Navigating and Shaping Change, with Bitter and the Civil Rights Movement

Looking to the US Civil Rights Movement, as well as Akwaeke Emezi’s Bitter as a mentor text, we explored how persistence, resistance, and resilience of both leaders and thousands of everyday people can bring about concrete social change that continues to affect us today. Our 8th grade capstone class trip in the spring will visit many of the landmarks and important moments in our country’s fight for racial justice, and after returning to San Francisco, we’ll circle back to this introductory Civil Rights Movement unit to connect our classroom learning to our experiences in the field.

Alongside learning about some of the movers, shakers, and important changemakers in the US Civil Rights Movement, Emezi’s novel, Bitter, “explores both the importance and cost of social revolution–and how youth lead the way.” Following Bitter, our protagonist, the story is set in the fictional city of Lucille, where the young people “know they deserve better—they aren’t willing to settle for this world that the adults say is ‘just the way things are.’ They are protesting, leading a much-needed push for social change. But Bitter isn’t sure where she belongs–in the art studio or in the streets. And if she does find a way to help the Revolution while being true to who she is, she must also ask: what are the costs?” It is also a novel about effective activism, the need for hope in social movements, balancing self-care with doing right by others, and creating a more racially just world. This unit provided eighth graders with opportunities to grapple with these questions and possibilities, as well as grow and demonstrate their skills in discussion, active listening, and writing.

The unit concluded with a thematic essay that explored the connections between Bitter and the Civil Rights Movement which the students prepared for by tracking topics, analyzing conflicts, writing ACE paragraph responses to class lessons, engaging in leaderless and fishbowl discussions, and annotating the text. The students then looked for the purpose to Emezi’s novel, and developed powerful themes. Coda R. said, “When trying to create change, one can get stuck in this idea that it needs to be perfect, and we'll never be able to move forward in a positive way if we’re always just trying to make something perfect, because the best thing we can do is try,” and Sloane W.’s theme was, “Bitter teaches us that if we all have one idea, dream, or vision for change, we can accomplish a difference if we strive for it together.” Students wove together evidence from both the Civil Rights Movement and the book to support their claims. Ella S. articulated, “Martin Luther King Jr. kept hope in Birmingham Jail. Bitter kept hope when her city she once called home was ‘more than broken’ (Emezi 20).” Daria B’s essay concluded, “Bitter and the Civil Rights Movement … are teaching humanity that while obstacles are inevitable, they don't define each other, the responses do.”

From reading to questioning, from discussing to listening, and from brainstorming to writing, students have been exploring the complexities of change and justice, strengthening their empathy, creative expression, and reflection skills, and building their chops as critical readers, thinkers, and writers.