Rosa Parks play by Youth Life Learning Centers at Riverchase

For Black History Month 2012, YLLC-Rivechase students create a short play based on Rosa Parks.

Students start off with a brief overview on Rosa Park’s story during The Civil Rights Movement.  At 0:52, their Rosa Parks play begins.  Listen carefully as students use yellow shirts to indicate those who can sit in the front of the bus versus those who cannot.  In their play, “Rosa Parks,” refuses to sit in the back of the bus even though she is not wearing a yellow shirt.  She is immediately arrested.  Shortly after her release from jail, she begins a boycott.  See clip below to watch the play.

“I learned that Rosa Parks started the bus boycott.  And I learned that we need to treat people fair.”  -Dyamond Armstrong, fifth-grade YLLC-Riverchase student.

What else went on at YLLC-Riverchase for Black History Month?  The students at YLLC-Riverchase were given a choice of writing a song, making a poster, or doing this play.  When the boys decided to write and perform a song about Louis Armstrong, the girls decided to break off and put together this play.

The students were very excited to practice their performances.  No one wanted to go to activity time all week!  They begged to work on their performances longer.

YLLC students take on learning projects in celebration of Black History Month

During Black History Month, Youth Life students, most of whom are African-American, were eager to learn about their history.  The different centers set up various events throughout the month that they would like to share with Youth Life supporters.

• History of Hip-Hop at Belmont University was a blast last night, as forty YLLC students were in attendance.  The event included freestyle cypher, “A7” on the wheels of steel, graffiti designs, b-boy showcase, a performance by the Children of 18th Avenue Family Enrichment Center, and more.
• YLLC-Kirkpatrick took a field trip to meet up with YLLC-Memphis.  Together, the two groups went on a field trip to The National Civil Rights Museum, located at the Lorraine Motel and the assassination site of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• YLLC-Riverchase teen students collaborated to create one poster board of important, historical and modern African-American figures including Lonnie Johnson, the inventor of the Super Soaker!
• The older students at YLLC-Easley were given options to either (a) do a personal outline of their family history, (b) do a timeline of the Civil Rights Movement, or (c) do a biography on a famous, historical African-American figure
• At YLLC-West the 2nd through 4th grade class did collages on a subject of their choosing.  Below is a picture of Diana Ochoa, who chose to do her project on The Civil Rights Movement and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to sit in the back of a bus.  Today, Barack Obama is the first African-American to hold the title of President of the United States of America.  We hope YLLC students not only learned about figures from the past and African-American history, but we also want them to know that even in their at-risk communities, they have the same potential as these role models if they stay focused, study hard and stay in school.

To see  our calendar for Black History Month, visit the events page at www.yllc.org.

Visit our Facebook page to see more pictures from how we celebrated Black History Month.