Imagine standing on the center court of the biggest tennis match in the World, The US Open, facing your toughest opponent yet. The sun beats down on your skin, and the crowd’s roar fills your ears as you prepare to serve the ball.

As you toss the ball into the air, your mind flashes back to all the hours you’ve spent practicing, training, and pushing yourself to become the best tennis player in the world. You remember the countless sacrifices you’ve made, the injuries you’ve overcome, and the doubts you’ve silenced.

With a powerful swing of your racket, you send the ball flying over the net and into your opponent’s court. The crowd erupts into cheers as you begin the intense rally that will decide the fate of the match.

As the ball flies back and forth between you and your opponent, you stay focused and determined, using every ounce of your strength, speed, and skill to keep the rally going. You hear your opponent’s breaths getting heavier, see her movements slowing down, and you know you’ve got her where you want her.

In a sudden burst of energy, you make a bold move, charging forward to the net and delivering a stunning volley that catches your opponent off guard. The ball flies past her, landing squarely in the corner of the court, and you raise your arms in triumph as the crowd explodes with excitement.

You’ve done it again. You’ve proven yourself to be the best tennis player in the world, and nothing can stop you. As you bask in the glory of your victory, you can’t help but feel grateful for all the hard work, dedication, and passion that have brought you to this moment. 

You are Serena Williams in a tennis match and it’s nothing short of exhilarating.

Serena Williams is one of the most famous tennis players in the world. She has won countless championships and is known for her incredible athleticism, strength, and skill on the court. But before she became a tennis superstar, she was just a little girl with a big dream.

Serena was born in Saginaw, Michigan with 6 siblings, in 1981 to parents Orancene and Richard Williams who worked hard to keep their big family happy. 

One day while watching a tennis tournament on TV Richard Williams, had an amazing idea. The winner of the tennis tournament received a large amount of money, and Richard believed that his daughters could also become tennis champions. He decided to learn everything he could about the sport and coach his daughters to become superstars. He even wrote a book outlining what they needed to learn about tennis and how he would teach them. He was determined to make his daughters into tennis champions. 

When Serena was just three years old, her father started teaching her and her older sister, Venus, how to play tennis. He would take them to the public courts in their neighborhood and give them lessons on the basics of the game.

Serena learned to play on old and cracked tennis courts in Compton. These courts were not like the ones found in fancy tennis clubs. The nets were held up by chains and ropes, and the fence surrounding the courts was broken in some places. The area around the courts was also not very safe. There were often gang members causing trouble, and sometimes the girls even heard gunshots nearby! It was definitely not an easy place to practice and play tennis.

As the young girls kept practicing their tennis skills, something amazing started to happen. The court began to feel like a safer place to be. Some people who lived nearby even remember seeing gang members standing outside the courts, keeping an eye on the girls and their dad while they played.

Serena and Venus quickly fell in love with tennis. They would practice for hours every day, hitting balls back and forth and working on their technique. They also played other sports, like basketball and track and field, but tennis was always their favorite.

The girls continued taking tennis lessons from their dad and kept improving their skills. 

Serena’s older sister Venus was around nine years old when she started playing in tennis tournaments against other kids her age and Serena was only 8! She was so eager to compete that she surprised her dad by secretly filling out forms to enter a tournament without telling him. He only found out when he saw Serena win her first match!

During that same tournament, her dad got to see both of his daughters play against each other for the first time in the tournament final. Venus was nine and Serena was eight. It was a big moment for the family!

As the sisters began to win more and more games everyone in the tennis community began to notice them. What made Venus and Serena stand out was that they didn’t come from a fancy tennis club. They wore regular clothes without designer labels and they played differently from most young players. Instead of just trying to hit the ball where their opponents couldn’t reach it, they used power and slammed the ball so their opponents couldn’t even see it! The Williams sisters’ success didn’t just stay in California. It caught the attention of people all over the country. The sisters were interviewed and during the interview, Venus said that if she didn’t become a tennis player, she wanted to be an astronaut or an archaeologist and Serena said she wanted to be a gymnast or a veterinarian. 

Their dad had been teaching them all he knew about tennis, but soon he realized that his daughters needed more help to improve their skills. That’s when he decided to hire a professional coach named Rick Macci, a coach in Florida who had trained other young champions like Jennifer Capriati, the youngest player ever to reach the top ten in the world rankings at age fourteen in.

Macci flew to Compton, where the Williams family lived, to see the girls play. Macci was surprised by the run-down courts that the sisters were practicing on, but he was even more impressed by how well the girls played. He saw that they were not only strong, but also fast and graceful. After he watched them play he explained to Serena and Venus that they needed better coaching to take their game to the next level.

Macci saw that Venus and Serena had a burning desire to win, and he believed that they had the potential to become champions. But to do so, the family would have to leave California and move to Florida, where Macci’s tennis academy was located. 

In 1991, the Williams family packed up an RV and drove across the country to start a new life in Florida.

The move was not easy for some of the older sisters to pack up and leave their home, but their parents knew that it was the best decision for Venus and Serena’s tennis future. 

In Florida, the girls practiced six hours a day, six days a week for four years, hitting hundreds of serves every day. They also attended a private school that was part of the tennis academy, where they focused on both tennis and school every day.

Soon after turning fifteen, Serena played in her first professional tournament. And once she started playing professionally the German shoe company Puma offered her a lot of money to wear their name and logo while she played in tournaments, this is called being a sponsor. When you are really good at something like playing tennis, racing cars, or skating, businesses will give you money to wear their logo!

Making money while playing tennis was a big deal for Serena’s family because it helped them to have a better life. It allowed them to pay for travel expenses to tennis tournaments around the world. 

Serena and Venus worked very hard to become professional tennis players, and their success allowed them to support their family and live a more comfortable life.

The sisters were able to  move their family to a big house in Palm Beach, Florida. The house had two tennis courts that were in perfect condition, which was much different than the tennis courts they grew up playing on. 

Serena’s dad started coaching her and her sister again, and they hired tutors to help them with their schoolwork. On the way to the courts, Richard put up signs with encouraging messages for his daughters. One sign said that Venus needed to take control of her future, while another told Serena to use more top spin on the ball.

When Venus and Serena started playing in professional tournaments, they sometimes ended up playing against each other. Venus won against Serena in their first match at the Australian Open in 1998, but Venus said it wasn’t fun to eliminate her little sister. They both celebrated when they won tournaments, and in 1999, they made history by becoming the first sisters to each win a tournament on the same day! Venus won in Oklahoma, while Serena won in Paris.

Serena was only 14 years old when she turned pro in 1995. Over the years she has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, which is more than any other player in recent history! That means she’s won the biggest and most important tennis tournaments in the world many times over! She’s also won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles with her sister Venus, and four Olympic gold medals too!

Serena’s powerful serve and aggressive style of play are famous around the world. She’s been ranked No. 1 in the world eight times by the Women’s Tennis Association.

Her success hasn’t come without challenges though. She’s had to overcome injuries, setbacks, and tough opponents. But through it all, she’s shown us that with hard work, dedication, and a positive attitude, anything is possible!

Serena is an inspiration to millions of people around the world. She’s not only an amazing athlete, but she’s also a businesswoman, a fashion designer, and a philanthropist who gives back to her community. Serena is proof that you can achieve anything you set your mind to, and she’s a true champion both on and off the court!

The post Serena Williams Story for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

When Desmond was a little boy, Father Huddleston was walking through Desmond’s neighborhood. This was strange in itself. At the time, blacks in South Africa were required to live only in certain areas. So white men rarely came to Desmond’s neighborhood, unless they were policemen. Father Huddleston was clearly not a policeman: He was dressed strangely, with a stiff white collar and black shirt. Stranger still was what Father Huddleston did: he stopped, tipped his hat, and said a warm “hello” to Desmond’s mother. 

For a white man to treat his mother–a black woman–with kindness and respect was truly remarkable to Desmond, even as a small child. Many white people in South Africa either ignored blacks or were rude, or even cruel to them. Later, Desmond would learn that Father Huddleston worked tirelessly to help make South Africa more fair and kind to its black citizens. But that simple hello in the street showed him that all kinds of people were capable of compassion. All kinds and colors of people were human. And that planted the seed of the idea that he would spend his life striving to make it a reality. The idea of a South Africa where all people, black and white, lived together in a peaceful “rainbow” society.

