Uncovering the Movement

Afi-Odelia E. Scruggs
Uncovering the Movement
Teaching Tolerance
Spring 2010
Issue 37

http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-37-spring-2010/uncovering-movement

Teaching students local history through relevant means, where students research their own history. Mississippi was central in the Civil Rights Movement so students should be expected to take active role in understanding history and recognizing its place in current society.

Vickie Malone’s high school students in Mississippi are breaking ground by not simply playing the student, but becoming researchers themselves and active members of the community. This is an important task students should take on considering that after a movement of integration, public schools are now going through new means of re-segregation.

Intended audience: Educators, students, parents, members of community

Students should do active research to figure out how past events are currently affecting their lives now. In the process, relationships are built with fellow peers and those in the community students meet through active research. As more and more questions are asked, students will strive to answer them, and along the way will create new and even more relevant questions that deepen understanding. The classroom must be a safe place for students to learn and inquire, and once that environment is set, students have control of the classroom and maneuver through discussion. Encourage students to speak frankly while remaining sensitive to others, never let a student leave class without their dignity, and always discuss any topic of offense so students don’t leave uncomfortable or put down.
In class we constantly discuss making teaching a relevant process for students to help inspire intrinsic motivation so they are able to take responsibility for their own learning and true understanding. The teacher focused on in this article does exactly that by asking the students to evaluate the hard questions (not asking just what happened, by why and how it’s still happening), and pound the pavement to reach out to local community members who can give then real insight into the local history of segregation.