BOOKNOTES Teacher Guide Diane McWhorter, discusses her book, Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama-the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution. This program and lesson plan can be used to study people and events related to the civil rights movement in Birmingham, Alabama.

Before Viewing Booknotes

Step One: Discussion
Write the word "civil rights" on the board. Guide students through a whole-class discussion of commonly-held ideas and assumptions about civil rights throughout American history, particularly in post-World War II America.

Encourage students to discuss a broad range of meanings of "civil rights." For example, does "civil rights" mean equality of condition, equality of opportunity, or complete equality?

Students should define and discuss the concept of "apartheid" and how that system of segregation in South Africa paralleled or differed from our system of segregation in the U.S.

Teachers should review the events and significance of the modern civil rights movement and how this modern movement evolved in post-World War II America. Introduce students to events in Birmingham, Alabama and the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.

Step Two: Identification
Students should examine the backgrounds of the individuals associated with events in Birmingham:

• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Fred Lee Shuttlesworth
• Eugene "Bull" Conner
• Attorney-General Robert Kennedy
• President John Kennedy
• FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
• Alabama Governor George Wallace
• FBI Informant Thomas Gary Rowe
• Charles Morgan, Jr.

Discussion

After students have answered the questions, they will break into groups of four to discuss and write collective comments on Ms. McWhorter 's statement, "'Carry Me Home' is an unforgiving look at Birmingham." (Each student will contribute one or two of Ms. McWhorter's statements about Birmingham.)

Activity

Have members of the class, in groups, collect and share articles and visuals that relate to the civil rights movement, past or present. Discuss the impact the media can have in the ways it deptics the civil rights struggle. Conclude the exercise by having students discuss to what degree continued vigilance on the issue of civil rights is critical for the maintenance of America's democracy.