When Desmond graduated high school after his bout with tuberculosis, he studied to become a teacher. He joined the debate club at his college, where he met Nelson Mandela, a young lawyer, who would become president of South Africa decades later. After graduating, Desmond got a job as a high school English teacher. He met a friend of his sister’s, Leah, who was also studying to be a teacher. The two began dating and decided to marry in 1955.  

But as Desmond was starting out in the world, the country was going through changes that would force him to take a different path than he had planned. South Africa was about to enter a very dark period of its history. Both Desmond and Nelson Mandela would play a big part in helping the country climb out of this period. 

South Africa had long had laws that tried to keep black and white citizens separate from each other. But in 1948, the country elected a government that wanted to be much more strict about making sure these laws were followed. They created a system of laws called Apartheid. They forced blacks to live in certain, limited areas. Blacks had to get special passes if they wanted to visit a white area. They couldn’t own land. They couldn’t vote. Blacks and whites couldn’t marry each other. They couldn’t even go to the same beaches.  

As Desmond and Leah started their life together, things were getting worse. The government passed a law that forced black South Africans to go to separate schools, and then didn’t pay black teachers as much as whites. Desmond and Leah decided to quit teaching. Desmond had been volunteering in their Anglican church and decided to become a priest. Meanwhile, Leah started school to become a nurse. 

Desmond studied to become a priest in South Africa and then in London. When he and his family moved back to South Africa in 1967, he began to speak out against Apartheid, cautiously at first. He wrote about how the church should help solve issues facing blacks in South Africa and beyond. When students at a university protested policies that supported Apartheid, Desmond gently stepped past the police dogs that surrounded the protesters and began to pray with them. Desmond would become known for this warmth and gentleness when facing tense situations.

Desmond was becoming a leader in the church as he spoke out more. He became a bishop, which is a very respected leader in the church. In 1978, he became the leader of the South African Council of Churches, which worked with many different Christian churches throughout South Africa. He was the first black man to hold this influential position. He used it to spread his message even further. He shared his vision of South Africa as a rainbow nation far and wide. 

Desmond was committed to working towards this rainbow society without violence, and even with gentleness and humor. He went to protest marches and committed civil disobedience, such as visiting beaches that were supposed to be whites-only. Civil disobedience is when you protest an unfair law by breaking that law, but in a peaceful way, which could still get you in trouble. And Desmond and other protesters DID get in trouble: Desmond was arrested and fined, and the authorities were violent with many others. 

Desmond also visited other countries, trying to get people around the world to care about the situation in South Africa. He met the Pope and the leader of the United Nations. He even asked leaders of other countries to boycott, or refuse to buy things, from South Africa. When he returned to the country after a speaking tour, the government took away his passport, which meant he couldn’t leave the country. They gave it back a year later, but this would happen a few more times as he traveled the world to speak out against Apartheid. Still, Desmond knew that if the leaders of other countries didn’t put pressure on South Africa’s government, it would be very hard to change things.  

Then, in 1984, Desmond won the Nobel Peace Prize. He gave a speech to accept the prize. In it, he told how Apartheid had caused people to mistrust and hate each other. He told how the police used violence against everyday people and peaceful protesters. He told how South Africa was a beautiful country of rolling mountains and sunshine, where people just wanted to live in peace with their families. He told how Apartheid had made that impossible for blacks and even many whites. 

Many people around the world learned from news coverage what Apartheid was really like for the first time. Governments finally decided to sanction South Africa, meaning they made laws that made it harder for South Africa to buy or sell things to other countries. 

Meanwhile, Desmond returned to South Africa, where he continued to speak and march against Apartheid. The government was starting to listen. Desmond and other activists met with the president of South Africa, Pieter Botha. But he still wasn’t willing to make many changes. 

But Desmond’s influence was growing. People loved to be around this warm, joyful man, who made everyone feel valuable and loved. In 1986, the church made Desmond archbishop of Cape Town. As the archbishop, he got to move into a big, beautiful house set aside for him. This angered the government because the house was in a whites-only area. But Desmond used his superpower and turned a tense situation into an opportunity to show kindness. He had a playground built on the lawn, and let anyone come to play or swim in his pool.

Finally, things began to change. In 1990, a new president was elected. F.W. de Klerk showed signs that he would be willing to end apartheid. He freed Nelson Mandela from prison after nearly thirty years and refused to punish peaceful protesters. After long talks with Mandela, Tutu, and others in the anti-apartheid movement, de Klerk agreed to put an end to Apartheid. 

In the next election, all South Africans were allowed to vote. Black South Africans, voting for the first time, lined up for hours to cast their ballot. Desmond dropped his vote into the ballot box in front of cheering supporters, then jumped up and down, saying he felt two inches taller than when he came in. He said a new South Africa began that day, “where all of us, black and white, will be holding hands and working for a common prosperity.”  Nelson Mandela was elected the first black president of South Africa. Today, South Africans commemorate this election every April 27th as Freedom Day. 

But the story didn’t end there. South African society still had a lot of work to do if all people were going to live in peace together. Think of a time when you had a big argument with a sister, brother, or friend. A time when you hurt each other’s feelings. It probably took some time to feel better and learn to be friends again. The whole country of South Africa felt this way. It would take time and work to help everyone feel like they could live and work peacefully together. Apartheid had been in place for more than 50 years. Many black people didn’t trust whites because of how badly they’d been treated. Many white people were afraid that the new government, led by a black man, might treat them just as badly in return. 

But Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu came up with a better plan. They formed a group, which Desmond led, called the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. They would help South Africans talk to each other. People who had been hurt by the old system would get to tell their stories. And so would people who had hurt others. They would be honest. They would listen to each other. Finally, they would be able to forgive each other.  

As Desmond put it, “I am human because you are human. My humanity is caught up in yours.” It’s important to remember when we’re angry with someone, they are still a person, just like us. We have to live with other people. Saying I’m sorry is one of the hardest things you ever have to do if you mean it. And waiting for someone to say they’re sorry to you is just as hard. But things start to get better right afterward. 

Sources

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/truth_and_reconciliation

https://www.history.com/topics/africa/apartheid

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1984/tutu/biographical/

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1984/tutu/lecture/

https://passiontounderstand.blogspot.com/2010/04/this-day-in-history-27-april-1994.html

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/south-africas-tutu-anti-apartheid-hero-who-never-stopped-fighting-rainbow-nation-2021-12-26/

https://www.theweek.in/news/world/2022/01/01/10-memorable-quotes-by-desmond-tutu.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_South_African_general_election

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Tutu

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantu_Education_Act,_1953

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._W._de_Klerk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pass_laws

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela

The post Life and History of Desmond Tutu For Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

But if someone had asked a young Frederick Douglass these questions, he wouldn’t have been able to answer some of them.  Frederick was born into slavery in the early 19th century, in the state of Maryland. Not only was he considered the property of his white master, but many other things were also denied to him and his fellow enslaved workers. Frederick never knew his birthday, or exactly how old he was. He never knew his father, though there were rumors that his master was his father. He barely knew his mother: she was forced to work on a farm miles away from Frederick. She wanted so badly to see her son that, whenever she could, she would walk for miles after a long day of fieldwork to visit him late at night. Sadly, these visits stopped when Frederick was seven. He would only learn later that his mother had died.

This was how life looked for millions of enslaved people at the time. Birthdays and close family members are important parts of who we are, but slave masters didn’t want their slaves to have these connections. They didn’t want them to learn to read or write. Family, birthdays, and books might give the enslaved worker things to care about and hope for that had nothing to do with working for their master from dawn til dusk, and work was what the master wanted.

Not long after his mother passed away, Frederick’s grandmother took him to a different plantation. Once there, the master made her leave. Frederick stayed. At 8 years old, he would get a taste of what life as an enslaved worker was like. He was given two long shirts to wear, but no pants, shoes, or even a blanket. He slept on the floor, sometimes stealing a flour sack to keep warm under. He saw the grown-ups go off to the fields to work before dawn, and not return until it was dark, so tired they were ready to collapse. He saw his aunt whipped for talking to a man she liked.

