THE

LITERATURE
OF CIVIL
RIGHTS
Small-Group Learning
By Grade 9
 Introduction
On January 1st of 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, freeing slaves from their owners. This didn't mean
black people were completely liberated. While they were freed from physical labor, black people had to deal with Jim
Crow laws. Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. They
suffered from this up until 1964. This period was known as the Jim Crow Era. To this day, black Americans are at a
disadvantage. Stereotypes in the media and old childhood movies have warped people's perception of black citizens.
Being deemed "aggressive" or "violent" has held them back from getting an education or even just walking alone at night
Islam's has broken down alot of these stereotypes and preached about equality. Slaves in Muslim regions were freed
hundreds of years before they were freed in the US. An example of this would be the Prophet ‫ ﷺ‬muezzin, Bilal ibn
Rabah. He was a slave before being freed by Abu Bakar Al-Sadiq.

● ‫ال‬ َ ‫يق َف َق‬ِ ‫عل َي ْ ِه َو َسَل ّـَّ َم ِفي َو َس ِط أََياّـَّ ِم الَتّـ َّ ْش ِر‬ َ ‫ول الَل ّـَِّه َصَل ّـَّى الَل ّـَّ ُه‬ ِ ‫خ ْطبَ َة َر ُس‬ ُ ‫وع ْن أَبِي ن َ ْض َر َة َح ّـ ََّدث َ ِني َم ْن َس ِم َع‬ َ :
● (( َّ‫ َوـل َا أ َ ْس َو َد َعل َى َأـ ْحـ َم َر ِإَلاّـ‬،‫لــحـ َم َر َعل َى َأـ ْس َو َد‬ ْ ‫ٍِي َوـل َا ِ َأـ‬،‫ع َ ٍّ ّرـبـ‬
َ ‫ٍيل َى‬ ‫ج ِ ٍّم ّـ َع‬
َ ‫لـــ‬ َ ‫ٍِيل َى َأـ ْع‬
‫ٍي َوـل َا ِ َع‬،‫ج ِ ٍّم ّـ‬ ‫فـــل ِ َعـ‬
‫لـــَرٍّ ّـبـ َع‬ َ ْ َ ‫ أَل َا َ الــ‬،‫ َ ِو ّـَّإـَن َأـبَاكـ ُْم َواـ ِـح ٌد‬،‫اس أَل َا ِ ّـَّإـَن َ ّـَّرـَبك ُْم َواـ ِح ٌد‬
‫ض‬ َّ‫َ ايـــ َ َ ّـُّأـهُيـا لَنّـ‬
، ُ‫اــ‬
‫ـْغـاِئـب‬
َ َ‫َشـه ُد اـل‬ ‫ال ِ يُب‬:‫ َ ق َ ـ‬،‫اــهـ َعل َيْ ِهـ َوـ َسَل ّـَّ َم‬
ِ ‫لـــَ ِِّلّْـغـ ّـَّلاــا‬ َّ‫اــهـ َصَل ّ َّـى ُلَل ّـ‬َّ‫بــــ َرـ ُس ُول ِلَل ّـ‬ ‫ َ َلَ ّـَّغـ‬:‫ت َ قاـلُوـا‬ ‫ى أ ََبـَل ّـَّ ْ ُغ ؟‬ ، ‫بــــ‬
‫اــقـ َو‬
َّ‫ِ ْلَتّـ‬ ))
 History of
01 Segregation
When “Words
02 Meant Everything”
"Lessons of Dr.

03 Martin Luther King,

Jr."

04 "Traveling"

