Written by Karen Falcon, 4th grade teacher

In 4th grade history we began the year with students learning about twentieth century history from Jubilee’s student created textbook “Journey to the Core of the Twentieth Century”. The class decided they wanted to write a book about people who refused to give up their seats. For example, Morgan let me know that she was very excited about Claudette Colvin, who was getting her name cleared after having been arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus at the age of sixteen. They are finished with the writing piece and are now working on illustrations.

They also interviewed a professor at Penn who wrote a book called “Travelling Black”, and the interview was broadcast on a local radio station. The following is the introduction to their book, which they wrote collaboratively:

“This is a story about segregation on public transportation and how people refused to give up their seats. They kept fighting for their freedom; they were braver than brave and stronger than strong. There is a growing awareness about some of these people, but not a lot of them are well known. We should know how they fought for justice and civil rights because they are our history and our blood, and our past affects our present and future. If we neglect these legends we are neglecting what is beautiful about humanity.”