But soon, Frederick’s enslaver decided he’d be of better use elsewhere. He sent Frederick to live with his relatives in Baltimore, Hugh, and Sophia Auld. There, he would live in a house and be given better clothes to wear. But this wasn’t exactly a privilege: Frederick was going there to be a servant to the Auld’s son. 

Still, for a brief time, Frederick got a glimpse of a better life. But the nice house, the big, bustling city, and the real clothes were just a small part of that better life. His new mistress, Sophia Auld, gave him something far more valuable than those things..in fact, more valuable than even she realized. She taught him to read. 

Sophia Auld did not come from a family that kept slaves. She didn’t know it was illegal to teach them to read, and maybe she didn’t realize what a powerful thing reading was. But she was delighted to see how quickly Frederick learned, and he loved his lessons. 

Hugh Auld was not so pleased. He scolded Sophia that reading would ruin Frederick as a slave. He thought, like many other slaveholders, that if slaves knew how to read they might learn about ideas that made them question slavery. They might start thinking about freedom and democracy. They might rebel or run away. 

Sadly, Sophia came around to her husband’s way of thinking. She stopped teaching Frederick. She became distant and cold. Frederick wrote later that “slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me.” It made her less kind and less human.

Hugh Weld was right about one thing though. Reading gave Frederick power.  Like many enslaved people, Frederick had wished for freedom even before he could read. But in books, he found people who argued that he deserved freedom, who said he was just as human as any white person. He learned about people and ideas that gave him the strength to keep hoping – for his own freedom and that of all enslaved people. 

Frederick didn’t want to stop learning. He befriended white children in the streets of Baltimore. He convinced them to help him with his reading and writing. Like Sophia, they didn’t know that they weren’t supposed to. They saw Frederick as just another little boy. Many of these children were hungry and poor, so Frederick would take a little extra bread from the Auld’s kitchen to share with them. By the time he was 12, he convinced many of these children that he should be free when he grew up, just like them. They could see what the grown-ups all around them couldn’t: Frederick was a child just like them, and he deserved the same freedom they had. 

Eventually, Frederick was sent to work on Hugh’s brother’s farm. Thomas Auld was far more strict than Hugh, and he and Frederick clashed from the beginning. Frederick would sometimes let Thomas’s horse run off. He knew the horse would always wander to a particular neighbor’s house, and that neighbor would give Frederick a good meal when he went to retrieve the horse. But maybe he secretly wished that escape could be so easy for him. Thomas soon got tired of this behavior. He thought he knew how to teach Frederick to be obedient and meek. He sent him to live with a man named Edward Covey. 

Covey was the worst person yet. He wasn’t a new master, who just wanted Frederick to work and obey his orders. Covey’s job was to break slaves who weren’t behaving the way their regular masters wanted. He worked Frederick harder than any other master had, and punished him more cruelly. He whipped and beat him almost daily. But Frederick stayed strong. He never gave in, and finally, one day, he had had enough. He fought back. The two fought with each other for hours, but finally, Covey gave in. From that day on, Frederick knew he could stand up to even the worst treatment. More than that, he knew he could escape.

Frederick was sent back to the Aulds in Baltimore. He had one goal now: to free himself. To go north, where he could make his own decisions and fight for the rights of others to do the same. 

In Baltimore, he met a free black woman named Anna. The two fell in love, but Frederick didn’t want anything to get in the way of his goal of freedom. He told Anna he would marry her when he was a free man.

Finally, he found a friend who was willing to help. The friend was a free black sailor in Baltimore, and he let Frederick use his identification papers. Wearing a rumpled sailor uniform that didn’t quite fit, Frederick got on a train to Delaware, then a ship to Philadelphia and freedom. He settled in New York and sent word to Anna to join him.

Freedom for himself wasn’t enough though. Frederick knew that millions of other enslaved people still suffered – children without mothers who didn’t have enough to eat or wear; grownups who worked every moment of the day with no pay and no choices in life. He began to speak against slavery, and in August of 1841, he traveled to a meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. Someone in the hot, crowded meeting hall had heard him speak before and urged Frederick to address the meeting. 

Frederick was nervous because he’d never spoken in front of such a large group. His voice shook. But soon after he began, he saw the sympathetic expressions on the faces in the audience. He told about his struggles to learn to read and about the harsh treatment he’d endured under Edward Covey. How he didn’t know his age or birthday, and never really knew his mother.

After that, Frederick joined the Anti-Slavery Society and began to tour the free states, speaking about his experience. His perspective was valuable since many in the North had not witnessed slavery up close. He wrote his autobiography, revealing the terrible things he and other enslaved people experienced every day.

None of this was safe or easy. Having his name in newspapers and pamphlets, then on a published book, meant that people in the south might realize who he was, and Frederick’s old master might send slave catchers to kidnap and bring him back. After his book came out, Frederick traveled to England. In England, all people were free. Frederick spoke to groups there about American slavery, convincing many British people to speak out against the system. Two English friends raised money to buy Frederick’s freedom. For 710 dollars and 96 cents, the Aulds officially gave Frederick the freedom he’d known all along was his right. 

Frederick returned to America as a free man in 1847. By this time, many Americans were starting to think that they would never be able to resolve their differences about slavery peacefully. Civil War broke out in 1861 between the Northern, free states, and slaveholding states in the South. Frederick knew this conflict would determine the fate of the millions of people still enslaved in America. 

Frederick was one of the most famous men in America by now. He met with President Lincoln in the White House and helped convince him to allow black men to fight in the Union army. He then recruited black men to fight, including two of his sons. He attended Lincoln’s second inauguration, and when he was turned away at the door for a reception afterward, Lincoln insisted the guards let him in. Lincoln asked Frederick his opinion of his speech, saying there was “no man in the country whose opinion I value more than yours.” Frederick told the president that it “was a sacred effort.”

Frederick lived three more decades after the civil war. He kept working to help black people get to vote, get their education, and enjoy the rights that had been denied them for so long.

Frederick was born enslaved–denied a mother, a birthday, and his freedom. He was taught to read almost by accident, and that one forbidden activity opened a world of ideas–of freedom, justice, and opportunity to him. He discovered that words were powerful. With his speeches and writing, Frederick opened the minds and hearts of masses of people, even a president, to the experiences of enslaved people. He made them see these people as people, made them care, and made them act. Frederick’s voice may have shaken at first, but it grew strong and clear and deep. And it could never be broken. 

Sources

https://www.hup.harvard.edu/features/frederick-douglass/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7716878/

https://www.nps.gov/frdo/learn/historyculture/confronting-a-president-douglass-and-lincoln.htm

Douglass, Frederick. (1845) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. Anti-Slavery Office, Boston. 

Pinkney, Andrea Davis. (2012) Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America. Disney, New York.

The post History of Frederick Douglass for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Have you ever been given a chore to do, but found yourself doing something very different to get through it? Sometimes, jobs you have to do can be a bit boring. But you can make them fun by playing little games while you do them. Maybe you arrange your shirts into the colors of the rainbow when you put them away, or pretend to play hockey while you sweep. Maybe you’ve even found better ways to do some of these things because you were “playing around” while you did them. 

Benjamin Banneker was one of those kids who could turn any chore into a game, and those games often helped him learn something or make the task easier. Benjamin was born in 1731 in Maryland, before the United States was even a country. Back then, Maryland was still a colony of Great Britain. Benjamin was black, and most black people in the colonies at the time were enslaved. But luckily, Benjamin was born free. His grandmother, Molly, was a former indentured servant from England, who had married an enslaved man from Africa. An indentured servant was someone who works for someone in order to pay back money they borrowed. It was a lot like slavery, but after a set amount of time, you get to be free again. Molly’s daughter, Mary, was Benjamin’s mother and his father, Robert, was a freed slave. 

Benjamin’s Begins Counting

There was one book in Benjamin’s house growing up: the Bible. Molly put that book to good use, and taught Benjamin and his sisters to read with it. Benjamin learned quickly. He became fascinated with numbers, noticing how the Psalms in the bible were numbered and learning to count without even trying. Soon, he was counting everything: fingers, toes, his siblings’ teeth. 

