Honoring the brave
Students given lessons in bravery
By Antoinette Konz/Montgomery Advertiser
They sat quietly Tuesday, listening carefully to the story about the Montgomery woman who refused to give up her seat on a bus nearly 50 years ago.
Many of the third-grade students who gathered in the library at Montgomery's Seth Johnson Elementary School to honor and remember Rosa Parks said they knew who she was, but were not aware of the huge role she played in U.S. history.
"She was a very brave woman," said Karim Muhammad, 9.
"She was tired of giving up her seat on the bus every day so one day she said no. She stood up for all of the black people in the United States of America that day. I think we should stand up and remember her today."
The students at Johnson Elementary were among thousands of Montgomery Public School children who paid tribute to Parks on Tuesday. Several teachers used Parks' death as a way to connect the past with the present and the present with the future.
"I think it was very important for the students to learn about the life of Rosa Parks today," said Jacquelyn Campbell, principal at Johnson Elementary. "With her death yesterday, it was a great opportunity to take past events and apply it to current day life. With her passing, they can see for themselves the significant contributions she has made."
While the third-grade students at Johnson Elementary were reading about Parks in the library, a group of the school's fifth-grade students were in the hallway working on the Civil Rights Hall of Fame and etching several silhouettes of Parks onto the wall.
LaDarius Norman etched the infamous mugshot taken of Parks after she was arrested. He drew the image next to two other photos of Parks -- one of her being fingerprinted, the other when she was a young girl.
"This is part of their social studies project," said Norma Bishop, a fifth-grade teacher. "They did the research and came up with the pictures and words that will appear on both sides of the hallway."
LaDarius, 10, said if he would have had the chance to meet Parks, he would have thanked her.
"She was always helping people out," he said. "I would have liked to say thank you to her for giving so many people advice and for standing up for our rights."
* Photo by Julie Bennett for the Montgomery Advertiser
Caption reads: Ashlan Shepherd, 6, was among many who paid respects Tuesday at the Rosa Parks Library and Museum at Troy University Montgomery. This statue of Rosa Parks is located in the museum's art gallery.
Rosa Parks photo gallery
More about Rosa Parks at Wikipedia
posted by sunnyday at 8:16 PM
2 Comments:
AsianSmiles said...
Sometimes we are faced with situations that call for bravery. And sometimes we are too blind to see those too. I came to admire Rosa because she had "it" at the right time and seen "it" at the right place. Thank you for informing me about her, I really appreciate it. And I hope our filipino friends could know more about her too.
12:26 PM sunnyday said...
Yes, we just need to know more about the amazing people around us. There are many =) I'm sure Rosa Parks had no idea that the "little" act of defiance she committed would have repercussions of such magnitude.
Btw, there's a movie pala about it, called The Rosa Parks story. I haven't seen it, though, but would like to.
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