Civil Rights Projects

Friday was a busy day. Before the Valentine's party, we got together with our history group for presentations. The theme this month was Civil Rights. Jared presented his project first which was a very thorough timeline of the Civil Rights beginning with 1808 when slave trading was made illegal and ending with 2006 when Coretta Scott King (widow of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) died. This was Krystal's first project. She wanted to talk about Helen Keller, who although she didn't participate in the Civil Rights Movement as we typically see it, did in her later years work for the rights of the blind and deaf in our nation and in Japan. For her project, Krystal dictated the story of Helen Keller to me as she remembered it. I then made a book out of it, which she illustrated and read for her presentation. She did a great job reading and even showed us how to spell doll in sign language.

Clarissa's project was about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott. She really liked the story of Rosa Parks and how strong she was to stand up for what she knew was right.

While doing some research about the bus boycott I found that in order to make money for gas and station wagons for those who were not able to walk, many women baked pies and cakes in their kitchens and sold them in beauty salons. I also found an original recipe for Baked Fudge from one of these courageous women and baked it for our history group. It was very delicious!

Some other projects presented were about Ruby Bridges, Jackie Robinson, Mohanndes Ghandi, and Harriet Tubman. We are grateful to all the amazing men and women who have fought peacefully for the rights of all. We know that we all have differences and that is what makes this life fun and interesting. We appreciate each individual for their differences whether it be in age, skin color, religion, political view, physical abilities, language, financial circumstances, or any other variety of traits.