He even used counting to make his chores more interesting. The Bannekers owned a tobacco farm. There are always jobs to do on a farm, and everyone had to help. Benjamin would count things while he went about his duties: clouds, pigs, slugs he picked off tobacco plants. Numbers and math just seemed to click with him. Benjamin not only taught himself basic arithmetic, but more advanced types of math, like geometry and statistics. 

The curiosity of Benjamin Bannekers

Benjamin didn’t just amuse himself with numbers though. He was curious about everything around him. He wondered about the stars, moon, and sun, how they moved and changed throughout the year. As he grew older, he became a tinkerer as well. When something was broken, he could always figure out how to fix it. Usually, he’d find a way to make it work better too!

When he was a young man, Benjamin inherited his parents’ farm. Although running a farm is a lot of work, Benjamin still found ways to improve things and make his job a little easier. At this time, most farmers relied on the rhythms of the natural world to tell them when to do things. Day and night, the position of the sun in the sky told them when to get up, do chores, eat meals, and go to bed. The weather, stars, and plants told them when to plow, plant crops, and harvest. But Benjamin thought it would be easier if he had a clock. 

Clocks weren’t common back then. Almost no one had one in their house. Benjamin thought his tinkering skills might help though. He borrowed a friend’s pocket watch. This friend must have had a lot of confidence in Benjamin’s tinkering skills too, because Benjamin took the watch apart, carefully taking notes, measuring, and sketching gears as he did. When he was sure he knew how it worked, he began to cut and carve his own gears, axels, and pins. He made his version bigger–something that would sit on a table, rather than in your pocket. And, he added a bell on top that would strike on the hour. Clocks were so unusual that neighbors came by to marvel at it. In fact, Benjamin’s clock may have been the first one in the colonies!

Friends with Quakers

When Benjamin was a young man, the Ellicott family moved in down the road from his farm. The Ellicotts were building a mill, and one day they came to ask Benjamin’s mother about buying supplies. At first, she was suspicious, because most well-off white people in the area owned slaves, but soon the Bannekers learned that the Ellicotts were Quakers, Christians who believed slavery was wrong. Benjamin soon befriended a member of the family, George Ellicott. 

George and Benjamin had a lot in common. Both loved math and were curious about the world around them. They studied astronomy together, observing the stars through George’s telescope and learned the positions of the planets and constellations at different times of the year. George lent Benjamin books and tools to use in his studies. Soon, Benjamin was hard at work calculating when a solar eclipse would occur. He showed George his work. His calculations were very good, and George helped him refine them.

Benjamin enjoyed this hobby so much, he decided to do something big with it. He decided to write an almanac. Other than the bible, an almanac was the book you’d be most likely to find in a farmer’s home in the 18th century. Almanacs gathered a wealth of information that was important to a farmer: tables showing cycles of the moon, sun, and tides; calendars of when to plant different crops; weather predictions, and more. Benjamin got to work calculating the data he would need to include in his almanac for 1791: when the moon would wax and wane, sunrise and sunset times, high and low tides for every day of the year.  

But sometimes, opportunities come up, and we have to take advantage right away, or lose the chance. Another member of the Ellicott family, Andrew, offered Benjamin a job helping to survey the land for the new United States capitol, Washington DC. A surveyor tries to figure out how things can be built on the land. They measure distances and slopes, make maps and find the best spot to build a new road or building.  It’s a very math-heavy job, and Benjamin couldn’t refuse. 

Benjamin worked on his almanac whenever he could. As 1790 came to an end, he still hadn’t found a publisher though, so he wouldn’t be able to put out the 1791 almanac in time. He had to start over and write a version for 1792. With the survey work over, Benjamin worked day and night on his almanac. A man from Pennsylvania named James Pemberton helped him find a publisher. This would not be easy, since many publishers didn’t think a book written by a black person would sell. But Pemberton was an anti-slavery activist, and commited to helping Benjamin overcome these challenges. 

Benjamin and Thomas Jefferson

When he’d finished most of the almanac, Benjamin wrote to Thomas Jefferson, sending a copy of the book along too. Jefferson had written the United States Declaration of Independence, which contains the words “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” 

Benjamin wanted to know how Jefferson could write those words, yet still hold captive “so numerous a part of my brethren under groaning captivity and cruel oppression.” Brethren means “brothers.” Benjamin was asking Jefferson how he could justify enslaving other people, people with skin like his. According to Jefferson’s words, these people had rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  At this time, Jefferson was Secretary of State, a high office in the US government.

Benjamin would not have been surprised if Jefferson had ignored his letter. But Jefferson actually wrote back! He complimented him on his almanac and said he wished that someday slavery would end. While Benjamin was surprised that Jefferson wrote back at all, he may have wondered how he could hope for slavery to end, but not do anything to stop it.

In the meantime, Pemberton had found a publisher for the almanac, a man named William Goddard. Goddard promised to pay Benjamin generously, and advertised the work as “BENJAMIN BANNEKER’S highly Approved ALMANAC.” Benjamin had been studious in his calculations, and the book was deserving of approval. It contained calendars for planting crops, tables showing phases of the moon and other astronomical events, home remedies and herbal medicines. 

Benjamin did not forget his brethren either, people like him who were forced to work and live as property of others. He included excerpts from powerful antislavery essays and speeches. He also included an essay by his friend Dr. Benjamin Rush that suggested a Peace Office in the United States government. Scattered throughout were meditations on how to live a good and just life. The almanac sold out quickly, and Benjamin published a new version each year until 1797.

Benjamin Banneker’s Latter Years

By that time, Benjamin Banneker was an old man. He could look back on his long life and accomplishments with pride. But he never forgot that such accomplishments were out of reach for most black people in the United States. As a surveyor, almanac writer, and astronomer Benjamin used a lot of numbers and math in his work, but he also spoke out for what he believed in whenever he could. Benjamin valued freedom and fairness, and he knew that everyone had a responsibility to stand up for those values.

Benjamin passed away in 1806, at home in his log cabin. The clock he had built over fifty years before still chimed each hour, marking out his days–his rising, his work, his rest. A fire destroyed the cabin just days later, along with many of his papers, tools, and the clock. It would never ring out again. But nothing could silence the brave words and knowledge that Benjamin had sent out into the world. And even though slavery wouldn’t end for another 60 years, nothing could silence the voices of those speaking out for freedom and fairness. 

Sources

https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript

https://web.archive.org/web/20170130044246/http://www.xyht.com/professional-surveyor-archives/feature-benjamin-banneker/

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2h71.html

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2h68.html

https://transcription.si.edu/project/8045

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Banneker

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson

Pinkney, Andrea Davis. (2012) Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America. Disney, New York.

The post History of Benjamin Banneker for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Imagine you live in a beautiful mansion, with green lawns, swaying, leafy trees, and pleasant gardens surrounding it. You and your family have everything you need: nice clothes, books, and toys, good food. You don’t have to work for anything. Sometimes your parents make you do chores, but you suspect it’s really just to teach you some lesson about the importance of hard work.  After all, you have servants to take care of the hard work. 

This was the life that Sarah and Angelina Grimke were born into, alongside their 12 siblings. Sarah was one of the older children in the family, while Angelina was the youngest. Their father, a judge in South Carolina who had fought in the American Revolution, believed in discipline and hard work. He had his children work out in the fields with those servants, to teach them that hard work was important. 

What he didn’t count on though, was that Sarah would learn a different lesson from these chores. She didn’t believe her father really valued the hard work of these servants. She knew that he didn’t even pay them. Instead, the hundreds of workers who tended the cotton fields–the source of much of the Grimke family’s wealth–were slaves. 

Sarah’s Drive to Bring Change

Sarah didn’t just learn that these enslaved workers had a hard job though. She learned that the African Americans working beside her were real people, with minds and feelings, hopes and desires, just like hers. She saw how poorly her family treated them, forcing them to work long days, dealing out harsh punishments, and forbidding the children from going to school. 

