Brooklyn Resists Curriculum: Section 3

Focus: This section explores the purpose of learning representative history, as well as the importance of Black history to New York City history.

Activity: Black History

Note: Black is used to include all people of the African diaspora. African-Americans refer to Black people born in the United States.

Step 1: Watch Did you learn about Brooklyn's Black History? and complete the Video Worksheet.

Step 2: Facilitate a conversation with the class about learning Black history. First, share your experience as a student.

• Did you learn about Black history in elementary school, middle school, high school, and college?
• If so, what was the context? Who were these historical figures you learned about?
• What were the time periods, topics, and themes?
• How did learning about Black history make you feel?

Step 3: Once you have shared your experience with the class, pose the following questions to your students: 

• What have you learned about African American history in school?
• What were your biggest takeaways from those lessons? 

Step 4: Ask students the following questions,

• Is excluding Black history in education an act of violence?
• Is learning about Black history, either in school or on your own, an act of nonviolent disobedience?
• How is learning about Black Brooklynites and other diverse stories an example of activism?

Focus: This section examines the historic Black-owned newspaper from Weeksville, The Freedman’s Torchlight, as a tool to empower the Black community through education, and in particular, literacy.

Activity: The Freedman's Torchlight

Part A

Step 1: Watch the Weeksville and Weeksville and Education video, and complete the Video Worksheet.

Step 2: Have students discuss the tools Weeksville used to educate Black Brooklynites.

Step 3: Have students look for remnants of those tools today.

Part B

Step 4: Ask the class what a newspaper is, and to discuss its purpose. For example,

• Who writes newspaper articles?
• What do newspaper articles discuss?
• Why are newspapers important for thriving communities and democracies?

Step 5: In pairs, have students make observations of The Freedman’s Torchlight. They should identify separate sections in the paper and describe the content.

• What kind of information does Freedman’s Torchlight contain, and who is the intended audience?
• What role does a newspaper play in Weeksville?
• What themes do you notice throughout the newspaper?

Step 6: Come back together as a class and exchange responses.

Part C

Step 7: Ask students what they can learn from this newspaper based on their observations. Then, ask why a newspaper have topics anyone would learn in school.

Step 8: Have students read the section labeled, "History” using the transcription with the Freedman’s Torchlight transcription on the bottom of the page.

Step 9: Ask students to think about why The Freedman's Torchlight, a Black-owned newspaper from Weeksville, prioritized educating its readers.

• What do you think life would have been like for readers of The Freedman's Torchlight?
• Could they have been formerly enslaved and using the newspaper to learn?

Online version: If teaching online, we suggest using Jamboard or Padlet to answer the questions.

Focus: Maritcha Lyons and her life of resistance as an educator.

Activity: Maritcha Lyons

Part A

Step 1: Individually, have students read the handout, Remembering Maritcha Lyons.

Step 2: Then, place students in groups and have them discuss Maritcha’s life and answer the following questions:

• Who was Maritcha Lyons?
• What did she accomplish? How?
• Is her story important? Why?

Part B

Step 3: Thinking about Maritcha’s schooling, ask students if they think it was “normal” for Black children to be educated at this time. Why or why not?

Step 4: Give students the website “Black Gotham.”

Step 5: Have them read about Maritcha. Then, using the third paragraph, discuss how they think Maritcha felt about education and its importance for every child, regardless of heritage, race and ethnicity.

Step 6: Ask students, how did Maritcha's experience as a student influence her views on the importance of education? Her career?

Part C

Step 7: As a class, read 48 Years P.S. Teacher Miss Lyons Retires; In Schools Long Time.

Step 8: Instruct students to reread the article and summarize each paragraph independently.

Step 9: Have students use the following questions in their summary,

• Who was Maritcha Lyons?
• How did she combat racism and persisted through her accomplishments.
• Any other facts they feel embodies Maritcha— her spirit, her upbringing, etc.    
• How long was Maritcha Lyons a classroom teacher?
• Which national events happened during her lifetime? How might have these events influenced her decision to become a teacher?
• How did Maritcha’s colleagues and friends honor her service?

Step 10: Based on everything students have learned about Maritcha Lyons, have them write an obituary for The Freedman’s Torchlight.

Online version: If teaching online, we suggest using Jamboard or Padlet to answer the questions.

Focus: In 1962, the Bibulds, an interracial family, moved to a different school district in Brooklyn. The schools in their new neighborhood Bedford-Stuyvesant were inferior to schools in their old neighborhood of Park Slope. Their new schools did not offer advanced classes and students had access to fewer books. When the Bibulds refused to send their children to inferior schools, the courts charged them with neglect and threatened to remove them from their parent's custody. The Brooklyn chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) took up the Bibuld's cause and protested racially segregated public schools throughout the borough. 

Activity: Brooklyn CORE and the Bibuld's

Part A

Step 1: Show students the image of the Bibuld family picketing PS 282. Give them the Image Worksheet and have them analyze it either in groups or individually.

Step 2: Discuss their answers.

Step 3: Now, review the video Brooklyn CORE and answer questions using the Video Worksheet.

Step 4: Review the answers on the Video Worksheet.

Step 5: Next, re-read the Brooklyn and the Congress for Racial Equality handout and discuss what the students have learned about the Bibuld family so far.

Step 6: Ask students, “How did the Bibuld family fight for their children to attend better schools?” Discuss their answers.

Step 7: Using information from Part A, have students, in groups or individually, create a list of questions discussing what else they want to learn about the Bibuld family.

Part B

Step 8: Read the oral history excerpt, Elaine Bibuld Transcription using the Oral History Worksheet and discuss.

Step 9: Now, play Elaine Bibuld’s oral history (10:30:00 – 22:51:00) and have students read along using the Elaine Bibuld Transcription. As the class listens to Elaine’s oral history, stop every few minutes and ask students to explain what is happening.

Teacher’s note: Please take 1 – 2 class periods to listen to this oral history. Some of the content may surprise the students.

Part C

Step 10: Either individually or in groups, give students the Bibuld Sit-In and Bibuld Enroll articles to read. Give them the Articles and Ads Worksheet to help them understand the articles.

Step 11: Discuss the articles.

Step 12: Have student share the list of questions they created in Part A and see if they can answer them with this new information.

Step 13: Review with the class what they have learned about the Bibuld’s efforts to enroll their children in a school with “good education.”

Step 14: Have students conduct further research to write a story, news article, blog, etc, about the family and their experience with education in Brooklyn. Discuss how Brooklyn CORE helped them get their children educated. Then, write a blog or article about the family.

Note: Here are a few websites with information they can use:

Elaine Bibuld Oral History

Douglass Bibuld Oral History

CORE and the Bibuld Family