Short Answer
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Performance Task #3 US History-11
The Civil Rights Movement in America The Children’s Crusade in
Birmingham, Alabama, 1963
Historical Context: Until the spring of 1963, the
protests against institutionalized racial segregation throughout the South and other parts of the
United States received only occasional national coverage. But beginning May 2 of that year, thousands
of mostly African-American children peacefully protested segregation in Birmingham, Alabama, making
the nation focus its attention on the violent opposition to integration taking place in what the Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had called “the most segregated city in America.” This
Children’s Crusade, also referred to as the Children’s Marches or the Children’s
Campaign, drew hateful speech and brutal force from the Ku Klux Klan, Birmingham authorities, other
groups and citizens. These demonstrations by Birmingham’s youth, along with countless other
acts of civil disobedience [over the next year] by protesters around the nation, prompted
the federal government to ultimately pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act in July, prohibiting racial,
religious and gender discrimination in all public facilities.
Additional links that resource
the Birmingham Childrens Crusade: Wikepedia Encyclopedia
of Alabama Biography Channel The Childrens
Crusade
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Source #1: Reading
and Annotating
* Preview the texts,
noticing the sources and focus questions at the top of each one. * Read each
text. Annotate the texts as needed in order to answer the Focus Questions. Use a minimum of 4 sources
in the written response (Part II). * Listening and Speaking (optional):
Share and compare your annotations and Focus Questions responses with a partner. *
Respond to the Annotation and Evidence Chart as needed, writing one answer to each question with
one piece of evidence.
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If our drive
was to be successful, we must involve the students of the community. Even though we realized that
involving teenagers and high school students would bring down upon us a heavy fire of criticism, we
felt that we needed this dramatic new dimension. . . .Our fight, if won, would benefit people of all
ages. But most of all we were inspired with the desire to give to our young a true sense of their own
stake in freedom and justice. "Children understood the stakes" SCLC staff members.
. .began visiting colleges and high schools in the area. They invited students to attend after-school
meetings at churches. The word spread fast, and the response from Birmingham's youngsters
exceeded our fondest dreams. By the fifties and by the hundreds, these youngsters attended mass
meetings and training sessions. They listened eagerly as we talked of bringing freedom to Birmingham,
not in some distant time, but right now. We taught them the philosophy of nonviolence. . . . Looking
back, it is clear that the introduction of Birmingham's children into the campaign was one of
the wisest moves we made. It brought a new impact to the crusade, and the impetus that we needed to
win the struggle. The children themselves had the answer to the misguided sympathies of the
press. One of the most ringing replies came from a child of no more than eight who walked with her
mother one day in a demonstration. An amused policeman leaned down to her and said with mock
gruffness: "What do you want?" The child looked into his eyes, unafraid, and gave her
answer. "Freedom," she said. Clayborne Carson, ed. (1998). The Autobiography of
Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Warner Books, Inc.
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dimension: element
| fondest: most wonderful |
mock gruffness: fake
grumpiness |
impetus: motivation;
push | sympathies: understandings | | | | |
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1.
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Source 1: Excerpted from: (1998) The Autobiography of Martin Luther King,
Jr.
Focus Question: What are Martin Luther King, Jr.’s perspectives on
including youth in the Civil Rights demonstrations? Support your response(s) with evidence from his
autobiography.
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Essay
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Source #2 Reading and Annotating
* Preview the texts, noticing the sources and focus
questions at the top of each one. * Read each text. Annotate the texts as
needed in order to answer the Focus Questions. Use a minimum of 4 sources in the written response
(Part II). * Listening and Speaking (optional): Share and compare your
annotations and Focus Questions responses with a partner. * Respond to the
Annotation and Evidence Chart as needed, writing one answer to each question with one piece of
evidence.
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Jessie Shepherd,
then 16, was soaked when she was loaded up in a paddy wagon. “I was told not to
participate,” says Shepherd, now a retired clinical diet technician. “But I was tired of
the injustice.” “I couldn’t understand why there had to be a colored fountain
and a white fountain,” says Shepherd. “Why couldn’t I drink out the fountain that
other little kids drank out of? As I got older, I understood that’s just the way it was,
because my skin was black, and we were treated differently because of that.” So she
marched. Soon the city’s jails were so overcrowded that students were sent to the local
fair ground. They slept on cots and sang freedom songs while waiting for movement leaders to raise
money for their bail. “I didn’t anticipate the outcome being so drastic,” says
Shepherd.