Sarah decided to try to change things. She taught bible lessons to the enslaved children in the area. She wanted to teach them to read the scriptures for themselves, but her parents wouldn’t let her. Instead, she taught her own servant, a girl named Hetty, to read. They would close the door to her room late at night and quietly go over the lessons in Sarah’s schoolbooks. When her parents found out, they were furious. In early 19th century South Carolina, it was against the law to teach a slave to read, and her father agreed with that law. 

Sarah felt trapped. She wanted to become a lawyer, and secretly went about studying her father’s law books. But of course, Judge Grimke didn’t approve of this either. He knew his daughter was smart and capable, but thought, like most people at the time, that women should be wives and mothers. 

Sarah wanted to do something different, but as a child, she had very little opportunity to do what she wanted. When her little sister Angelina was born, she thought she saw a chance to change things. She begged her parents to let her be the baby’s godmother, and they gave in. She promised she would always cherish and protect her sister. It was the beginning of a lifelong bond between the two–the sisters were so close that Angelina even called Sarah “mother.” 

What Sarah didn’t tell her parents was that she would also make sure that little Angelina not only knew the value of hard work, but the value of the people doing that work. 

Angelina turned out to be an enthusiastic student of Sarah’s teachings. She was curious, confident, and sometimes stubborn. Like Sarah, she was upset by the poor treatment of the enslaved people who served their meals, cleaned their house, and worked long hours in the cotton fields.  

As Sarah got older, she wasn’t what she could do to help end slavery. She began to lose hope that she could ever change things. She no longer tried to teach slaves to read, because her father had nearly whipped Hetty for her lessons. But she knew deep down that she needed to help. By the time she reached her twenties, her friends and family began to worry that she would never marry. They thought this would turn her into a sad, bitter old woman. They were wrong: Sarah would find meaning and purpose in her life, but not by getting married and having children. 

Sarah Grimke and the Quakers

In 1819, Sarah went with her sick father to Philadelphia to get medical treatment. While there, his condition took a turn for the worse. The treatment didn’t help, and he passed away. While he was sick, a group of Christians called Quakers helped Sarah take care of him. They were quiet, simple, and kind people. Sarah became friends with some of them and learned that they also believed slavery was wrong. She stayed with a Quaker family for a time after her father’s death, and returned home with books they’d given her. 

When Sarah returned from Philiadelphia, her feelings that slavery was wrong began to grow. Not only that, she missed her life in Philadelphia , and wanted to become a Quaker. So a few years later, she did just that. Her antislavery views had not made her popular in South Carolina, and had even caused her to argue with her family. She returned to Philadelphia in 1821.

In the meantime, Angelina rebelled against her parent’s views. She refused to join her mother’s church, instead joining another church where the minister was against slavery. Unfortunately, many members of the church were in favor of it. Angelina was kicked out after she spoke against slavery at a church meeting.

By 1829, Angelina was also growing frustrated with the way things worked in South Carolina. She decided to join Sarah in Philadelphia, and also converted to Quakerism. The sisters’ faith would guide their thinking about slavery and the role of women in society for the rest of their lives. But just because they were in the north, where slavery was illegal, that doesn’t mean they stayed out of trouble! 

Soon after arriving in Philadelphia, Angelina wrote a letter that landed her in hot water with their Quaker friends. The letter was to William Lloyd Garrison, who published an abolitionist newspaper. Abolitionists were antislavery activists. But unlike some activists who believed slavery was wrong and should end someday, the abolitionists thought it should end NOW. Angelina praised Garrison’s work, saying that she believed abolition was a cause worth suffering, even dying for. Garrison published the letter in his newspaper. When Angelina’s fellow Quakers saw it, they were not happy.

Even though the Quakers were against slavery, their rules said that their whole community needed to agree to something before speaking out publically. They also thought that some of Angelina’s words seemed to support violence in the fight against slavery, and Quakers never supported violence. But Angelina stood behind her words, and Sarah supported her. At this point, Sarah was also frustrated with the church–she had tried for years to become a minister, but the church didn’t support her. The sisters left the Quaker church, staying true to their personal beliefs.

Angelina, the Abolitionist

Angelina’s letter attracted attention though. The American Anti-Slavery Society invited them to a speaker training in New York City.  It was there that Angelina met her future husband, Theodore Weld. Soon, abolitionist groups were contacting the sisters, asking them to speak at meetings and events. At first, they only spoke to audiences of women, but as they became more well-known, they began speaking to audiences of men and women. This was scandalous in the early 19th century. People thought that women shouldn’t speak in public. Ministers chided them, even calling Angelina “devil-ina.” 

But the Grimke sisters gained a following. Many in the northern United States had never seen slavery close up, so they didn’t really know what it was like. Some northerners thought the abolitionists must be exaggerating how bad it was. Sarah and Angelina had seen it close up, and could tell the doubters just how bad it really was. 

Angelina wrote a book aimed at Christian southern women, urging them to do what they could to end slavery. 

“I know you do not make the laws,” she wrote, “but I also know that you are the wives and mothers, the sisters and daughters of those who do; and if you really suppose you can do nothing to overthrow slavery, you are greatly mistaken.”

Angelina’s argument was simple, but powerful: The bible teaches that you should treat people how you want to be treated yourself. That’s called the Golden Rule, and it’s part of many other religions as well. No slave owner would say they want to be a slave, so how can they justify enslaving others? She told women to teach slaves to read and free them if they were the owners. 

With her book, Angelina angered both pro-slavery southerners, and northerners who believed women belonged at home. Sarah, her wise older sister and protector, knew she had to find a way to support Angelina. So, she wrote her own book!

In her book, Sarah took on her sister’s critics. She argued that women should be given the same education, pay, freedoms and rights as men. She said that both men and women would be better off if women were treated as equals, rather than as inferior to men. 

The Grimke sisters could have stayed in South Carolina, in that beautiful house with the green grass and swaying trees. They could have married wealthy husbands and lived in luxury. But they realized that choice would harm the enslaved people forced to work their land. They knew they would be partly responsible for that horrible treatment if they stayed. 

Happily, both of the Grimke sisters lived long lives, and saw the end of slavery in the United States following the Civil War. It had been a long and difficult path, and there was still a long way to go before all people had equal rights. The Grimke sisters began to help forge that path the moment they stepped out of that big, white mansion and into the wider world.

Sources

https://www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/grimke-sisters.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Moore_Grimk%C3%A9

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelina_Grimk%C3%A9

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimk%C3%A9_sisters

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Faucheraud_Grimk%C3%A9

The post History of the Grimké Sisters for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Have you ever ridden a bicycle? If so, you’ve probably experienced the thrill of going so fast that the wind whips your hair and clothes around. You feel free and fast and exhilarated like nothing can catch you or stop you. Like you could ride the wind straight up into the sky. 

Nowadays, cycling isn’t as popular as sports like basketball, baseball, football, or soccer. But in the late 19th century, right after the bicycle was invented, people went crazy for it. Tens of thousands would gather to watch races all over the United States, Europe, and Australia. And the unlikely hero of the cycling world for a time was an African American man named Marshall Taylor, nicknamed “Major.”

Major’s mother and father moved from Kentucky to Indianapolis, Indiana, where he was born. We don’t know a lot about them. His father, Gilbert, fought in the Civil War for the North. Gilbert worked as an attendant for a wealthy businessman named Willian Southard. 

This connection to the Southard family would prove lucky for Major. Gilbert brought Marshall along to his job sometimes, and he became best friends with the Southard’s son, Dan. At this time, blacks still faced a lot of unfair treatment in the United States. But even though the Southards were white, they encouraged the friendship. In fact, when they saw how happy Dan was with Marshall, they arranged for him to stay at their house for long periods. Dan and Marshall would play with all kinds of toys in his playroom, build things in William’s workshop, and went to school together. But the best thing about the Southard’s house, once he got hold of it, was Dan’s bicycle.

Major loved riding that bicycle, and soon learned how to do tricks. Soon, the Southards bought him his own bicycle as a gift. One day, when the bike needed repairs, he took it to a bike shop. He showed the owner, Mr. Hays, some of his tricks, and a crowd gathered to watch! Major stood on the seat of the bike while riding, and hopped over the handlebars to get off. He could ride on narrow planks, like a balance beam, and down sets of stairs. Mr Hays got an idea! If Major could attract so many visitors to his shop, maybe he could help sell bikes. He offered him a job then and there. 

