We Were Just Passengers: Freedom Rider Charles Person on the Bus Rides that Changed His Life

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Subject Area

Social Studies

Grade(s)

4

Overview

To mark the 60th anniversary of the Freedom Rides, Charles Person explains what it was like to be the youngest member of the interracial group of Civil Rights activists who rode buses through the South to protest segregation. He also explores his ancestors’ journey through the same region and comes face to face with a landmark from his family history that still stands today. Sponsored by Ancestry.

Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 4

SS10.4.14

Analyze the modern Civil Rights Movement to determine the social, political, and economic impact on Alabama.

UP:SS10.4.14

Vocabulary

  • analyze
  • interpret
  • discrimination
  • prejudice
  • protest (violent and non-violent)
  • boycott
  • sit-in
  • segregation
  • integration
  • Jim Crow
  • suffrage
  • rights
  • NAACP

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Many of the key leaders that were vital to the modern Civil Rights movement including Martin Luther King, Jr.; George C. Wallace; Rosa Parks; Fred Shuttlesworth; John Lewis; Malcolm X; Thurgood Marshall; Hugo Black; and Ralph David Abernathy.
  • How the Montgomery Bus Boycott and other forms of protest impacted Alabama's economy.
  • How the many forms of non-violent protests were used to help African Americans in Alabama gain equality including the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Selma-to-Montgomery March, and children's marches.
  • African Americans in Alabama were often the victims of violence while trying to gain equality (Sixteenth Street Church bombing, Freedom Riders bus bombing).

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Recognize important persons of the modern Civil Rights Movement, including Martin Luther King, Jr.; George C. Wallace; Rosa Parks; Fred Shuttlesworth; John Lewis; Malcolm X; Thurgood Marshall; Hugo Black; and Ralph David Abernathy.
  • Describe events of the modern Civil Rights Movement, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, the Freedom Riders bus bombing, and the Selma-to-Montgomery March.
  • Interpret primary sources such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Brown versus Board of Education Supreme Court case of 1954, and Letters from the Birmingham Jail.
  • Use vocabulary associated with the modern Civil Rights Movement, including discrimination, prejudice, segregation, integration, suffrage, and rights.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Many individuals and events had a social, political, and economic impact on the people of Alabama during the modern Civil Rights Movement. There were many benefits of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Brown v. Board (1954).
  • The doctrine of separate but equal called for specific things.
  • These events also had a significant impact on the nation.
Alternate Achievement Standard - Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 4

AAS.SS10.4.14

Identify the purpose of the Civil Rights Movement; recognize important issues, leaders, and results of the movement.

CR Resource Type

Audio/Video

Resource Provider

NBC News Learn

License Type

Custom

Accessibility

Video resources: includes closed captioning or subtitles
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