Lewis Legacy Project: English 11: Day 1

Discuss before reading:

As juniors you are considered leaders at John Lewis High School.  Leaders are asked to inspire others to take action.  March: Book Three will introduce to you many brave and inspiring Civil Rights leaders each of whom had their own unique leadership style.  

• What does leadership mean to you?  With your classmates, brainstorm the qualities  leadership requires.
• In your life, who or what inspires you?  
• Identify someone who has modeled what it means to be a leader.  Explain why you consider this person inspirational and/or a leader.  

As you read March: Book Three, consider keeping track of who inspires you and think about why the movement had so many differing ideas about leadership.

Discuss after reading:

1. Discuss the contrast between the response of Martin Luther King, Jr., Diane Nash and John Lewis following the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church.  (pps 17-20, 26 - 35)

• Explain which response you identify with? 

2. March: Book Three will also introduce you to powerful people in leadership roles who feel  threatened by the Civil Rights Movement.  For example, on page 18, Lewis recalls “ … [Alabama] Governor George Wallace had started his term declaring ‘Segregation Forever,’ and two weeks before the bombing [at the 16th Street Baptist Church], he was quoted in the paper saying, ‘What this country needs is a few first-class funerals.” 

• What did Governor Wallace mean? Why did he feel this way?
• How might you as a community leader respond to a statement like this? 
  
• Would someone say this today?  Why or why not?

3. Throughout The March Trilogy there are quick transitions between the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s and the 2009 Inauguration of President Barack Obama (example pps 20 - 21).  

• What do you notice about the first transition in March: Book 3?
• Why do you think the authors and illustrator made the choice to include these transitions?