Marshall helped out, sweeping and dusting the shop, and performing tricks to attract passersby.  He often wore a jacket that looked like an old military uniform, and that’s how he got the nickname “Major,” which would stick with him. When he had a spare moment, he would marvel at a gold medal that sat in the shop window, a prize for a bicycle race. He imagined winning a race, the crowd cheering and the band playing just for him as they pinned a gold medal to his shirt. 

Mr Hays noticed him admiring the medal, and encouraged Major to enter an upcoming race. Thirteen-year-old Major was nervous, but Mr. Hays told him to just ride as far as he could. Major agreed. He had been riding miles every day, and maybe didn’t realize just how strong and fast he was compared to others. He rode so hard in the race, trying to keep ahead of the other riders, that he began to feel faint. After crossing the finish line, he collapsed from exhaustion.

But, when he woke up, guess what he saw pinned to his chest? It was a gold medal! He had won!

As Major grew older, he entered more races, and trained more seriously. He caught the eye of a champion cyclist named Birdie Munger. Birdie was amazed by Major’s dedication, speed, and skill. Birdie’s racing days were over, but he was opening a bicycle factory and wanted Major to work for him and race on his bicycles! The two quickly became friends, training together on their bikes. Many famous cyclists would visit Birdie, and Major was impressed by how kind and helpful they were towards him. But Birdie Munger knew how to choose good friends. Not everyone in the cycling world was so nice.

Major discovered this when he began to race on the professional circuit. Birdie entered him into his first race himself, without letting the organizers see Major. He worried that if the race officials knew Major was black, they might not let him race. Major hid near the starting line, and hopped on his bike just as the starting pistol was fired. He pedaled madly, and he won!

Eventually, Birdie moved his factory to Worsecter, Massachuesetts, and Major came with him. His goal was to become the fastest man in the world, and win a world championship. Worcester was a more tolerant place than many other parts of the country.  Major trained there and made it his home. He joined an African American church and bought a house. He rode miles every day, lifted weights, and ate a healthy diet. He never smoked or drank alcohol, and, because he was deeply religious, never raced on Sunday.  But Major had to travel for races in areas that were less accepting. There were some places where he couldn’t safely travel at all. Still, he won most of the races he entered, and was becoming famous. 

As Major won more races and became more well known, many white cyclists were angry. They thought he shouldn’t be allowed to compete because of skin color, but they were also embarrassed that he kept beating them. Some white cyclists began to gang up on Major, trying to push him off the track or cause him to crash. As a result, he had several major falls. Major even began to feel that racing was too dangerous.

But a sports promoter named William Brady had different ideas. He wanted to manage Major’s career and help him become the national–and then world–champion. He actually thought people would be curious to see Major ride against the best white riders, many of whom had treated him so badly. And that would make him a lot of money. Major agreed, even though it was dangerous. He realized that if he was going to prove that blacks were capable of doing anything whites could do, he couldn’t just quit. He had to stay on his bike. 

After training and racing for a year with Brady, Major was ready to take to the track at the world cycling championship in Montreal, Canada. He was still the target of racist treatment from other riders and officials in the US, but it didn’t matter. Major won most of the races he entered, so he qualified. And, as you might have guessed, he won, even setting a world record for a one-mile sprint!

But the proudest moment for Major came after the race, when the crowd cheered and the band began to play a victory song. In the United States, when Major won a race, the band would usually play a popular tune about black people from the time. These songs had ugly, insulting lyrics, and even though they were played by instruments and not sung, people knew the words. But in Montreal, the band chose a different song to celebrate Major’s victory: “The Star Spangled Banner.” Major later wrote that “My national anthem took on a new meaning for me from that moment. I never felt so proud to be an American before, and indeed I even felt more American at that moment than I ever felt in America.”

Now Major was an international star. Offers came in from all over the world for him to race in different countries, and challenge the top cyclists of the day. He went to Europe and raced another world champion, Edmond Jacquelin. He traveled to Australia to compete against their national champion, Don Walker. Despite being rivals on the track, Major became good friends with Walker. Major was always a good sport: he never let competition on the racetrack get in the way of good behavior off it.

But whenever he came home to the US, Major was reminded of the unfair treatment and racism that infected the sport in his own country. Officials fined him when he got sick and couldn’t race. Other cyclists continued to try to ban him, push him off the track, or make him crash. And just like other African Americans of the era, hotels, and restaurants often refused to serve him.   

But his life did have bright spots. Major fell in love with a young woman from his church named Daisy. The two were married and traveled around the world while Major raced again in Australia and Europe. When he returned home this time, Major was tired. He especially didn’t want to race in the US anymore if it meant risking his life. He and Daisy had welcomed a baby girl into their lives. Over the next several years, he took several breaks from cycling, but couldn’t quite bring himself to quit completely. Over time, he stopped winning so many races, and finally decided to retire for good. He started several businesses, but none were successful, and he lost much of the money he’d made cycling. 

In 1917, years after his retirement, Major entered one last race. It was an “old-timers” race for cyclists who were retired. His old friend, Birdie Munger, came to start him in the race. A starter would hold the racer’s bike upright , so when the starting pistol went off, they’d be ready to start pedaling immediately. Birdie had started Major in his very first professional competition, but this time, Major knew it would be his last race.

Major Taylor would have won bicycle races even if he’d been born a hundred years after he was. He was an excellent cyclist–fast, strong, dedicated, and strategic. But because he was born at a time when many white Americans had ugly, wrong ideas about African Americans, Major showed that he was not just an excellent athlete, but an extraordinary human being. He kept going, fighting with every stroke of his pedal against people who cheated, taunted, and attacked him. He acted with a bravery, grace, and sportsmanship that most of his rivals could not measure up to. 

As Birdie held his bike in that last race, Major was comforted to have his best friend and most dedicated supporter beside him. When the starting gun cracked, Major Taylor pedaled like the wind, strong and free on the track. And he won.

Additional Resources

Major Taylor sites:

Indiana State Museum exhibit through Oct. 23, 2022

Major Taylor Velodrome, Indianapolis, IN

Worcester Public Library statue

Major Taylor Bike Trail, Chicago, IL

Websites:

Major Taylor Association

Sources

Balf, Todd (2009) Major: A Black Athlete, a White Era, and the Fight to Be the World’s Fastest Human Being. Crown. 

Kranish, Michael (2019) The World’s Fastest Man: The Extraordinary Life of Major Taylor, America’s First Black Sports Hero. Scribner, New York.

Taylor, Marshall W. (1972) The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World; The Autobiography of Major Taylor. EP Dutton.

The post History of Major Taylor for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Have you ever noticed how different music can make you feel different things? Some music makes you feel joyful and energetic, like you need to get up and dance. Some can make you feel sad, even make you cry. Other music might make you feel calm or hopeful. Music can remind you of things that happened a long time ago, or of people you love, and make you feel like they’re right there. But for some people, music doesn’t just change the way they feel. It changes their entire life.

Louis Armstrong didn’t start out with many advantages in life. Born in 1901, in New Orleans, Louisiana, his family was extremely poor and their neighborhood was so dangerous, it was nicknamed “the Battlefield.” His father left the family when he was a baby. At different times, Louis lived with his mother and grandmother, and had to support his family by doing odd jobs even as a small child. 

But, Louis did have something special. He had a horn and a voice, and he could make music with both.  He would often hear jazz music coming from the clubs and dance halls of New Orleans. He learned to sing some of the songs that wafted out into the warm night air, and even play some of them on a beat-up old tin horn.

As a child, he organized a quartet with his friends and sang on street corners for coins. Some people think this is how he got the nickname Satchmo, which would stay with him all his life. The story goes that when passersby tossed coins on the sidewalk, Louis would snatch them up and put them in his cheeks so that the older boys couldn’t steal them. He was using his mouth like a satchel or bag, which led his friends to start calling him “Satchel Mouth,” then Satchmo for short. 

