The Bus Ride That Changed History

The Story of Rosa Parks

By: Pamela Duncan Edwards

Hiatorical Fiction

In 1955, a young African American woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger.  In doing so she took a big step for civil rights.  She did not budge from her seat even though the bus driver and Jim Crow laws told her to move.  Her actions and strong determination would eventually change the course of American History. This book retraces the chain of events that happend after one woman refused to give up her seat on the bus. 

As students come into the class one morning I would hand each of them a blue square or a red circle.  The students who were handed a blue square would not have to complete their morning work and would get to play board games in the classroom, while the students with the red circles would have to set at their desk and complete their morning work.  The students with the blue squares my also be given other privleges throughtout the day before I read the book discribed above.  After reading "The Bus Ride That Changed Everything" aloud to my students we would have a discussion about how the students with the red circles felt throughout the day and compare that to how they thought Rosa Parks and the other African Americans felt.  From this activity I will want my students to understand that everyone should be treated equal, and give them a small glimps of how it would have felt to be colored and discriminated against during the time of Rosa Parks.