Civil Rights Unit Celebrated in 4th Grade

Since their return from December Recess, 4th grade students have been studying the history of the Civil Rights Movement, including not only the events, but the people who so tirelessly worked towards freedom and equality.

As a supplement to this unit, teachers introduced Michael Platt’s Recipes for Change: 12 Dishes Inspired by a Year in Black History, which shares the important role food has played in the history of Black empowerment. Platt’s book provided students with a gastronomical perspective on many of the events they had been studying in class. They learned that in 1960, Ezell Blair, Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and David Richmond, who were denied slices of cherry pie because of the color of their skin, sat peacefully at a Greensboro lunch counter until closing time to spark sit-ins across the South. Churches distributed cornbread to hungry protesters marching for fair voting rights with Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lewis and Josea Williams in Selma, Alabama in 1965, and chef Leah Chase served a special gumbo to Freedom Riders at her famous New Orleans restaurant in 1961.

While grappling with these concepts, 4th grade teachers decided to have a Civil Rights Celebration centered around food. Working with Chef Zac Maness, they created hands-on opportunities to prepare and cook these three items and eat them at a celebratory feast. “I really appreciate Chef Zac’s time helping us, from planning and getting ingredients to helping the kids prep the food and then doing the final cooking,” 4th grade teacher Miriam Pickus explained. And, not surprisingly, “The kids loved doing the cooking!”

When they finished cooking, the entire grade gathered to partake in these delicious doses of newfound knowledge. Everyone listened to music from the period, and each student had the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their labors. “This was a great way to have the students learn about civil rights,” Pickus shared. “It allowed us to celebrate the determination and resilience of the folks who fought to make the U.S. a more fair place in a delicious way.”

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