There are many stories about how Louis got his first real horn, many of which he told himself! One of the best known involves a family he worked for. At age 7, Louis went to work for the Karofskys, a Jewish family from Lithuania who ran a junkyard. The Karnofsky family treated Louis like family, sharing meals with him and treating him with kindness. Louis helped them deliver coal and collect junk. Sometimes, he would play his tin horn to attract business. Even though Louis managed to get tunes out of this horn, it was really just a toy.  He longed for a real horn.

Knowing how much Louis loved to play, the Karnofskys lent him money to buy his first real cornet, which is like a smaller version of a trumpet. For the rest of his life, Louis wore a Star of David, a Jewish symbol, on a necklace in honor of the family. 

Unfortunately, getting the cornet wasn’t quite a ticket out of Louis’s hard life. When he was 12, Louis took out his stepfather’s gun on New Year’s Eve, and shot it into the air. This was a common thing to do at celebrations in the past. No one was hurt, but Louis was arrested. He was sentenced to spend two years in the Waif’s Home for Boys. “Waif” is an old-fashioned word for a child who was unhealthy or uncared for. But the home was closer to being a prison than a real home. There were no mattresses to sleep on, meals were usually bread and molasses, and discipline was harsh. 

But, there was one good thing. There was music. There was a band, and a music teacher, Peter Davis, who came every week to teach music and conduct rehearsals. Davis taught Louis to play cornet, and then trumpet. Eventually, he made Louis the band’s leader. 

Louis was released from the Waifs’ Home after two years. He could play very well now, and he started performing in clubs and on riverboats as part of a band. He got to meet other musicians, including Joe Oliver, often called “King” Oliver. King Oliver was the best cornet players in New Orleans, and Louis idolized him. He began to take lessons with Oliver.

In 1922, Oliver asked Louis to join his band, the Creole Jazz. Band. They set off for Chicago, where they performed in clubs and made records. By now, Louis was becoming famous in his own right, and left Oliver’s band in 1924 in search of new opportunities. He moved to New York City. There he worked with many of the most famous jazz musicians of the time, and formed his own band, “The Hot Five” within a few years. 

Along the way, Louis developed his own unique style of playing and singing. At the time, most jazz was played in groups, but Louis would improvise amazing solos in the middle of his songs. Improvising means to make up something as you go along, and it isn’t easy to do it well, but Louis was one of the best. This is part of what made his music so new and exciting to listen to, and it would change jazz forever. 

Louis also continued to sing in addition to playing the horn. He became known for his unusual singing voice, which was deep and gravelly.   He was one of first performers to popularize scat singing, in his 1920s hit “Heebie Jeebies.” This technique involved singing improvised made-up syllables, like dee-dop-a-dee-ya, and would become very common in jazz.

In 1943, Louis moved back to New York and settled in Queens with his wife Lucille. He would live there for the rest of his life. But even though he had settled in one city, Louis’s career was far from winding down. He continued recording, performing, and making movies for nearly three more decades. Sometimes, he would play more than 300 shows per year. He was internationally famous by this time, and popular with both black and white audiences at a time when much of the United States was still segregated by race.  

Actually, some civil rights activists were critical of Louis because they thought he wasn’t a strong enough supporter of civil rights for black Americans. Louis didn’t like to get involved in politics though, and tried to keep a positive, happy outlook on life. But he understood that big changes needed to happen. He did eventually speak out against how the government handled school integration, saying that it hadn’t done enough to protect black students trying to go to schools that had previously been all-white. 

Louis’s career kept him busy throughout the 1950s and ‘60s. His single “Hello Dolly”, recorded in 1964, pushed the Beatles out of the number one spot on the Hot 100 chart, where they’d been for weeks. It was the best selling record of his career. He made more than thirty movies, with people like Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Barbara Streisand, and worked with many famous jazz musicians, such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby. 

Even though he loved playing music, the trumpet can be hard on a player’s mouth. Louis developed health problems, some of which were related to his playing, when he was in his 60s. He had to quit playing altogether at times. He always went back to his horn though. The last time he went against the advice of his doctors, he said, “My whole life, my whole soul, my whole spirit is to blow that horn.” 

That was in 1971, and Louis’s health was deteriorating. He played his last concert just a few months before he passed away peacefully in his sleep.

Louis recorded his last major hit single, “What a Wonderful World,” in 1967. If you know one Louis Armstrong song it’s probably this one. In it, he sings about all the beautiful things in this world: trees of green, rainbows, blue skies, and friends. He ends by singing:

I hear babies cry

I watch them grow

They’ll learn much more

Than I’ll never know

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world 

I don’t know about you, but this song–and Louis’s story–make me feel hopeful. Louis Armstrong started his life having almost nothing, and lived through a lot of hardship early on. But he found something–music–that he excelled at and that he loved doing. Louis shared his gifts with everyone. He entertained the rich and famous, but also played his horn for neighborhood kids on the stoop of his house in New York.  His contributions to jazz changed music forever. Just as important, his music inspired millions of people around the world to see just what a wonderful world it is. 

Sources

https://www.biography.com/musician/louis-armstrong

https://www.commentary.org/articles/terry-teachout/satchmo-and-the-jews/

https://www.larmstrongsoc.org/quotes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Armstrong

The post History of Louis Armstrong for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Today, I’m going to ask you to close your eyes and imagine. But I don’t need you to picture anything in your imagination this time. Instead, just imagine you’re in a dark place. It’s chilly and a little damp. The walls are cold and hard, like they’re made out of rock. You say something, and you hear your voice echo off the walls and back to you. Finally, you find a flashlight in your backpack and turn it on. 

Where are you? 

If you guessed that you’re in a cave, you’re right! If you’ve ever wanted to go spelunking–that’s what it’s called when you explore a cave–then this episode is for you. And we’re not just exploring any old cave. We’re going deep into the history of the longest cave system in the world: Mammoth Cave in the state of Kentucky, in the USA. Mammoth Cave became a National Park in 1941, but it had a long and fascinating history before that.

Caves like Mammoth form when water slowly wears away at the rocks underground, creating underground caverns and tunnels. Mammoth Cave has over 400 miles of tunnels and caverns, and it’s still being mapped. In fact, explorers recently found 8 more miles of passages! The cave is also home to some unique animal life, such as bats, salamanders, and  blind cave fish. Did I mention there are actually rivers inside the cave?!

Not only are there rivers in the cave now, but 300 million years ago, the whole area was a sea! Limestone formed slowly from fine sands at the bottom of the ocean and created fossils of ancient sea creatures. So today, scientists and visitors can find fossils of everything from small shellfish to giant, ancient sharks, even though the oceans are thousands of miles away now! Later on in the cave’s history, other animals were fossilized in the cave as well. 

Mammoth Cave isn’t just interesting for what it can tell us about Earth’s past though. It’s a part of many fascinating stories about human beings too!

The first humans to explore Mammoth cave were Native Americans. Woodland Native Americans explored and used the cave over 4,000 years ago. There’s evidence that they explored at least 19 miles of the cave’s passages. They mined minerals from the cave walls, which they may have used for medicinal or religious purposes, but scientists aren’t really sure. They left many items behind in the cave, like gourd bowls, torches used to light the way, and sandals. They also made artwork by carving into the rock walls or drawing on them using charcoal.  

European Americans discovered Mammoth Cave in the 1790s. They discovered that the cave contained saltpeter, which was used in making gunpowder. They began mining for saltpeter using enslaved laborers. This went on through the war of 1812, but after that, the need for saltpeter for gunpowder decreased. Within a few years, the owners of the cave started giving tours to curious visitors. 

In the 1840s, one owner of the property, Dr. John Croghan, built a small hospital for tuberculosis patients inside the cave. He had noticed that logs and artifacts inside the cave didn’t seem to break down like things left outside on the surface. He reasoned that maybe something about the cave had the power to keep things from decaying. Maybe the cave air could help people suffering from the disease to recover. If the cave worked as a treatment, he planned to set up a whole hotel inside for treating sick people. Unfortunately, the cave didn’t turn out to be a magical cure for tuberculosis: his patients got worse instead of better, and he closed it down after a few months.

