By Mary Hammers, Hillbrook Writer
Standing up for what you believe in is an important lesson to learn no matter what age, just ask Hillbrook kindergartners. They learned the power of peaceful protest and the importance of taking a stand for your beliefs while honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at school. In age-appropriate ways, students recreated important pieces of America’s Civil Rights story, from the arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to surrender her seat on a bus to a white passenger, to the Montgomery Bus Boycott which followed. The children learned how a boycott of the buses was organized in order to change laws. They acted out the boycott by telling the mayor and the bus company they wouldn’t ride the buses until people could sit wherever they wanted, and until anyone could become a bus driver, regardless of their skin color. Students made protest signs and drew pictures of the buses both before and after the boycott.
A special guest who met and marched with Dr. King and was deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, also visited the students during this experience. Mary Barnes, who is a friend of kindergarten teacher Ugina Covington, spoke with Hillbrook students, sharing her story with them. Mary was a young, white high school student in Long Island, NY, when she became concerned with the plight of black Americans in our southern states. She got involved in the Civil Rights Movement, and as a college student became a pioneer by enrolling at Grambling State University, a historically black college in Louisiana. Mary was one of the first white students to help integrate the college at a time when it was considered socially unacceptable for white students to attend a black college. Decades later, she remains active in social and political causes. She told students that even if at first you stand alone, if you stand for justice you will ultimately reach people and who will join you.
Kindergarten teachers say sharing the story of Dr. King, Rosa Parks, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott has become a favorite tradition in kindergarten because students are able to understand and experience the history lesson in age-appropriate ways. Ultimately, teachers say they hope to share the message that if we think something isn’t fair, we can work together to change it.