Book of the Week: Freedom on the Menu

By Carole Boston Weatherford


Our book of the week is a precurser to Martin Luther King day and is being read this week to have our students start thinking about civil rights in the sixties and how it connects to their freedoms today.

Summary:

On February 1st, 1960 four African American students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University sat at the "whites only" lunch counter at a Woolworth's store in Greenboro, N.C. They were denied service and asked to leave. They did not leave that day but their peaceful sit-ins at the store continued every day that week starting at noon everyday. Growing in numbers as well everyday, their sit-in reached national news and up to 1400 people protesting by the following Saturday. This week's story highlights segregation, protesting and positive change brought about by peaceful protest. The story is told through  the eyes of a 8-year-old African American girl.

Vocabulary:

Boycott: to refuse to conduct business with a person, store, or organization, usually to express disapproval or to peacefully force changes

Five-and-Dime: a retail store that carries mostly inexpensive merchandise such as notions and household goods

Headline: Words set at the head of a passage, page, or article to introduce or categorize

Jutted:  Extended out, up, or forward

Lunch Counter: A long counter on which lunches are sold (see cover)

Nonviolent: A philosophy or strategy for change that opposes using violence

Minister: Person leading or assisting the leader in church worship, also clergyman, (see image of church meeting)

Picket: to walk or stand in front of like a fence-post, often in protest

Protest: Public demonstration of disapproval (see i

Book Questions:

Where does Connie's Aunt live? How do you know?
Why does Aunt Gertie struggle to understand, the sign that says "colored water fountain"?
Where are they going next week and Why is Connie excited?
Who is Dr. King and why is he important to Connie?
What is picketing? Why did they pickett the Woolworth's store?
Her mother describes her sister as mule-stubborn. Why?
On page 19 it says the word Jolt, What does that mean?
At the end of the story Connie's family gets to eat at the counter, How does this make her feel?
The word Freedom is in the title, what does that mean?


Extension Ideas and Resources:

Vocabulary was taken from http://amhistory.si.edu/ourstory/pdf/freedom/lunchcounter_reading.pdf

Lesson plans http://www.osceola.k12.fl.us/depts/2ndaryEd/Pages/documents/FreedomontheMenuLessonPlan.pdf 

http://www.clpgh.org/research/parentseducators/educators/blast/elementary/3rdgrade/FreedomontheMenu.html