Instilling a sense of right and wrong

It’s important to learn about the civil rights movement so the negative aspects associated with slavery and discrimination never happen again, Number Five School third grader Stoyan Georgiev said.

“The United States did bad things to other countries and treated slaves badly,” he said. “If the slaves didn’t do what (their slave master) said, they’d get whipped.”

Third-grade teacher Jill White has been teaching her class about the important people and events during the Civil War and the civil rights movement since school returned from Christmas break. The class is also reading the book, “Grace’s Letter to Lincoln” by Peter and Connie Roop, to better understand the time period.

“There is discrimination that still exists today,” White said. “I want to instill a sense of right and wrong. With kids this age, it’s never too early.”

Justin Curra said learning about Harriet Tubman’s heroic efforts inspire him. “She helped slaves get to the north to freedom,” he said. “She was very helpful to the slaves.”

Abraham Lincoln is one of Jose Garcia’s favorite people to learn about from the Civil War. “There were a lot of people who tried to free the slaves so they didn’t get treated badly,” he said. “Lincoln didn’t want slavery and tried his best to end it.”

Midway through their civil rights movement lesson on Monday, White split her class into two teams to quiz them on their knowledge. As Benjamin Molina read from a flash card, each team answered questions to see who got the most right.

After the quiz resulted in a tie, the class sat in a circle and put the Civil War or civil rights movement book they read last night in a pile so each classmate could take turns and pick another one out to bring home that night.

White said the one of the Lawrence School District’s new academic initiatives, Social Emotional Learning, fits perfectly into what she’s teaching her students about the civil rights movement. “Hopefully they’ll see that people were treated so poorly back then and they won’t treat anyone poorly or have prejudice because of it,” she said. “The younger you get them, the more influence it will have.”

Throughout February, White plans on celebrating Black History Month by having her students prepare a skit in groups about important figures such as Booker T. Washington, Jackie Robinson and Rosa Parks.

When asked what she hopes her students take with them from her lesson about the civil rights movement, White said, “I hope they judge people by their actions and words instead of by the color of their skin, religion or race,” she said. “I want to make the difference while I still have the opportunity to reach them.”