“More Than a Bus Ride©” is a comprehensive, interactive, multi-media curriculum guide that tells the true un-told story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the impact of the Browder v Gayle lawsuit that ended segregated seating on intra-city buses and ultimately destroyed the remaining vestiges of Jim Crow Segregation in the United States of America. The curriculum guide commemorates the fortitude and accomplishments of Ms. Claudette Colvin, Mrs. Mary Louise Smith-Ware, Mrs. Aurelia S. Browder, Mrs. Susie McDonald, and Mrs. Jo Ann Gibson Robinson, and their unfailing quest for justice and equality in the “. . . land of the free and the home of the brave.” This multi-leveled, multi-perspective approach to teaching and learning takes a cross curricular approach to connect traditional American history to economics, language arts, math and fine arts.        The story of the Montgomery bus boycott has never been fully told.  For the first time, five un-sung heroines will be heralded for their contributions in making the promises of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution a reality for all Americans regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, disability, station in life, or economic standing.  Five women, five ordinary citizens who had the courage to challenge laws they viewed as unjust in order to give all people the right to be treated as first class citizens. This curriculum guide was developed using national standards of history, geography, civics, and English making it usable in school districts across the nation.  The flexible inter-active approach will allow teachers to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all learners.  The plethora of primary source documents, the wealth of activities and rubrics, and the comprehensive documentary that supports the curriculum guide will motivate and inspire young people to take active roles in their local communities to “ensure the blessings of liberty” for generations to come.          Students will learn not only about the contributions of Mrs. Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. but also about how teenagers like Claudette Colbert & Mary Louise Smith challenged the system and won.  To set these events in their proper perspective, students will be transported back in time via the “Rivers of Change©” documentary to examine the efforts of pioneers for justice like Mrs. Elizabeth “Liz” Jennings and Mrs. Ida B. Wells.  The quest for freedom, equality, and justice may have been delayed but it could not be denied.Using a variety of instructional strategies aimed at developing critical thinking skills, improving research skills, enhancing reading and writing skills, students will examine foundational documents of our government as they literally dismantle the structures that men of power in places of authority built to keep African Americans in a place of non citizenship. Justice John M. Harlan, in rendering his dissenting opinion in Plessy v Ferguson was the lone voice of reason that cried out in 1896, for justice and equality for all citizens.  Fifty four years later, he was vindicated, to some degree with the Supreme Court decision in Brown v Board of Education of Topeka Kansas.  Finally, in 1956 when the courts ruled favorably for the plaintiffs in the Browder v Gayle case, the issue of segregation was at least to put to bed if not to rest. 

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