Teaching Tolerance, current issue, article on Little Rock Nine

Hello All,

There's an article worth reading in Teaching Tolerance. It's an interview with Minnijean Brown Trickey, one of the Little Rock NIne.

The article connects to some valuable resources for use in class. It ends with these discussion questions:

"* Trickey shares that she's experienced racism as both condescension and hatred. Define racism. How does it affect your life, and the lives of others?

* In what ways does racism remain a problem in U.S. schools?

* Trickey states that the rules of segregation were simply understood. Are there unstated rules at your school that isolate and unfairly affect certain groups?

* The Little Rock Nine made history by becoming the first African Americans to attend Central High. What boundaries have you crossed at school or in your community? How did it feel? How did others react?

* If Trickey visited your school today, and compared your school experience to her school experience, what changes in attitudes and opportunities would she discover? What hasn't changed? In your school, does kindness balance out the bad?

* Trickey's service as an activist and educator has earned her numerous awards. Imagine you are receiving a social justice award fifty years from now. What earned you the award? What inspired you to make a difference?"

Would you like to post an answer to any of these discussion questions? Are there any overcoming prejudice references you find particularly useful?

Tags: Teaching+Tolerance, civil+rights, racism, tolerance

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Permalink Reply by Vincent Mespoulet on January 6, 2008 at 3:41am

Dear Connie,

Thank you for this link, i think that i'll use it to work with my pupils... In France, we have also problems with racism between community, and we have a heavy past with slavery and colonialism. I put on our network the wonderful song Strange Fruits 'cause i love Billie Holliday ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Connie Weber on January 6, 2008 at 6:32am

Thank you, Vincent, for the comments, and for pointing out how music is such a powerful tool for understanding!

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Permalink Reply by Johnathan Chase on January 28, 2009 at 5:22am

NYSUT has a great resource for social justice lessons...

Robert F. Kennedy: Champion of Social Justice

Yes, songs are excellent for promoting peace and tolerance. Here's a lesson idea previously submitted to Teaching Tolerance...

Music and Lyrics

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Permalink Reply by ddeubel on January 28, 2009 at 5:36am

LOL Connie,

I grew up with Jean Trickey!!! She helped raise me, along with a big band of American draft dodgers and the Hartney Mountain boys and we all lived on a commune with goats, hard winters and lots of idealism..... What's not between the lines is how hard her life was....I could tell so many stories. And it wasn't born of Little Rock but of so much else. What is important to note is how she - a woman (black, white, red, yellow, green no matter) raised herself up of her own bootstraps. Went back to school, got out of an abusive situation, found a place for her intelligence and soul. That is MUCH more inspiring than the Little Rock story... I hope it comes out one day.

Connie, if your students want to connect with Jean, please let me know. I can dig up my contacts. I last saw her a couple of years ago, doing the rounds and speaking at rich kids schools to pay her bills. I'm sure she has a lot to say about that part of things too....

Thanks for bringing my attention to the article. I;ll print for my dad who is visiting right now...he'll smile! Small world isn't it!

David
http:///projectpeace.ning.com

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Permalink Reply by ddeubel on January 28, 2009 at 5:46am

Connie,

I forgot to answer you question as all the memories flooded back.......

I'd say one profound thing that has to do with tolerance is the ability to doubt. To teach students to doubt everything! Oscar Wilde quipped correctly that "man's original virtue is the capacity to say NO.".... If you as a teacher through a socratic method, through your own devil's advocating, through your devotion to curiousity -- if you can instill this doubt in your students , you will be building the greatest and most flaming kind of faith.

This is the road to tolerance, the questioning of what the herd would offer... not easy to do and why teaching is an art.

DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com

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Permalink Reply by Connie Weber on January 29, 2009 at 5:00am

Hi David,

Thank you so much for your thoughts and stories! It's so exciting that you have a personal connection to Jean--and is also fascinating to hear about your childhood. I'll be in touch with you about the possibility of having her talk with us!

Also, YES.... about NO! You are right, of course. I am often found using a Socratic method in class... Lots and lots of thinking skills. One of our current themes is "not jumping to conclusions" -- teaching the students to recognize when it's occurring. People need to avoid jumping into herd mentality without questioning, and also must avoid jumping inside one's head to some unsubstantiated assumption. Questioning, questioning, questioning... The use of Doubt. Thank you for bringing this up.