The story of Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks was born on February 4th, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. She worked as a seamstress. On December 1st, 1955, she took the bus to get back home. When a white man got on the bus, the bus driver stood up and walked to the back of the bus.
He asked Rosa Parks to move from her seat, but she refused. The bus driver called for the police. Rosa Parks was arrested because she broke the segregation law. At that time, black people were forbidden to sit next a white person in buses.
The next day, Friday, December 2, E.D. Nixon calls a meeting of black leaders to discuss how to fight bus segregation.
Knowing that the city bus system depends heavily on the African-American community, the black leaders agree to call a boycott of all city buses on Monday, December 5. A new and popular minister in Montgomery by the name of Martin Luther King, Jr. is chosen to lead the boycott. By Friday evening the news of the upcoming boycott has spread throughout the city.
On Monday morning, December 5, King and the other leaders wait nervously at a bus stop to see whether their plan will work. To their relief and surprise, bus after bus rolls by with no African Americans aboard. United in protest, boycotters choose instead to walk, take carpools, pedal bicycles, and even ride mules to get to work instead of board the buses.
Slowly but surely the bus company begins to lose money — 75 percent of its riders are black and all have joined the boycott. Nevertheless, the company doesn't change its segregation policies. Executives are convinced that the protesters — who are mostly poor and supporting large families — can't afford to miss work and will be back on the buses soon.
To their surprise and dismay, as days turn into weeks, Montgomery's African Americans adjust to finding other means of transportation.
Activity: Answer the following questions:
· What event led to the bus boycott in Montgomery?
· Who is the leader of the action?
· What did they do?
· For what reason did they take the action (their feelings and motivations)?
· Did their action work or not?
· Do you think they did the right thing?
The Jim Crow Laws
The Jim Crow Laws were created in the 19th century.
‘Jim Crow’ is a racist nickname to refer to a black person.
The Jim Crow laws started racial segregation. It was forbidden for black people:
– to eat in restaurants where white people ate.
– to wait in the same rooms in train or bus stations.
– to wash their clothes in the same laundries.
– to sit at the front of buses.
– to sit next to a white person in a movie theatre (they had to sit upstairs in the balcony).
The Jim Crow Laws were enforced until 1965.
The Bus Boycott
After the arrest of Rosa Parks, the black people decided to act. They wanted to be treated fairly. They wanted to be allowed to sit next to a white person.
Martin Luther King encouraged the black people to stop taking the bus. However, it was hard because they had to walk long distance or find other ways to go to work like for example: share cars or cycle.
Martin Luther King Junior – Webquest
I - His life: help
1) When was he born? ________________________________________________________
2) In which state of the USA was he born? ________________________________________
Colour it in red on the map (help on Google map)
3) What was his mother’s job?
_______________________________________
4) His father was a “minister”.
What is it in French? (religion): ______________
(help on Wordreference or Larousse)
5) Was he good at school?
___________________________________________________________________________
6) What activities did he enjoy doing?
___________________________________________________________________________
7) What was his job? ___________________________________________________________
8) What’s the title of his famous speech? ____________________________________________
9) When did he pronounce it? _______________________________________
10) When did he die? _____________________________________________
11) How did he die? _____________________________________________________________
II – Recognition: help
12) Which famous prize did he receive? When? ________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
13) How much money did he receive? ________________________________________________
14) What did he do with it? ______________________________________________________
III – Watch his speech on Youtube
Tick the correct answer:
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and ¨ yesterday ¨ tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the ¨ American ¨ Australian dream.
I have a dream that I have a dream that ¨ two days ¨ one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are ¨ created ¨ visited equal."
After watching the trailer, answer:
Read the adjectives and find their opposite. Which character from the film could they describe ?
narrow-minded : ≠ character :
reckless : ≠ character :
adamant : ≠ character :
cowardly : ≠ character :
bubbly : ≠ character :
inhumane : ≠ character :
fair-haired : ≠ character :
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE US
BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, CHAPTER 10
- Hi boy and girls! Now it’s time for a brief history of the United States of America. Ready to get started ?
Once upon a time, there were these people in Europe, called pilgrims and they were afraid of being persecuted. So they all got into a board and they sailed to the new Yorld where they wouldn’t have to be scared, ever again [oh… I’m so relaxed… Oh, I feel so much safer…]
But as soon as they arrived they were greeted by Savages and they got scared all over again.;. so they killed them out!
- now, you would think wiping a race of people would calm them down, but no! instead they started again to be frightened by each other! [ witch!!!] so they burnt witches!
