History Comes to EFS with Skype

EFS 6th graders recently read The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis. The novel tells the story of a family who moved from Michigan to Alabama at the time of one of the Civil Rights era's hallmark tragedies, the bombing of the 16th Avenue Baptist Church that killed four young girls. The book really resonates with middle schoolers, but as we move further and further from African-Americans' fight for civil rights, kids know less and less about what the Movement was all about. They know about Dr. King and a couple of his speeches, but they know little about Jim Crow and the system of oppression that existed in the US. While it might seem impossible, and perhaps a little depressing, that our students largely unaware of depth of the struggle for civil rights, realize that Dr. King was assassinated 42 years ago next month. 42 years before I was in 6th grade Herbert Hoover was president and the US was sinking into the Great Depression. In other words, it's all ancient history to the kids.

In an effort to put a face on the Civil Rights Movement, the grandmother of one of our 6th graders volunteered to speak with our class about her experiences as a young woman. Dr. Marjorie Miller was a student at Tufts University in 1960 when she helped organize and participate in boycotts and marches in Boston. She also helped to organize a concert in the Boston Garden featuring Harry Bellafonte that raised funds for college students in the South who had been arrested at lunch counter sit-ins. Our students were totally engaged, listening intently to her stories and asking excellent questions. Her personal story brought to light many issues of which our students were largely unaware, including the fact that the Civil Rights Movement was not exclusively Southern and that white people played a critical role in the Movement. And did I mention that Dr. Miller spoke to the students from Busan, South Korea? Thanks to the wonders of Skype and a recently installed interactive SMART Board in the 5/6 English classroom, our students experienced some real-time distance learning. Dr. Miller is on a Fulbright from her regular job as a professor of feminist philosophy at SUNY Purchase, but she stayed up late into the night to "meet" with our kids (South Korea is 13 hours ahead of us). It is not hyperbole to say that this is a class that could not have taken place at EFS even just a year or two ago.

EFS 6th graders speaking with Dr. Marjorie Miller from Korea via Skype.