What Happens When Young People Take Action? Teaching About the Freedom Movement—An Educator Innovator Webinar

The young people who took part in Freedom Summer and the Freedom Rides took brave and decided actions to dismantle the structures of discrimination through nonviolence. This webinar features Facing History and Ourselves’ educators in conversation with activist Chude Allen, historian Kathy Emery, and Oakland USD teachers exploring innovative ways to teach this powerful and inspiring history. This discussion is meant to help teachers and students to consider the relationship between the political context in which their commitment took place, the stories and motivations of those who became freedom movement activists, and implications for today. This webinar was offered through a collaboration with the Educating for Democracy in a Digital Age initiative.

Guests for this webinar were:

• Chude Allen, Activist and Civil Rights Movement Veteran
• Stephanie Carrillo, Facing History and Ourselves Los Angeles
• Kathy Emery, San Francisco State University
• Mary Hendra, Facing History and Ourselves
• Jennifer Jones-Clark, Facing History and Ourselves New England
• Steven Moreno, Oakland Unified School District
• Merri Weir, Academy of Medical Arts at Carson High School

Resources

• Lessons from Freedom Summer: Ordinary People Building Extraordinary Movement
• Civil Rights Movement Veteran Site
• American Experience: Freedom Riders
• Brother Outside: The Life of Bayard Rustin
• Democracy in Action: A Study Guide to Accompany the Film Freedom Riders
• Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Movement 1954-1985—A Study Guide to the Television Series
• Barometer—Taking a Stand on Controversial Issues
• Identity Charts
• Not in Our School | Not in Our Town
• “To Be Twenty Again”

Live Chat Archive

Click here to view and download a PDF version of the live chat conversation that happened during the webinar.