05 How Islam Ended Segregation

01 History of Segregation
History of Segregation In the U.S
Segregation is the practice of requiring separate housing, education and other
services for people of colour. Segregation was made law several times in 18th and
19th-century. America as some believed that Black and white people were incapable
of coexisting.
In the lead-up to the liberation of enslaved people under the Thirteenth Amendment,
abolitionists argued about what the fate of slaves should be once they were freed. One
group argued for colonization, either by returning the formerly enslaved people to
Africa or creating their own homeland. In 1862 President Abraham Lincoln
recognized the ex-slave countries of Haiti and Liberia, hoping to open up channels for
colonization, with Congress allocating $600,000 to help. While the colonization plan
did not pan out, the country, instead, set forth on a path of legally mandated
segregation.
 ...
In the US, segregation was banned in 1964.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil rights act, which
legally ended the segregation.
The civil rights act of 1964 ended segregation in public places
and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race,
colour, religion, gender or national origin.
 In Miami’s Liberty City runs a low concrete wall. Bordering a
planted strip that divides the avenue from a parallel service
road, this drab-yellow-painted structure might be taken as an
unassuming retaining wall. It is in fact a piece of racist
infrastructure – the remnant of a barrier built in the late 1930s
to isolate a Black neighbourhood from a white one.
Walls and fences like these have been erected for decades by
public agencies, developers, and white homeowners, often
working in tandem and sanctioned by the courts.
 When “Words Meant
02 Everything”
 Jeffrey Brown (born: December 5, 1956) is an American
journalist, who is a senior correspondent for the PBS
effery Brown NewsHour. His reports focus on arts and literature, and he
has interviewed numerous writers, poets, and musicians.
Brown has worked most of his professional career at PBS
and has written a poetry collection called The News.
Natasha Trethewey (born: April 26, 1966) is an American poet who
was appointed United States Poet Laureate in 2012 and again in
2013. She won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for her 2006
collection Native Guard, and she is a former Poet Laureate of
Natasha Tretheway Mississippi. Trethewey earned her B.A. degree in English from the
University of Georgia, an M.A. in English and Creative Writing from
Hollins University, and an M.F.A. in poetry from the University of
Massachusetts Amherst in 1995. A former US poet laureate,
Trethewey is the author of five collections of poetry: Monument
(2018), Thrall (2012), Native Guard (2006), Bellocq's Ophelia
(2002), and Domestic Work (2000). She is also the author of a book
of creative non-fiction: Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the
Mississippi Gulf Coast (2010).
 Background
U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey and
Jeffrey Brown recently travelled from
Mississippi to Alabama on a pilgrimage to
witness the historical struggles and sorrows
people faced during the civil rights
movement. On their 100-mile journey, they
examine the role of poetry in advancing the
movement's message for justice and
freedom.
 ‹―
This week, we did explore the legacy of monumental
moments in the country's struggle toward equality, from
Marian Anderson's historic performance on the steps of
the Lincoln Memorial, to landmark legislation
spearheaded by President Lyndon Johnson.
 
Tonight, Jeff continues his travels with U.S. Poet Laureate
Natasha Trethewey to discover where poetry lives, this
time to her native Mississippi and ending with a march in
Selma, Alabama.
 MEDIA
VOCABULAR
Y
SECONDARY SOURCE
PRIMARY SOURCE
are generally scholar or educating
provide a first hand account of an event or time books, documents, images or any
period and are considered to be authoritative. other POINT OF VIEW
EYEWITNESS Often these sources are created at the time the thing that was made by someone
who didn’t get to experience the refers to who is telling or
events occurred but they can also include sources
mentioned event for the sake of narrating a story. A story can
that are created later. They are usually the first
comes from someone who formal appearance of original research. informing and educating. It also be told from the first person,
experienced the mentioned Documents, recording ,image or other source that provides a variety of expert second person or third person.
A media creator’s perspective
event. It's often used in was created at the same time as the vents it insights and point of views.
includes his or her attitudes
newscasts and is always describes or show. and
100% accurate. assumptions as well as his or
her knowledge of a topic.
 Lessons of Dr.
03 Martin Luther king
About the Author
Cesar Chavez
Cesar Chavez Born near Yuma, Arizona, on March 31, 1927,
Cesar Chavez employed nonviolent means to bring attention to
the plight of farmworkers and formed both the National Farm
Workers Association, which later became United Farm Workers.
As a labor leader, Chavez led marches, called for boycotts and
went on several hunger strikes. It is believed that Chavez’s hunger
strikes contributed to his death on April 23, 1993, in San Luis,
Arizona.
 Background
Starting with the 1962 publication of Silent Spring, by
Rachel Carson, an American anti-pesticide movement worked
to reduce the amount and variety of toxic chemicals used to
kill insects that feed on crops or spread disease. Cesar Chavez,
shown here at an anti-pesticide rally in 1985, was one such
activist. Chavez gave many speeches, including the following,
against the use of pesticides on California grapes. One major
success of the anti-pesticide movement was the banning of
DDT, a powerful pesticide, in cases other than disease control.
 Vocabulary

ACTIVIST RADICAL
A person who relating to or
campaigns to bring affecting the
about political or fundamental nature of
social change. something.

