Fifty years ago this month, black sanitation workers in Memphis went on strike to fight for their right to safe working conditions and for pay that was equal to their white counterparts. This movement, which would last through April 1968, caught the attention of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who came to Memphis to march alongside these men. He eventually delivered his final speech the night before his assassination at the Lorraine Motel. The attention this strike garnered resulted in raises and the recognition of a worker’s union. As we consider the legacy of pivotal figures during Black History Month, the sanitation workers strike of 1968 shows us the power of civic engagement. So, how can we use our own individual agency to foster collective action and bring about positive change in today’s world?

Topics: Civil Rights Movement

Lynda Blackmon Lowery was the youngest person to participate in the historic three-day march from Selma to Montgomery, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in March of 1965: she turned 15 on the second day of that march. To reflect on Dr. King's legacy, we sat down for a conversation with Blackmon Lowery. She recalls what it was like to participate in a pivotal moment of the Civil Rights Movement as a teenager and shares how young people today can make a difference in the face of the continuing struggle for social justice. 

Please note this piece includes some offensive language. We have chosen to include it as it reflects the historical time period when these events took place and represents Blackmon Lowery’s experiences.

Topics: Civil Rights Movement

Sixty years ago, nine black students attended their first full day of school at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. This landmark effort to desegregate the all-white school played a pivotal moment in the US Civil Rights Movement. Terrence Roberts was one of those students. In this Q&A he reflects back on the 60th anniversary of Little Rock and looks ahead to the progress that has been made—and the hard work that is still left to do—in the fight against racism.

Topics: Civil Rights Movement

In honor of Black History Month, read what it was like for Valerie Linson, Editorial Director for Facing History, to walk through the National African American Museum of History and Culture in Washington DC for the first time. 

Topics: Civil Rights Movement, Identity, History, Museum Studies, Judgement and Legacy, legacy, Slavery, race

As a 12-year-old African American boy fresh off the influence of Malcolm X’s autobiography, I didn't always appreciate the ethical stock of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I remember watching a news report about his birthday and remarking, to the dismay of my mother that, "Martin Luther King was a sell-out."  

Topics: Civil Rights Movement, Civil Rights, Community, Judgement and Legacy, Social Justice, reflection

For the past three years, Dr. Sybil Hampton has been featured as a guest speaker for Facing History and Ourselves’ online course, “Choices in Little Rock.” Her experience as one of the first African American students to graduate from Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1962 makes her a witness to history. She shares her reflections on why she chooses to participate in Facing History’s online professional development courses.

Register today! Our online courses start on February 4.

Topics: Civil Rights Movement, Webinar, Professional Development, Civil Rights, Online Learning

Whether you’re on the beach or preparing your syllabus for fall, check out these nonfiction and fiction titles that have the Facing History and Ourselves Library staff excited for summer reading!

Topics: To Kill a Mockingbird, Civil Rights Movement, Books, English Language Arts, Poetry, Armenian Genocide, Race and Membership, Holocaust, Memoir, Survivor Testimony, History, Reading, Reading List

Poetry is one of my favorite mediums for teaching social studies.

Topics: Classrooms, Civil Rights Movement, Teaching Strategies, Poetry, Teaching Resources, Survivor Testimony, Video, History

Topics: Classrooms, Civil Rights Movement, Professional Development, Teaching Strategies, Facing History Resources, Holocaust, Memoir, Teaching Resources, Video, History

It can be so very difficult to discuss race with our children.

The conversation is particularly complex when it's about some of our nation's not-so-proud moments.Rather than face such moments head-on, sometimes we instead seek to protect our children (and even ourselves) from the pain and shame of the past, and so we often gloss over physical, emotional, and psychological suffering in history to get to a more palatable, less troubling version of those events. Moments like 1965 in Selma, Alabama, too quickly become "the victory of voting rights" rather than the painful history of a tired, yet determined, African American community that stood toe-to-toe against those who used terror, intimidation, and unjust laws to deny them opportunity to freely exercise the right to vote.

Topics: Civil Rights Movement, Film, Democracy, Voting Rights, Choosing to Participate, Selma, Raising Ethical Children, Civil Rights, History