
If the murder of Emmett Till had been pushed under covers, people would never know what really happened and realized that change needs to happen.
Modern: Damilola Taylor
A more current event of someone not sugar coating the truth was On the 27th of November 2000, when ten-year-old schoolboy,Damilola Taylor Was murdered by a group of teens.
and the police lied about it and said he just tripped on glass eventually bleeding to death even though that is not the truth
Damilola Taylor’s parents could have easily accepted this and simply grieved however, they knew what had happened to their son. And so just as Mamie Till had advocated for her son, Richard and Gloria Taylor then advocated for their son. They took to the news to express what actually happened.
After a long time finally thanks to DNA evidence it was found out that the boys who killed there son who were only 12 and 13 years old when they killed Damilola. They were then put behind bars but for only for 4 years.
,Once they knew why and how Damilola was killed, The unsugarcaoted truth was spread worldwide through the media. Gloria his mother also confronted the authorities to get their facts straight about her son since she was popular on the news and on various panels.
There is even now a BBC documentary about Damilola Taylor to spread the message of what really happened and to make society aware that racism is still a problem today
There was even a centre that was set up in 2001 in memory of Damilola Taylor. The Damilola centre is a place where youths can have fun and be away from violence. The truth that was uncovered has woken people up,and revealed imperfections in society.
Conclusion:
So seeing all of these examples of people who fought for the civil rights movement and did not sugar coat these events. Going back to the question, If these people had sugar coated these groundbreaking moments, would the Civil Rights Movement have still advanced? However from examples such as Carrie Best, Emmett Till and Damilola Taylor revealing the unwanted truth, it had made the world less oblivious to the imperfections in society.
Though people may be scared of reality and these were horrible events that should have never happened in the first place, the un sugar coated truth is needed to change a system and that is what helped improve the civil rights movement.
We can conclude that for a system to be changed, people need to take action in order to move forward.
So it was time to start creating the video, this was our first draft:
If you watched that you can see just how terribly it was and how much needed to be improved. For example we did not have time to record us which we knew we wanted for the final draft. We wanted the video to be interesting not simply a “book report”. So if you didn’t watch the final draft here it is:
Through this unit I learned so much in general. I learned how the civil rights movement changed the world so much. I learned how people are scared of reality however the un sugar coated truth is needed to change a system. Another thing I learned was just how terribly people were and are treated, that things need to start changing and the only way that is going to happen is through people making a change and influencing others to do the same. We were also able to answer our question: If these people had sugar coated these groundbreaking moments, would the Civil Rights Movement have still advanced? We figured out that no, groundbreaking events can not be sugar coated. If these people had sugar coated these events that they would not have as big of an impact as they did. In the technical aspect I learned even more how to equally work with my partner so that it was not unfair. Another video technique I learned was how to create a video that was interesting and included historical events while also not creating a book report type video.
Overall throughout the time of this unit I learned so much and it has sparked a curiosity in me to make a difference for something that I believe in and to continue to learn about the civil rights movement because it changed the way the world is today!