ADVOCATE

publicly recommend

Explanation
Paragraphs 1 to 5
The Author want to learn
lessons from Doctor Martin
Luther King as he was such an
inspiring leader, a powerful
figure of destiny, of courage,
of sacrifice, and of vision.
Paragraphs 6 to 12
In these paragraphs he is
talking about Doctor Martin
Luther king that he was such
a great activist fighting with
radical social change with
radical methods and he used
direct action to challenge the
system and he wrote that the purpose of this
direct action is to create a situation so crisis-
packed that it will inevitably open the door to
negotiation and that he was also radical in his
beliefs about violence and learned how to
successfully fight hatred and violence with the
unstoppable power of non violence and he
was such a kind person as he wanted us to
love our enemies and be good to them and he
believed that god is always with us and he
said that if he stopped the movement will not
stop and the work will not stop.
Paragraphs 13 to 18
Dr. King refers to ‘unfinished’ agenda’ as they still didn’t achieve the
things, they want to achieve in their journey
He also says
“That we have miles to go before we reach the promised land”. Which is
an allusion referring to the Bible, and they are sure that one day they will
be equal to others.
So again, Travis showing that cause of society filled with hates, racism,
and ignorance because people never “ learned that non- violence is the
only peace and justice” and having all of this negative affects on own
society still. So he’s trying to drive back to the point that we have a lot to
learn.
Paragraphs 19&20
The author said that it is the time for us
to work, as the enemies of justice want
us to think that Dr. Martin Luther King
was just a civil right leader and that he
didn’t do anything to let us hate him and
be his enemies.
The author is showing us how great Dr.
Martin was as he died while fighting for
the rights of sanitation workers in
Memphis.
Paragraphs 21 to
27
Dr. King reminded the author that their struggle
was his struggle too. He stood beside them, and
their struggle is the freedom and dignity and
humanity.
Dr. King challenged them to work.
The chemical industry promised that the chemicals
and the pesticides will increase profits bring
more wealth.
Another struggle is the struggle is the farm workers
with pesticides.
Paragraphs 28 to 33
Experts start finding out the harm and danger pesticides
hold, but it was too late.
The farm workers have not only known, but even
experienced the damage of pesticides for many years. The
effects of pesticides weren’t at all to grown crops; no, they
were death, distress, and clusters of cancer. The main crops
of this cause were table crapes. The poisons would be
carried away almost everywhere : through the wind and
into the water then lastly to adults and children’s table
tops. They cause multiple diseases and kill hundreds. Little
children everywhere are defected and poisoned.
Paragraphs 34 to 40
The author is saying that the people who are living in the
agricultural regions are in a great danger and children are
dying from cancer and he is showing us evidence and
saying that there were 4 children suffering from cancer in
the little town of Earlimart which rated 1200 percent above
normal and also a little Jimmy caudillo died from leukemia
at the age of 3 and 3 other young in addition to Jimmy and
Natalie, were suffering from similar fatal diseases that the
experts believed are caused by pesticides.
 41
to The author said that the usage of pesticides must stop
and A peaceful way to do it is to boycott table grapes
47

48 The author was talking about how hard its being

black and working because they get treated
to unfairly and poorly. If black workers complain
they are assaulted and they are saying that the
54 government should take some action against those
who assault them but they wont.
Paragraphs 55 to 61
Cesar Chavez mentioned that Dr. King showed them the way with
the bus boycott and by their first boycott they were able to get a
lot of areas banned and now they are trying to get deadly
pesticides banned. The growers were always trying to stop them
by many dangerous ways, but still, they couldn’t stop them. He is
saying that once the person start learning no one can stop him
and no one can scare the people who are not afraid He is
explaining how they struggled a lot just to have a justice
Explaining how the prices and the profits of grape sales started
dropping heavily and how the growers are under tremendous
economic pressure.
 The author encourages
people to make an
action growers
understand to achieve
change for their
children’s and workers’
safety.

62 to 70
 72
The author expresses that he
has extreme faith that there are
other people like Dr. King out
76 - 73
71
The author refers to how standing up for
there who share the same
beliefs. The author hopes that people will join his cause
too that strives for the same goal Dr. King had.
what’s right nonviolently works for all And he states that who don’t join his cause
things in life and can be applied whenever
should reach out and help other organizations as
and wherever and he refers to how the
people who thought for the same thing as well, and that we should continue fighting for
Dr. King came in fast and together like a Dr. king's message
drive.
04 Traveling
Grace Paley, original name Grace Goodside,
American short-story writer and poet known for her AUTHOR
realistic seriocomic portrayals of working-class New
Yorkers Grace Paley was an American short story
author, poet, teacher, and political activist. Paley
wrote three critically acclaimed collections of short
stories, which were compiled in the Pulitzer Prize
and National Book Award finalist The Collected
Stories in 1994. Grace Paley (born 1922) is best
known for her three collections of short stories, The
Little Disturbances of Man (1959), Enormous
Changes at the Last Minute (1974), and Later the
Same Day (1985).

GRACE
PALEY
 VOCABULARY

SHEER ABSOLUTE
Used to emphasize how Free from imperfection,
very great, powerful a complete, perfect
quality or feeling is

ADAMANT
A person that has formed
an opinion or taken a
position that is not going
to change because the
person is determined to
keep that opinion or
position.
 BACKGROUND

Traveling, a memoir by Grace Paley, is about a time when Paley’s

mother and sister rode the bus during the 20s and refused to move up
from the back of the bus, even though “‘It’s for them’–waving over his
shoulder at the Negroes, among whom they were now sitting.” Paley
connects this event with a moment in her own life when she offered
her own seat on a bus to a black woman holding her baby, and
ultimately ended up holding the woman’s child for her in order to let
her rest, even though other white people on the bus disagreed with
such a course of action. The piece is on the surface about the racism of
the time, not unexpected from Paley, who spent most of her life as an
activist, but is also about the events that stick with us and shape us and
about the connections that exist between members of a family.
EXPLANATION

1
In this paragraph the author demonstrates that black people at the time were allowed to
only sit in the back of the bus ,and others could choose the place they want to.

