Most school-aged children in the United States know Rosa Parks as a civil rights hero who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
But do students also know that it wasn’t the first time Mrs. Parks or her fellow activists had refused to give up their seats to white riders? Do they know that a group, the Women's Political Council (WPC) of Montgomery, had taken aim at the segregated buses and had a boycott planned before her arrest? Do they know how organizations like the WPC and the Montgomery Improvement Association strategized and organized African Americans to end the discriminatory bus policy?
It’s important for our students to know these facts and get the whole story. Students need to know that years of planning, organizing, small actions and preparation gave rise to Parks’ act of protest and a citywide bus boycott that lasted over a year. Students need to hear the stories of Claudette Colvin and Aurelia Browder, and they need to understand the tactics and strategies organizers employed during the movement to desegregate the buses.
Why? When we reduce Rosa Parks’ life to a single moment and make her the sole driver of the entire boycott, students are less likely to see themselves as agents of change in their own lives. We, as educators, must equip students with the knowledge and skills to connect her story to today’s world so they feel prepared to address the inequities that affect them and their communities.
In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, we’ve compiled the key instructional elements from our Teaching the Movement initiative into a new guide—Beyond the Bus: Teaching the Unseen Story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It helps teachers prepare lessons that go beyond the story of Parks and the bus.
What’s in the resource?
Essential Areas for Civil Rights Education. We outline the essential areas for teaching about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott to help you select content that moves your lessons beyond the single story. We include leaders, groups, events and historical context as well as tactics used and opposition faced during this specific moment in U.S. history. Connections are also drawn to other movements, current events and civic participation.
Five Essential Practices for Teaching the Civil Rights Movement. Even when we have the best intentions to include critical material, we might not be fully prepared to deliver lessons about the civil rights movement. From capturing the unseen to preparing to talk about race, the Five Essential Practices give you the additional support you may need to reflect on your instructional approach.
Civil Rights Done Right: A Tool for Teaching the Movement. This step-by-step planning tool helps you integrate best practices for what to teach and how to teach it. It’s perfect for educators who want to create more robust lessons and help students cultivate a deeper understanding of the civil rights movement.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott’s success depended on everyday heroes, people who served as “taxi” drivers, spread flyers, hosted planning meetings and prepared meals. Let’s provide students with examples of these people, as well as the groups, events, strategies and philosophies that fueled the civil rights movement and remain relevant to civic engagement today. When we give our students the unseen story, we give them the necessary skills to continue the march for racial justice.
Join Teaching Tolerance for a FREE live webinar during which we'll explore Beyond the Bus and how to use this resource in classroom: November 17, 4:30 pm CST.
Wicht is the senior manager for teaching and learning at Teaching Tolerance
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