Fire from the Rock

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Letter to the Editor”

In this activity, students write a letter-to-the-editor-style opinion essay on school integration and extend their thinking by providing additional alternatives, solutions, or reflections from a modern perspective.

Placing yourself in the shoes of someone living in the US in 1957, in the aftermath of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, write a letter to a local or national newspaper giving your opinion on school integration. What is at stake for those involved? What does the nation seek to gain? What does it stand to lose? Limit yourself to 300 words. Then choose one of the extension prompts below, writing as much as you need to answer the question.

• Writing from where you are in the present, how would you have implemented school integration in your community? Would you have done it the way it was done in Little Rock and across the nation, with students going first? If not, how would you change the rollout?
• Writing from where you are in the present, how successful was school integration? Did it equalize education for American students regardless of race? Provide evidence to support your opinion. Given what we know now, how would you change American education to be more equitable for all students?
• Consider the difference between equality and equity. How might a goal of equity for all American children (instead of equality) in the 1950s have changed the course of American history?

Teaching Suggestion: Through this activity, students can strive to bridge past and present. Considering current events in the context of historically preceding events aids in critical thinking and fosters truly unique and imaginative solutions, skills required for 21st-century learners. Consider partnering with the school or local librarian to assist students in conducting the research required for extension activities.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who struggle with putting complex ideas into written language, consider allowing an oral presentation of both the opinion letter and selected extension. Students might benefit from a graphic organizer or rubric that breaks down specific questions the students need to answer to fully address the requirements of the activity.

Paired Text Extension: “Miss Buchanan’s Period of Adjustment” via Pushkin Media/Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast.

Use this podcast to consider the complex issues that were at stake in the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Listen to the evidence Gladwell provides for his proposals about how integration could have been different and how schools could still effect equitable change. Let it inspire questions that might lead to research to support your extension writing above.

Then, consider reading the text of the decision as it was written and preserved in the National Archives.

• What arguments were used to support the Supreme Court’s decision?
• Do the reasons drawn from the provided evidence make sense, given what we know today?

Teaching Suggestion: Reading, understanding, and reflecting on the Brown v. Board of Education decision will encourage students to engage with the novel’s theme Different Ways of Combatting Racism.

Differentiation Suggestion: For advanced learners, consider setting up a debate or a mock trial that argues the issue of school integration, either as it was in 1957 or as it is now via the impacts on racial equity in schools.