2-7
Here is a kind of a description for what the bus was like : black people at the back,
white people at the front and it was all silent ; nobody said anything about it. The
mother was determined on refusing to move seats. This part really shows the
reality of the oppression and segregation at that time of period.
 PARAGRAPH 8
‘“Anxious looks” at her young son, my
sister said, “Vic you know what
mama did”? ‘
Here the author’s mother gives her little
son a look cause he’s among so
many American boys, and what
the mother did was not change her
seat while it was against the law.
 Her brother told a story about a Jewish like him
who wants to punch a Negro man. His classmate
knocked the Negro down and he can’t believe that
a Jewish like him could do it. He then thought she
should be used to it because he will be assigned
working in a nearly foreign place. He also told her
about the World War ll and how it shocked him
about what happened to the black soldiers.

PARAGRAPH 9
PARAGRAPHS 10-11 PARAGRAPH 12
(10)Here the author went for a visit to her
husband as she provides details to help you
visualize the events as describe the
soldier's appearance. “Not thinking, or maybe refusing to
(11) By the late afternoon they where at
think, I offered her my seat.” This
south Carolina or Georgia. Her excitement
could be considered the end of the
was a little destroyed because she was
worried that she might not recognize the rising action or the beginning of the
people. Because they haven’t seen them climax.
each other in 2 months, but she took out a
photograph so that she could recognize
him.
In this paragraph, it shows how
most of the white people felt
about the African Americans.
When the white man addressed
the lady(holding the black
baby) saying that he wouldn’t
even touch that thing with a
meat hook goes to show that
they treated them as though
they weren’t human beings.
The whites looked down at
blacks, thinking that they were
superior to them.
14
The woman looked at the
white man seriously, and
she pulled the baby closer
as if protecting him, The Paragraph 16 is the
mother was too scared to falling action. The
get closer to the white's paragraph is trying to say
area she carefully got how the mother is trying
closer and put her hand to protect her child from
on her baby. The woman the reality of this world
holding the baby didn’t
care about the white man
close to them. 
15 16 17
 The "of course" that opens paragraph 17 connects the earlier
account of Paley's mother bus ride and the actual talk of the
time as well as the later revisiting of that trip in the common
effort at the recollection of the writer and her siblings. "The
attentive listener and forgetter of information that immediately
started to form me" this part tells us something self-defining
about the writer, who sees herself as formed from childhood as
“the attentive listener s both listener and forgetter tries to sort
out “what actually happened" and "what people thought at the
time" of the incidents she elsewhere recounts. This process
rouses her recollection of the bus ride down south.

PARAGRAPH 17
 18 Paragraph 18 and total forgetter of information". The
writer as provides the matter-of-fact chat between the
writer and her sibling about the bus ride.

Here the author and her brother were wondering why

they never talked about what had happened &
proceeded to mention that it had a great affect on him

19, 20, 21 and he tried unraveling its meaning for years. the next
couple of weeks they continued to talk about their
mother and said that in a way she was principled,
adamant, and at the same time shy.
05 How Islam Ended
Segregation
 How Islam
Ended
Segregation
One day, in Mecca, the Prophet Muhammad
dropped a bombshell on his followers:
He told them that all people are created
equal.
“All humans are descended from Adam and
Eve,” said Muhammad in his last known
public speech. “There is no superiority of
an Arab over a non-Arab, or of a non-
Arab over an Arab, and no superiority of
a white person over a black person or of
a black person over a white person,
except on the basis of personal piety and
righteousness.”
 The Prophet’s message of egalitarianism tended to attract the “undesirables” –
people from the margins of society. Early Muslims included young men from less
influential tribes escaping that stigma and slaves who were promised
emancipation by embracing Islam.
Women, declared to be the equal of men by the
Quran, also found Muhammad’s message appealing.
However, the potential of gender equality in Islam would
become compromised by the rise of patriarchal societies.
Early Islam also attracted non-Arabs, outsiders with
little standing in traditional Arab society. These included
Salman the Persian, who traveled to the Arabian peninsula
seeking religious truth, Suhayb the Greek, a trader, and an enslaved Ethiopian named
Bilal.
All three would rise to prominence in Islam during Muhammad’s lifetime. Bilal’s
much-improved fortunes, in particular, illustrate how the egalitarianism preached by
Islam changed Arab society.
THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION!