As we approach Martin Luther King Day and the celebration of his life, it is important for children to understand and reflect upon the historical events that took place during his life. The new and updated version of "If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King", written by Ellen Levine, and published by Scholastic, is an excellent resource to use in upper elementary and even in middle school to explore the civil rights movement.
The civil rights movement of the 1950's and 1960's
The book is written in a question and answer format which breaks this immense subject down into segments for the students. These segments also create discrete classroom discussion topics. Some of the thirty questions include: "What was segregation?", "How did the Montgomery bus boycott start?", and "Were children involved in the civil right protests?" The answers are clear and comprehensive, providing the historical background necessary for the students to understand how it would be to actually be a part of a sit-in or to March on Washington.
Ms. Levine recognizes the complexity of the issues. In the South, there were actual laws supporting segregation. In the North, there were no laws preventing black and white children from going to school together, but since Blacks and Whites lived in separate neighborhoods, their schools were also separate. The reader will find out that in 1965 Martin Luther King went to Chicago to protest the very bad conditions of the separate but unequal black schools.
Many of the icons of the Civil Rights Movement are present in the answers to the questions. Claudette Colvin(refused to give up her seat on the bus nine months before Rosa Parks), Jo Ann Robinson and E.D. Nixon(organizers of the boycott), James Farmer(CORE), Bob Moses(SNCC), and Fannie Lou Farmer. Ms Levine presents it all including the death of the freedom riders James Chaney,Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman.
This book will call to parents and teachers to be read aloud, talked about, and thought about.
Guided reading level Q
Qualifies for Title 1A and IDEA funds
Available in Chicago at The Learning Tree