Essential Questions:
What impact did the Montgomery Bus Boycott have on life in the United States of America?
What impact did the Browder v Gayle lawsuit have on life in the United Sates of America?
What was really at stake? Was this entire issue just about a seat on the bus?
The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution addresses matters of due process,
equal justice, and fair treatment. Why did the provisions of 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution fail to protect the rights of African Americans and other minorities?
Many states used the 10th amendment and its protection of state's rights to justify Jim Crow Segregation. Is the state greater than the union?
How did states use the court order ”. . . with all deliberate speed” from the Brown v Board case as a speed bump?
About the Author:
The “More Than A Bus Ride” curriculum guide was developed by Martha V. Jones Bouyer. Technical assistance was provided by Greg Burden and Jacqueline Beckley Lampley. Editing and consultation provided by William Dickerson-Waheed, Producer/Director of “Rivers of Change: The Legacy of Five Unheralded Women in Montgomery and Their Struggle for Justice and Dignity©.” Martha has done extensive work in curriculum development as it relates to the Modern Civil Rights Movement. She developed the highly successful “Stony the Road We Trod …” workshop for educators. The “Stony . . .” project examines Alabama’s role in catapulting the struggle for human and civil rights to the forefront of national and world news and how that exposure gave birth to legislation that made the promises of the Constitution a reality for more Americans. “Stony . . . “ is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Martha also served as the project director for “Never Lose Sight of Freedom” a comprehensive curriculum project developed by the National Park Service to tell the story of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March. She was recently featured in “History Now” an online magazine of the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History. Martha has also served as a national trainer for About Learning and COMP - Classroom Organization and Management Program.
More Than A Bus Ride: National Standards
Select National United States History Standards for Grades 5-12
Era 5 Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Standard 3: How various reconstruction plans succeeded or failed
Standard 3A: The student understands the political controversy over Reconstruction.
Standard 3B: The student understands the Reconstruction programs to transform social relations in the South.
Standard 3C: The student understands the successes and failures of Reconstruction in the South, North, and West.
Era 9: Postwar United States 1945 to early 1970s)
Standard 4: The struggle for racial and gender equality and for the extension of civil liberties
Standard 4A: The student understands the “Second Reconstruction” and its advancement of civil rights.
Era 10: Contemporary United States (1968 to the present)
Standard 2: Economic, social, and cultural developments in contemporary United States
Standard 2E: The student understands how a democratic polity debates social issues and mediates between individual or group rights and the common good.
Select National Civic Standards
What are civic life, politics, and government?
What are the foundations of the American political system?
How does the government established by the Constitution embody the purposes, values, and principals of American democracy?
4. What are the roles of citizens in American democracy?5. How can citizens take part in civic life?
Select National Geography StandardsStandard 1: “How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective”
Standard 2: “How to use mental maps to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context”Standard 3: “How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth’s surface”
Standard 4: “The physical and human characteristics of places”Standard 6: “How culture and experience influence people’s perceptions of places and regions”
Standard 11: “The patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth’s surface”Standard 13: “How the forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of Earth’s surface”
Standard 17: “How to apply geography to interpret the past”Standard 18: “How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future.”