Day 3: Segregation and the History of Racism

This lesson seeks to connect Detroit-area conditions with the broader national story of integration

Standards

4 – G2.0.1 Describe ways in which the United States can be divided into different regions.
Example: political regions

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.1
Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when
drawing inferences from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.2
Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.

Objectives

Students will be able to interpret information given explicitly in the text and answer the
text-dependent questions.

Students will be able to identify the contribution Ruby Bridges made to the civil
rights movement in the United States.

Instructional Activity

Read the book, "Through My Eyes" by Ruby Bridges together as a class. 

This book is a memoir that gives insight to Ruby’s perspective of her experience attending
an integrated school in the 1960’s. It includes her memories, quotations from authors who
have written about her life, photos from her first weeks at William Frantz Elementary, and
an overview of her adult life. It shows how her perseverance made her a foundational member
of the Civil Rights Movement.

Ask students about what they noticed in the story. 

 

Compelling questions to consider: 

  • Why are some people treated differently than others?
  • In what ways can people help to bring about change?
  • How do we learn about events that happened in the past?
  • Why are all accounts of a historical events not the same?

Be an active participant in this discussion and ask more questions if necessary.

After a class discussion, students will complete a worksheet that asks:

  • What was Ruby’s kindergarten like?
  • Why did Ruby’s mother and the federal marshals escort Ruby to school on November 14, 1960?
  • What was Mrs. Henry’s class like?
  • What happened at the end of the first grade?
  • What did Ruby mean when she said, “The principal couldn’t change what was in my head?”