In 1775, they started killing the British so they could be free… and it worked! But… they still didn’t feel safe so they passed the 2nd amendment which said that every white man could keep his gun [ I love my gun…] which brings us to the genius idea of slavery.
You see, boys and girls, the white people of back then were also afraid of doing any work so they went to Africa, kidnap thousands of Black people, brought them back to America and forced them to work very hard for no money. And I don’t mean no money like [“I work at wall-mart and I don’t get no money ]– I mean zero dollars, nothing nada… Doing it that way made the US the richest country in the world
So did having all that money and free help calmed the white people down ? No…. No way… They became even more afraid… That’s because after 200 years of slavery, the black people now outnumbered the white people in many parts of the south…
Well, you can pretty much guess what came next… The slaves started rebelling !
And the old masters’ heads got chopped off .
And when white people heard of these, they were freaking out and going “I wanna live! Please, don’t kill me black man!!!”
Well, just in a nick of time, Samuel Colt who in 1836 invented the first weapon ever that could be fired over and over without having to reload. And all the southerners who heard that, were like [hihigh!!] {…unsure]
But it was too late. The north soon won the Civil War and the slaves were free. Yeah, they were free to go chop all their old masters’ heads off. And th white men were like “Oh, no!!! We’re gonna die!!!”
But the free slaves took no revenge, they just wanted to live in peace… but they couldn’t convince the White people of this… So they fund the Ku Klux Klan and in 1871, the same year the Klan became an illegal terrorist organisation, another group was founded, the National Rifle Association.
Soon, politicians passed one of the first gun laws making it illegal for any black person to own one, it was a great year for America. The KKK and the NRA. Of course, they had nothing to do with each other and it was just a coincidence. One group legally promoting responsible gun ownership and the other group shot and lynched black people.
That was the way it was all the way til 1955 when a black woman broke the law by refusing to move to the back of the bus. White people just couldn’t believe [ why won’t she move ? What’s going on ? Oh man! ]
Oh hell broke loose. Black people everywhere started demanding their rights and white people had a major freaking fear downtown , and they are all like “Run away! Run away!!”
And they did!! They all ran away to the suburbs where it was all white and safe and clean. And they went out and bought a choir of a billion guns and put locks on the doors , alarm in the houses and gates round the neighbourhood…
And finally, they were all safe and secure, and snug as a bug.
And everyone lived happy ever after”.
Le document est un extrait vidéo intitulé « Ruby Bridges visits with the president and her portrait ».
On y voit Ruby Bridges (une icône de l’histoire noire américaine) et Barack Obama discuter devant le tableau de Norman Rockwell « the Problem we all live with » qui la représente lors de son premier jour d’école. Et il s’agit ensuite d’une interview de Ruby Bridges.
La vidéo commence lorsque Barack Obama et Ruby Bridges admirent et commentent ce tableau la montrant escortée de 4 policiers, première petite fille noire à gravir les marches de cette école pour blanc dans l’Amérique en théorie déségrégationnée. Ruby est très émue et dit ensuite avoir été très touchée par le fait que Barack Obama lui dise que c’est en partie grâce à elle qu’il est à la Maison Blanche aujourd’hui. Elle sait que ce qu’elle a vécu a été très important pour l’Histoire mais rajoute que c’était un honneur d’être aussi côte à côte avec l’Histoire ce jour là.
Elle dit qu’elle n’a rien oublié de ce jour là, mais elle précise que la petite fille de 6 ans qu’elle était à l’époque ne connaissait rien du racisme, que cette petite fille là ne faisait qu’aller à l’école. Elle rajoute que les enfants ne font naturellement aucune discrimination, que ceci est un concept transmis par l’adulte.
La leçon qu’elle a d’ailleurs apprise cette année là, c’est que personne ne doit être jugée sur la couleur de sa peau.
Here is the blog of the Freedom Riders you have read about. Please do read their testimony. You will learn a lot about their commitment.
The Jim Crow Laws
The Jim Crow Laws were created in the 19th century.
‘Jim Crow’ is a racist nickname to refer to a black person.
The Jim Crow laws started racial segregation. It was forbidden for black people:
– to eat in restaurants where white people ate.
– to wait in the same rooms in train or bus stations.
– to wash their clothes in the same laundries.
– to sit at the front of buses.
– to sit next to a white person in a movie theatre (they had to sit upstairs in the balcony).
The Jim Crow Laws were enforced until 1965.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
