Embedded Files
Introduction
Introduction
To begin this inquiry, pique student interest with a drawing activity.
Ask students how they get rid of their garbage each week.
expected answers: we take leave it outside the front door of our apartment, we bring it to the curb of our house, we walk it to the dumpster in the parking lot
Ask students "what would it be like if no one came to pick up your trash? after one week? after two weeks? three?"
Provide students with paper and colored pencils. ask students to draw an image of what their community would look like if the trash was not picked up.
set timer for 8 minutes, play calming music, the expectation is silent & independent work during this time
Ask all students to share their drawings with their table groups. 4 minutes to share in groups, then choose 1-3 students to show their work under the document camera.
Ask students, "There have been real times in history where this has happened. Why do you think the sanitation workers who collect trash might have not shown up for several weeks, or even months?"
allow students to turn and talk
then allow students to share their answers whole group
affirm answers, but continue until a student gets close to the word "strike"
Once the word strike has come up (either by a student or by the teacher), write "strike" on the whiteboard and write the definition.
Read Aloud
Read Aloud
Show students the book Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop, by Alice Faye Duncan.
Introduce the book:
"We are going to be reading about a time when sanitation workers made a purposeful decision to not come to work and pick up the trash. Based on the cover of the book, and what we've talked about, what predictions can you make about this text?"
expected responses: no one picked up the trash, maybe it happened in Memphis, maybe Martin is Martin Luther King Jr
Begin reading the book (may need to split the read-aloud over two days), stopping at key moments for discussion.
Suggested stopping points for discussion:
Winter Blues
At the beginning of the story, in the section "Winter Blues" Duncan describes the impact of the strike and the loss of income for sanitation workers and their families. During this section, you can ask students, "What is this family sacrificing in order to participate in the strike? Why are they willing to do this?" This question will help students to think about the struggle and sacrifices of everyday people and direct students' attention toward the costs and affordances of collective organizing.
Silver Rights
In the section "Silver Rights," Duncan describes, "The Memphis struggle was an economic fight. Better wages and pay were a matter of Silver Rights. Poverty was a Silver War. My daddy and his friends were the working poor." During this section, ask students to think about what Duncan means by "Silver War," and how racial and economic injustices may be intertwined.
Dreamers
In the section "Dreamers," Duncan says, "Somebody wanted to kill [Dr. King's] dream of economic freedom for the working poor." Repeat this line to students and ask students to discuss what "economic freedom for the working poor" might mean. The combined discussions around these two sections should focus students' attention on the economic struggle of the late civil rights movement, and the overlap of labor and racial justice.
This picturebook and the surrounding discussion will help set the stage for a deeper inquiry. Discussion surrounding these questions should pique student interest and curiosity, and focus students' attention on the economic and labor struggle of the late civil rights movement. After reading and discussing, allow students time to generate questions of their own.
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