Page 13 - Florida Sentinel 4-22-16 Edition

FLORIDA SENTINEL FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 2016
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Jefferson High Teacher Uses Innovative Way To Teach
Students About Civil Rights Movements Then And Now
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
Learning about African- American history in Ivy Shipp-Washington’s class at Jefferson High School can mean taking students out into the world.
That’s what happened a few weeks back when stu- dents walked to a theater to see the movie “Race” about the life of 1936 Olympic ath- lete, Jesse Owens.
Last week, students got yet another chance to see his- tory up close and personal.
But this time, a relic from the past came to them.
A specially outfitted bus of the same model ridden in 1955 by Rosa Parks during her historic protest in Mont- gomery, Ala. – a sort of civil rights museum on wheels – rolled onto Jefferson’s cam- pus Thursday, offering stu- dents a glimpse into the past.
The bus – a green, yellow, and white 1957 GMC TDH – in part of a “Destination Di- versity” tour that started in Rochester, N. Y., before mak- ing a stops in Washington, D. C. at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, the Inter- national Civil Rights Center
and Museum in Greensboro, N. C., and The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonvio- lent Social Change in Atlanta, Ga., before coming to Tampa.
During the stop in Wash- ington, members of the De- partment of Education’s civil rights division boarded the bus to discuss current issues affecting access to quality ed- ucation with students in Rochester and at Jefferson High School, through a large video screen on the bus.
The two classrooms again connected on Thursday dur- ing the bus’s visit to Jeffer- son.
They were joined by a special guest, local civil rights activist, Clarence Fort.
It was Mr. Fort who in 1960, sparked civil rights protests in Tampa when he – as the new 20-year-old pres- ident of the NAACP’s Youth Council – lead 50 high school students in a sit-in at F. W. Woolworth's lunch counter on Franklin Street.
On the bus, Mr. Fort shared his experiences with about 25 students including his becoming one of the first Black drivers for the long- distance Trailways bus lines and working as a deputy for
Students discuss civil rights issues while sitting on a replica of the bus that Rosa Parks was riding on when she was arrested, sparking the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott. The bus is part of the "Destination Diversity" tour that made stops in Washington, D. C., Greensboro, N.C., and Atlanta before coming to Tampa.
Carolyn Collins, past president of the Hillsborough County Branch NAACP, is seated at the left. Stu- dents are: Jahaud Russ, Prisca Mathe, Diana Ilne, Jessy Posadas, Dejanque Thomas, Juan Rodriguez, Makayla Johnson, Destini Washington, Janae Dace, Jove Morisset.
the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Participating in marches and sit-ins was a risky en- deavor; people could lose their jobs if their bosses found out they were protest-
ing, Mr. Fort said.
The tactics used by the
Black Lives Matter move- ment are similar to those em- ployed during the Civil Rights Movement, he said.
“They’re just doing it dif- ferently,” he said. “It’s the same story...the same strug- gle. It’s effective.”
It isn’t difficult for Ja- haud Russ, 15, also to see similarities between the Civil Rights Movement and mod- ern day justice movements.
“It’s the same struggle, but in Black Lives Matter, we have different technology,” he said. “Plus the Civil Rights Movement had a more reli- gious tone to it. Black Lives Matter is more social.”
Senior Andrea Arita, 17, said Mr. Fort’s storytelling was powerful.
“I think that it was amaz- ing for him to take his time to explain to us things that hap- pened during that time,” she said. “You don’t get that from a textbook, you get a real-life experience.”
Jefferson students’ virtual connection to the School
Without Walls in Rochester, N. Y. is part of a year-long so- cial studies class.
Each week, students from both schools interact virtu- ally to talk about and com- pare past and present-day civil rights movements.
The bus was a symbolic representation of the lessons being taught in the class- room, Mrs. Shipp-Wash- ington said.
Students questioned why Black passengers could board the bus to pay, but had to dis- embark and enter from the rear to ride, she said.
“I think they understand the physical separation, but I don’t think they grasped the psychological impact,” she said.
Robert Quinn, Jeffer- son’s principal, said staff is looking to continue the vir- tual classroom and find more innovative ways to inspire learning.
“We like to give our stu- dents these experiences,” he said. “We want to continue this partnership.”
This is a replica of the bus Rosa Parks sat on when she was arrested, sparking the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott. It is part of the "Destination Diversity" tour, a sort of civil rights museum on wheels that recently visited Tampa.