Submitted by Sewanhaka Central High School District
After reading “Warriors Don’t Cry,” a memoir written from the point of view of one of the Little Rock Nine (pioneers in the integration of public high schools throughout the nation), New Hyde Park Memorial High School seventh grade students reenacted a board of education meeting that would have taken place during the civil rights era.
Students in Mr. Colvin’s, Mr. DiScala’s and Mrs. Kaspar’s classes engaged in this live-action, role-play activity. They were asked to take on difficult issues, such as combating the institutionalized racism that plagued the nation in the 1950s and 1960s.
Each student was asked to assume the role of real individuals from the time period: President Eisenhower, Governor Faubus, as well as administrators, parents, and students in Little Rock, Arkansas, where the first successful attempt at integration of America’s public high schools took place.
