Child of the Civil Rights Movement
Author: Paula Young Shelton
Illustrator: Raul Colon
Grade Level: P-3
Summary:
The story is about the childhood of Paula Young Shelton, the
daughter of civil rights activitist, Andrew Young. The book first gave late to
the segregated and marginalized lifestyle of African Americans, where Jim Crow
Laws ran rampant in southern states. Paula was born in New York, where these
laws were not enforced. After the Freedom Riders protest, where white and black
students rode on a bus to the south was set on fire in attempt protest the segregation
laws in the south, Paula’s family went back to Georgia to face this inequity.
The story is mainly about the protagonist’s first protest, where her father,
Andrew Young was working alongside with Ralph Abernathy, Randolph Blackwell,
Dorothy Cotton, James Orange, Hosea Williams, and Martin Luther King Jr. An incident
occurred in a supposedly white and black inclusive restraint, where her and her
family was denied seating. Her parents fought for their rights and were still
denied, which lead to her family joining the American civil rights movement
group to a 50 mile, 4 day march in Montgomery, Alabama. The results from this
was when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1965 Voting Acts Right, where
Martin Luther King Jr. were on television signifying a rift in civil rights.
The story ends with Paula explaining how after her parents were to grow old, it
would be her duty as a child, alongside with others, to continue the march for
the civil rights movement.
Element 3 Exploring Issues of Social Injustice:
Element Three was outlined in this book when discussing the
racist past of the United States of America. The story gives a firsthand
perspective of an African American child who faced oppression during her
childhood. The book mentioned many examples of Jim Crow laws, which segregated
blacks and African Americans from most public settings and constructs. The
rewarding aspect of this book covered the activism against the inequity and
injustices towards black people. With the detailed and captivating
illustrations, as well as the descriptions in the book, introducing all the
members of the civil rights movement group, the book gives much leeway for
teachers to make a unit researching other activists. It gives light to other
famous figures that were major contributors to the civil rights movement. What
made this book unique and relevant to the theme of social injustice was how it
was told by the author who was a child during the 1960s.
Activity:
As a follow-up activity, I would break the
class up into groups and assign each group with a specific figure named in the
book. This could include using computers, or using books from the school
library. Each group is required to make a poster and present information to the
class to give light to these brave social activists, during a time of horrible
and unjust society in the United States. The poster can include illustrations,
quotes, printed pictures, and facts about their assigned agent of social change.
This could work in inclusive classrooms, as it would be appropriate to give students
with IEPs and disabilities Martin Luther King Jr., the most popular figure
named in this book, and would give them an opportunity to reinforce their
knowledge on him. Other classes can explore figures they may not be familiar
with, showing the class about other people who were involved to contribute in
our current strides to become a more equal society.
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