Lesson Plan - The Children’s Crusade

Build Background Knowledge

Before reading the article, have students take the five-question Prereading Quiz at junior.scholastic.com. The interactive quiz is self-scoring and will give an explanation after students answer each question. Then provide these questions for students to think about as they watch the video “Fighting for Equality:” Do any of the images in the video surprise you? Why or why not? Which images are the most memorable to you? Discuss students’ responses.

Preview Vocabulary

Use the online Skill Builder Words to Know to preteach the domain-specific terms catalyst, civil rights movement, crusade, D-Day, disperse, federal, 14th Amendment, integrate, Jim Crow, Ku Klux Klan, legislation, momentum, segregation, and truce. Have students refer to the Skill Builder as they read.

Read the Article

Read the article aloud or have students read it independently or in pairs. As students read, direct them to underline, highlight, or jot down the central idea of each section.

Answer Close-Reading Questions

Have students write their responses, or use the Close-Reading Questions to guide a discussion.

• How does the author grab readers’ attention in the first paragraph? (Author’s Craft)
The author begins by describing a teenager’s morning in 1963. He grabs attention by describing what Janice Wesley chose to wear and bring with her, making readers wonder what she might be about to do. Bryan Brown also creates interest by mentioning jail at the end of the paragraph, suggesting that Janice knew she might be arrested for something that day.

• What was the Children’s Crusade? What was its goal? (Central Ideas)
The Children’s Crusade refers to marches largely made up of young people that took place in Birmingham, Alabama, in May 1963. Black teens and kids in that city decided to march to protest segregation. Black Americans were still fighting to be treated equally after hundreds of years of discrimination. Civil rights leader James Bevel came up with the idea to involve children because many Black adults worried about losing their jobs, homes, or lives if they protested. City officials responded with violent opposition, and hundreds of the young protesters were arrested.

• Summarize the section “A City Divided.” (Summarizing)
Although the 14th Amendment guaranteed equal rights to Black Americans in 1868, they still faced discrimination nearly 100 years later. Jim Crow laws and practices separated Black and White Americans significantly in their daily lives. In many places, Black people faced restrictions on where they could live, go to school, and eat. In Birmingham, Eugene “Bull” Connor oversaw the police and made sure segregation was strictly enforced. Ku Klux Klan members and other extremists terrorized Black residents and carried out so many bombings that some people called the city “Bombingham.” Starting in April 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders organized marches to end segregation, but the protests remained relatively small. King was arrested on April 12 and wrote his famous “Letter From Birmingham Jail” to defend the protests.

• What happened on Double D-Day? What were some of the effects of that dramatic day? (Cause and Effect)
Even more kids and teens turned out to protest on Double D-Day, the second day of the marches. Connor responded by ordering firefighters to use their fire hoses on protesters. He also ordered police officers to use dogs to break up the crowds. After TV news stations and newspapers shared images of the violence, many Americans were shocked, including President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy sent federal representatives to negotiate between the protest organizers and local city and business leaders. Eight days after the first march, an agreement to integrate the city was announced.

• What does Janice Wesley Kelsey mean when she says “We were a catalyst for change”? (Making Meaning)
She means that the march she participated in helped spark important and historic changes in her city and the country. The many protests of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and ’60s helped lead to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited segregation at public facilities and in workplaces across the United States.

• Choose one of the photos in the article to analyze. What do you notice about it? How does it support the article? (Text Features)
Sample response: In the photograph of young people leaving the 16th Street Baptist Church, I notice that they look excited. Many of them are clapping, and some are cheering on others headed out to march. The photo shows what the scene looked like at the beginning of the protest. Readers can see how the protesters were “singing and rocking and clapping,” as Janice recalled.

Analyze Primary Sources

Guide students to complete the Skill Spotlight activity at the end of the article. Help them cite specific details from Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail” in their responses. Then use Think-Pair-Share to discuss students’ responses.

Build Vocabulary

Use the Skill Builder DIY Vocabulary to have students examine three words from the article. The organizer will guide them to analyze context clues, look up the words in a dictionary, and write example sentences.

Assess Comprehension

Assign the 10-question Know the News quiz, available in PDF and interactive forms. You can also use Quiz Wizard to assess comprehension of this article and three others from the issue.