Traditionally women have played a significant role in the growth and development of children. American children of the 90s are still strongly influenced by women, yet little emphasis is placed on where, when, why, and how women have shaped our country. In this unit of study, I would like to explore the history of women who worked for civil rights in the twentieth century using the writings of Eloise Greenfield, an African American children�s author, as a springboard. The lives of Ella Baker, Mary McLeod Bethune, Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mary Church Terrell, and Ida Wells-Barnett lend themselves for study. The parameters for the unit will be narrowed by my role as a library media specialist, the age of the children for whom the unit is designed, and the material available.
For today�s children, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s is as remote as the Civil War. Our children celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.�s birthday with little awareness of the recency of the holiday. Most of our elementary school students were born after the third Monday in January was designated an official national holiday in 1986. In fact, very few people realize that this was the first national holiday established since Memorial Day was created in 1948. If we don�t want Dr. King�s birthday to turn into just another day off from school or work, or the advent of the winter vacation season, we need to prepare our children to continue the work of the civil rights movement. As Rosa Parks states in her autobiography, My Story, racism is still a major issues that our children must deal with in their everyday lives.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is the embodiment of the civil rights movement. But without the help, support, hard work, and dedication of many people, particularly women, Dr. King
