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www.teachingtolerance.org
Review by Pat Hoertdoerfer
Children, Family and Intergenerational Programs Director, UUA
Boston, MA
Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks
Video by Hudson & Houston
Montgomery, AL: Southern Poverty Law Center, 2002
The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.
This 40-minute documentary film and viewer’s guide with classroom
activities and historical documents are recommended for middle schoolers,
but can be adapted for high schoolers. Mighty Times revisits
a familiar historical event – the Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott
of 1955-56 – and unearths new stories that introduce new heroes
and heroines. In the film, Boycott participants and witnesses are joined
by their sons, daughters, grandchildren, cousins, nieces and nephews
to tell this inspiring story more vividly than before. The film presents
the birth of the Civil Rights Movement through an act of defiance on
a Montgomery bus that stirred a community to unite in opposition to
segregation (and changed America forever). But it is more than a mere
history lesson for the classroom. It is a model for young activists
who are looking to make a positive change in their communities. The
viewer’s guide describes various ways to use the video including
discussion questions, writing assignments, and social justice project
ideas. Supplementary information and activities are on their Web site,
which highlights the message that democracy is a work-in-progress. This
resource is highly recommended for religious education classes, youth
programming, and intergenerational events. It is available free to schools
and groups of homeschoolers and for cost to individuals.
I Will Be Your Friend
Songs and Activities for Young Peacemakers
Teaching Tolerance Project
Montgomery, AL: Southern Poverty Law Center, 2003
This resource includes a 26-song CD and an activity songbook with musical
notation for each song, artist and song profiles, classroom activities
and resource recommendations. Director Jim Carnes and producer Larry
Long state that their goal for I Will Be Your Friend is twofold:
to help children appreciate diversity of musical styles and traditions
found in the United States today, and to help them experience music-making
as an expression of welcome, friendship, caring and courage, honoring
traditions, building community, and struggling for justice. Many songs
on this recording feature children from diverse communities as soloists,
accompanists and members of intergenerational choirs. Original archival
recordings by Pete Seeger, Malvina Reynolds, Louis Armstrong, Langston
Hughes, and Rogers and Hammerstein are included along with songs sung
in Spanish, Swedish, Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, German, Japanese, Swahili,
and Russian. This resource is highly recommended for ministers and worship
leaders, religious educators, and parents in working with children in
grades 2-5. And it is a recommended resource for people of all ages
to encourage them to sing together, laugh together, and write music
together in order to help build a peaceful community and world. It is
available free to schools and groups of homeschoolers and for cost to
individuals.
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