Source Daily Beast: How the children of Birmingham changed the Civil Rights Movement
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paddy wagon: large police car
which can hold several people |
anticipate: predict
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2.
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Source 2: Excerpted from: (2013, May 2) How the Children of Birmingham
Changed the Civil Rights Movement. The Daily Beast.
Focus Question: What
are Jessie Shepard’s reasons for choosing to march in the Children’s Crusade? Support
your responses with evidence from the online news article.
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Source #3 Reading and Annotating
* Preview the texts, noticing the sources and focus
questions at the top of each one. * Read each text. Annotate the texts as
needed in order to answer the Focus Questions. Use a minimum of 4 sources in the written response
(Part II). * Listening and Speaking (optional): Share and compare your
annotations and Focus Questions responses with a partner. * Respond to the
Annotation and Evidence Chart as needed, writing one answer to each question with one piece of
evidence.
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Birmingham,
Ala.-Snarling police dogs chased away crowds of Negroes and fire hoses flattened youthful
demonstrators as hundreds tried to stage anti-segregation marches. . . .Police jailed an
estimated 200 Negroes on charges of parading without a permit. Nearly 700 demonstrators were arrested
Thursday, bringing the total of arrests to 1,300 since the desegregation campaign began April 3.
. . . In Washington, Atty. Gen. Robert F. Kennedy issued a statement in which he said,
“continued refusal to grant equal rights and opportunities to Negroes makes increasing turmoil
inevitable.” But he went on to question the methods used by Negro leaders and to say,
“School children participating in street demonstrations is dangerous business. An injured,
maimed, or dead child is a price none of us can afford to pay.” Kennedy spoke of
“very real and deep injustices” that he said the city’s Negro and white communities
now have been inflicted on Birmingham Negroes but added: “I hope for the sake of everyone that
this can be done in meetings, in good-faith negotiations and not in the streets.” (1963,
May 4). 200 More Jailed in Birmingham: Dogs, Fire Hoses Used to Disperse Negro Marchers. St.
Petersburg Times. Retrieved from
Online resources
| turmoil: extreme
hardships
inevitable:
unavoidable
inflicted: imposed | |
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3.
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Source 3: Excerpted from: (1963, May 4) 200 More Jailed in Birmingham: Dogs,
Fire Hoses Used to Disperse Negro Marchers. St. Petersburg Times.
Focus
Question: What are Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy’s perspectives on the treatment of
African-American communities and of using children in Civil Rights demonstrations? Support your
responses with evidence from the newspaper article.
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Source #4 Reading and Annotating
* Preview the texts, noticing the sources and focus
questions at the top of each one. * Read each text. Annotate the texts as
needed in order to answer the Focus Questions. Use a minimum of 4 sources in the written response
(Part II). * Listening and Speaking (optional): Share and compare your
annotations and Focus Questions responses with a partner. * Respond to the
Annotation and Evidence Chart as needed, writing one answer to each question with one piece of
evidence.
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Malcolm X, the
Eastern leader of the Black Muslim movement, denounced today the use of Negro children in the
Birmingham demonstrations. “Real men don’t put their children on the firing line.”
The Black Muslim leader criticized the campaigns of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as an
exercise in futility and an erroneous approach to the problem of race relation. The Black Muslims
advocate the complete separation of the Negro and white races as the only rational solution.
Handler, M.S. (1963, May 11) Malcolm X Terms Dr. King’s Tactics Futile. New
York
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denounced:
criticized futility: uselessness
erroneous: mistaken advocate:
promote | |
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4.
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Source 4: Excerpted from: (1963, May 11) Malcolm X Terms Dr. King’s
Tactics Futile. New York Times.
Focus Question: What are Malcolm X’s
perspectives on using children in the Civil Rights demonstrations? Support your responses with
evidence from the newspaper article.
