August 28^th will mark the 50^th anniversary of the great March on Washington and the now famous “I Have a Dream” speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King.  By most estimates over 250,000 people from all over the United States converged around the Reflecting Pool near the Lincoln Memorial marking the pinnacle of the Civil Rights Movement in America. It would not be until after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination (which occurred 3 months after the event), that President Lyndon Johnson helped pass the Civil Rights Act.

I suspect that many school students today do not know who John Lewis or Julian Bond are. Nor do they know about Medgar Evers, Ruby Bridges, or Ralph Abernathy. Hey are probably unaware of the significance of the US Supreme Court case, Brown vs. the Board of Education. Now is the time to change that. This is truly a teachable moment.  Whether you will be just staring the new term or getting your classroom ready, you can make a difference by creating lessons to raise your students’ awareness of the historic significance of this event.  Here are some suggestions for obtaining information to develop appropriate lessons.

1)     Read the article: We Shall Overcome” in the July/ August edition of Smithsonian Magazine. You will find candid comments from several of the players who made that day historic.

2)     View the website of the LBJ Library, located in Austin, Texas (http://www.lbjlibrary.org/). Johnson was a hero to the civil rights movement and his interest predates his presidency.

3)     The website for the Martin Luther King Museum, church, and homestead in Atlanta also will provide you with a great deal of information about his life, career and his vision for equality.(http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/atlanta/kin.htm)

4)     If you happen to teach in New Jersey the African Americas Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey has programs for school students and a traveling exhibit that you can arrange to come to your school. Contact (http://www.aahmsnj.org/travel.html)

5)     The National Civil Rights Museum, located in Memphis, Tennessee has a great web site as well as in- house museum exhibits. (http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/)

6)     Don’t forget to access the archives of the Library of Congress. This national treasure of article and photos and document is a crucial foundation for any lesson about the Civil Rights Movement. The web site also has lesson plans for teachers of various grade levels. Go to

(http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/themes/civil-rights/lessonplans.html

Don’t miss this opportunity to make a difference in the lives of your students.

c. 2013 J. Margolis