Task

Shades of History:
The Montgomery Bus Boycott/Beyond Black and White

Task

Imagine that a commission is established to create a plan for commemorating the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that declared segregation on the buses of Montgomery, Alabama unconstitutional. The commission has done some research and identified two relevant issues confronting the American public:

1) Racism and predjudice are still serious concerns in America.

2) Many people are not fully aware of how people and events from the nation's past affect their daily lives, nor do they believe that they will influence how future generations view history.

In order to help address these issues, you have been selected to join the development team for a new exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Your goal is to help educate people about this important period in American history and its relevance to their present lives. Your audience might believe that they already know something about the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955, so bear this in mind as you consider what and how to communicate. As an expert, you are invited to share your viewpoint about this event, its significance, and what your perspective can offer.

Your task as a small group is to create an original exhibit in which you share your informed perspective on history by responding to three of the five questions below, using any media and format you choose, and supporting your position with historical evidence. You may want to consider written, visual, musical, dramatic, and/or multimedia representations of your ideas, or some combination thereof. Your exhibit could be experienced through an installation, a computer kiosk, or an event. Your group may select any two of the first four questions and must also respond to the last question. When you are done, you will be asked to present your team's exhibit to the rest of the class. Please use the Shades of History Exhibit Rubric to guide your work.

Team Exhibit Questions:

Choose two from questions 1-4:

1. What really happened in the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955?

2. Was the Montgomery Bus Boycott a black and white issue? Explain.

3. How did the civil rights movement start? Who was responsible?

4. How does the civil rights landscape today compare to the one in 1955? What has changed? What has not?

For everyone:

5. What can we learn about history from investigating this story?

The Process for accomplishing this task involves several steps.