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Source #5 Reading and Annotating
* Preview the texts, noticing the sources and focus
questions at the top of each one. * Read each text. Annotate the texts as
needed in order to answer the Focus Questions. Use a minimum of 4 sources in the written response
(Part II). * Listening and Speaking (optional): Share and compare your
annotations and Focus Questions responses with a partner. * Respond to the
Annotation and Evidence Chart as needed, writing one answer to each question with one piece of
evidence.
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The Ku Klux Klan
has helped elect Eugene "Bull" Connor as Birmingham's police chief. Connor is about as
big a bully as the South has ever produced. Besides that, he is a racist. Birmingham's black
citizens march, protest, and demonstrate. They want the same rights as everyone else. They want to be
able to eat in any restaurant, go to any school. They want to vote. They want an end to segregation.
Those are all their civil rights. They demonstrate peacefully. Bull Connor sends attack dogs. He
says, "All you gotta do is tell them you're going to bring the dogs. Look at 'em run.
I want to see the dogs work." Connor calls out his police dogs. Firemen turn on
high-pressure hoses. When the water hits the children, they are thrown on the ground and roll
screaming down the street. Police dogs bite three teenagers so badly they have to be taken to the
hospital. Seventy-five children are squeezed into a cell built for eight prisoners. Television
cameras capture, and broadcast worldwide, what is happening to Birmingham's children. Decent
people everywhere are outraged. Most haven't realized how bad things are for most blacks in the
segregated South. Now they can see for themselves.
Hakim, Joy. (2002).
Freedom-A History of US: Freedom Has Come To Birmingham. Ava
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5.
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Source 5: Excerpted from: Hakim, Joy. (2002). Freedom-A History of US:
Freedom Has Come To Birmingham.
Focus Questions: What are Eugene
“Bull” Connor’s perspectives using youth in the Civil Rights demonstrations? What
are the effects of Connor’s decisions? Support your responses with evidence from the online
U.S. History textbook.
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Source #6 Reading and Annotating
* Preview the texts, noticing the sources and focus
questions at the top of each one. * Read each text. Annotate the texts as
needed in order to answer the Focus Questions. Use a minimum of 4 sources in the written response
(Part II). * Listening and Speaking (optional): Share and compare your
annotations and Focus Questions responses with a partner. * Respond to the
Annotation and Evidence Chart as needed, writing one answer to each question with one piece of
evidence.
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“The most
famous photograph in the history of the American civil rights movement was taken on May 3, 1963, by
Bill Hudson, a photographer for the Associated Press. . . .The next day, the New York Times published
it above the fold across three columns on the front page of its Saturday paper, as did virtually
every major paper in the country. . . . The boy in Bill Hudson’s photograph is Walter Gadsden.
He was a sophomore at Parker High in Birmingham, six foot tall and fifteen years old. He wasn’t
a marcher. He was a spectator.” Gladwell, Malcolm. (2013, October 1). David and Goliath:
Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants. Hachette Book Group.
![nar006-1.jpg](pt-3_may_2014_files/nar006-1.jpg) Hailey, Foster. (1963, May 4). Dogs and Hoses
Repulse Negroes at Birmingham. New York Times.
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6.
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Source #6: Photograph from: (1963, May 4). Dogs and Hoses Repulse Negroes at
Birmingham. New York Times.
Focus Question: What is portrayed in this
photograph? Support your responses with evidence from the photograph.
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Directions for Part II: Writing
Introduction
o In your
own words, describe the role of children and adolescents in the Civil Rights demonstrations.
o Introduce the different perspectives on this issue in Birmingham, Alabama.
Body
Paragraphs
o Include references from at least 4 of the sources, explaining the different
perspectives on including children and adolescents in the Birmingham demonstrations.
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Support the different perspectives with evidence from the texts.
Concluding Paragraph(s)
o Evaluate the choice of including children and adolescents in the Birmingham
demonstrations.
o Express your standpoint regarding the role of youth in social movements.
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7.
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Writing Prompt (Respond on the right)
The 51st anniversary
of the Children’s Crusade in Birmingham, Alabama, is approaching and you have been tasked with
writing a magazine article of the May, 1963 event. As a journalist for Time magazine, you will
write a multi-paragraph article explaining the different perspectives on including children and
adolescents in the Birmingham demonstrations. You will evaluate the choice of including children and
adolescents in the demonstrations and create a standpoint regarding the role of youth in social
movements.
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