Albertin, Walter. New York City Mayor Robert Wagner greeting the teenagers who integrated Central High School, Little Rock, Arkansas. Photograph. New York World-Telegram, 1958. Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/00649862/.
This primary source is a valuable tool as it provides a starting point for students to study a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement. Creating a platform for inquiry, the photograph engages students to dig deeper into African American history. It will help students understand the value of education for all, and it highlights trailblazers during this time period.
The New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection (Library of Congress) consists of an estimated one million black-and-white photographs, most from the 1920s to 1967. Photojournalist Walter Albertin contributed fifty-nine photographs to this collection. Those pictured in this photograph are, from “front row, left to right: Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Carlotta Walls, Mayor Wagner, Thelma Mothershed, Gloria Ray; back row, left to right: Terrance Roberts, Ernest Green, Melba Pattilo, Jefferson Thomas” (Library of Congress).
In an effort to begin integrating Arkansas schools following the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, nine African American high school students attended Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in the fall of 1957. Known as the Little Rock Nine, the students persevered through verbal abuse and a hostile learning environment. With the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, eight of the nine students were able to finish the school year, and Ernest Green became the first African American graduate of Central High School.
- What do you notice or wonder about the people in the photograph?
- In what time period was this photograph taken? How do you know?
- What are the consequences of dividing people by race in an educational setting?
- What are the benefits of socioeconomic diversity in a community?
- Discuss the importance of understanding the Civil Rights Movement as a part of civic literacy.
- How can students and other stakeholders in a community prevent racism?
Common Core State Standards
RH.6-8.7 Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.
- This primary-source photograph invites students to think critically about the challenges that African American students and people in their communities faced during the time period. Integrating photographs and videos into a newscast format allows students to incorporate multiple perspectives as the course of the country changes from segregation to desegregation.
WHST.6-8.7 Research to Build and Present Knowledge: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.
- Students will be able to conduct research in order to present information about events in the Civil Rights Movement, including the experience of the Little Rock Nine as shown in the primary-source photograph. This primary source can be paired with the Civil Rights Movement primary source set provided by the Library of Congress, for further research related to desegregation and civil rights for African Americans.
Consider incorporating this primary source into a Civil Rights Movement unit in which students conduct research related to civil rights topics such as Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the Freedom Riders, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the Greensboro sit-ins. Students can utilize the Civil Rights Movement primary source set provided by the Library of Congress to create a mock newscast from the time period by writing a script in small groups and taking on other roles, including director, producer, audio tech, news anchor, and journalist on the scene who interviews important historical figures. In this unit, teachers can incorporate lessons about how to avoid plagiarism and how to create a works-cited page using MLA format. After synthesizing information researched, students can present their newscast to their peers as a live performance or as a prerecorded and edited segment using green screens, iPads, or other technology.
- The history of segregation and racial discrimination in our country is a difficult topic and can present challenges when teaching about this time period. Navigating through racial violence, political upheaval, and corruption in society is essential to afford students the opportunity to understand citizenship and democracy in the United States today.
Links to resources for approaching those topics
- Edutopia provides an article sharing how to approach these complex topics in a culturally responsive manner: “How to Teach History in a Culturally Responsive Way: History is complicated, but teachers can approach it by leading with truth and advocating for empathy.”
- Arrest record of Rosa Parks
- Program for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
- Photograph of the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965
- Photograph of an African American man carrying a child on his shoulders with a placard telling President Johnson to go to Selma, Alabama
- New York World-Telegram & Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection at the Library of Congress
- Library of Congress: The Civil Rights Movement primary source set
- Facing History & Ourselves: “Civil Rights Historical Investigations”
- Civil Rights History Project sponsored by the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Library of Congress