It wasn’t a total loss for Dr. Croghan though. By this time, the cave had become a very popular tourist destination, and Dr. Croghan, like the previous owner, sold tours of the cave in addition to having his hospital. This was still before the Civil War that ended slavery in America, and sadly, most of the tour guides were enslaved African American men. This brings us to one of the most interesting parts of Mammoth Cave’s history.

The most famous of these tour guides was Stephen Bishop. He explored many new areas of the cave, using ropes to find his way back and torches to light the pitch-black passageways. He built a bridge over one of the caves’ deepest chasms, known as the Bottomless Pit, so that tour groups could see more parts of the cave. He also drew one of the first maps of the system based on his explorations. 

But Stephen Bishop wasn’t just a brave explorer. He had an expert-level knowledge of geology and mineralogy. Professors of geology who visited the cave were astounded by his knowledge. Bishop was famous well beyond Kentucky. Well-known and influential visitors to the cave spread the word about his brilliance and recommended that others request him as their guide should they visit. 

Two other early guides were Nick and Mat Bransford. Nick and Mat weren’t brothers but instead shared the same last name because, sadly, they were both owned by the same man. It was a common practice for enslaved people to be given their owner’s last name. Mat was one of the earliest tour guides. He was eventually freed and continued to work at Mammoth Cave as a guide, but paid. His son Henry and his grandchildren, Louis and Matt also worked as paid tour guides at the cave well into the twentieth century. The family tradition didn’t stop there though: his great-great-great-grandson works there as a park ranger now! 

Nick Bransford was also an enslaved tour guide and may have also done other work above ground on the cave property. Nick didn’t want to wait to be freed: he made a plan to buy his freedom. He asked his master how much it would cost to buy his freedom. When he finished his required tours and other work each day, he went back to the cave and captured eyeless fish from the underground springs. He then sold the unusual fish to tourists to earn extra money. After years of doing this, he was finally able to buy his freedom. He went on to become an important person in his community, donating land for a school. He stayed on at Mammoth Cave as a tour guide for over 50 years! 

Some of the visitors to Mammoth cave were famous and powerful–writers, politicians, even royalty. Though outside the cave, Stephen, Mat, and Nick were viewed as property as slaves, tourists inside the cave relied on them to keep them alive and safe during their visit. The cave could be a dangerous place for people who weren’t familiar with its layout and hazards. There were chasms and underground rivers that tourists could fall into if they weren’t careful. This included dead ends, slippery pathways, and loose rocks that could fall. Lamps and candles could blow out, leaving people in total darkness. Stephen, Mat, and Nick made sure their guests were safe by knowing the routes and the dangers, and being alert and prepared for any accidents. Most visitors respected these men for their bravery, knowledge, and skills because without them, going into the cave would have meant risking their lives. 

Though they all eventually gained their freedom and ended up working at the cave as paid workers, their lives as enslaved workers were unfair and, at times, harsh. Conditions in the cave were dangerous, as we’ve seen. Three of Mat Bransford’s children were sold away from him to different owners. But all three men, as well as other enslaved guides who worked at the cave,  showed that they were brave, capable, and accomplished individuals who deserved respect and admiration.  The same might be said for millions of other people who endured slavery in the United States, but whose stories we don’t know. Stephen, Mat, and Nick all wrote their names on the walls of Mammoth Cave in candle smoke. Even when people are forced into terrible situations, they are still capable of rising up–or going deep in the case of Mammoth Cave–and leaving their mark.

Mammoth Cave is an amazing natural wonder, but people like Stephen Bishop, Mat Bransford, and Nick Bransford give it an important human history as well. The world is full of natural places that also have interesting human stories–stories with twists, turns, and strange surprises, just like Mammoth Cave. So grab your flashlight and go exploring!

Sources

https://www.livescience.com/mammoth-cave-system-kentucky-record

https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=4EF84A9E-54F7-483C-BB54-A940BFAECBB8

https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/historyculture/native-americans.htm

https://www.nps.gov/people/mat-bransford.htm

https://www.nps.gov/people/nick-bransford.htm

https://www.nps.gov/people/stephen-bishop.htm

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/enslaved-tour-guide-stephen-bishop-made-mammoth-cave-must-see-destination-it-today-180971424/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Bishop_(cave_explorer)

Recommended Reading

Bradbury, Jennifer, 2015. River Runs Deep. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York.

Hensen, Heather, 2016. Lift your Light a Little Higher: The story of Stephen Bishop: slave-explorer. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York.

The post History of Mammoth Caves for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Have you ever sat outside on a dark night and stared up at the stars, wondering what’s out there? It’s not always possible in the city, but if you get away from the lights, on a very dark and clear night, you can see thousands of stars. People have watched the stars and wondered about them for as long as there have been people. What are they made of? How many are there? How far away are they? Why do they seem to move to different parts of the sky? Why do they twinkle? 

As other people have looked up at the stars like you, they have dreamed about visiting these far away places. As a child, Mae Jemison was one of them. Mae lived in a city, but during the summers as a child she went to camp. There, outside the city, it was dark enough to see the stars, and like you she wondered about other planets and stars and space. Then, she began to dream about what it would be like to go there.  And as Mae grew older she didn’t stop dreaming of going to space. 

Mae Jemison was born in 1956 in Alabama. At this time, Alabama still had many laws that were unfair to African Americans like Mae’s family. So, when she was three years old, her parents moved the family to the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. They thought they would be able to find better work for Mae’s mother and give their children a better education there. Her father was a roofer and carpenter, and her mother was a school teacher. 

The 1960s were an exciting time for space exploration. These years began with the first humans being launched into space! Yuri Gagarin, a Russian astronaut, was first and then Alan Shepherd, an American, was also launched into space. These years ended with humans landing on the moon for the first time: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969. 

But, as Mae watched all of these exciting events unfold, what she didn’t see in the space programs were people like herself or her family: African Americans and women. She followed every detail of the Apollo missions that brought humans to the moon. She enjoyed stargazing and imagining what it would be like to be in space. She went to the library and read everything she could find about space and science. But Mae wanted to see women a part of these programs, too. Still, Mae didn’t stop thinking and dreaming about space. On TV she found inspiration in the sci-fi show Star Trek, where one of the crew was a black woman doing important work as part of a starship crew.  And, her parents encouraged her to explore her interests. She studied earth history, chemistry, dance, and theater all in addition to space.

Growing up, Mae once told her teacher that she wanted to be a scientist. The teacher responded by asking if she meant to say “nurse.” Although being a nurse is a very important job, Mae stood firm and corrected her teacher, saying she really did want to be a scientist. She wasn’t about to have someone tell her what she should be. 

Later, other grown-ups encouraged Mae, such as a middle school teacher who helped her research different space and science related jobs. Different people in your life may encourage or discourage you, but you should never be afraid to say what you think or pursue a subject that interests you! Be sure to pay the most attention to people who care about you and encourage you and build you up! 

In college, Mae studied chemical engineering, but was also involved in dance and theater productions. In fact, she even considered trying to become a dancer! But Mae decided to continue studying science and went to medical school. From there, she studied in Cuba and Kenya, and also worked in a refugee camp in Thailand. A refugee camp is where people fleeing a war go to be safe, and Cambodia had just ended a long civil war. After medical school, Mae went on to work for the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone and Liberia. She speaks Swahili, Japanese, Russian, and, of course, English.

But through all this, Mae never stopped thinking about her dream to go to space. In 1985 she applied to the space program led by NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Association. To her joy, they accepted her, making Mae the first African American woman to enter the astronaut training program! During her training, Mae had to learn astronomy, engineering, space shuttle systems and many other subjects that help astronauts do their jobs. She trained physically, which can be very hard on the body. Astronauts must be very strong and healthy, because being in zero gravity puts a lot of stress on the human body. Zero gravity means you are floating because there is little to no gravity in space. One of Mae’s obstacles was also a fear of heights! Do you have a fear of heights? If so, Mae can relate to you. We all have fears but this was Mae’s. She had t o overcome her fear of heights to complete parachute training, but later said there was no question that it was worth it. She either had to face her fears, or not go to space. 

After training, Mae spent a few years helping with space shuttle launches at Kennedy Space Center. Then in September 1992, Mae joined six other astronauts on the space shuttle named Endeavor. Her job was a mission specialist, in some ways like her hero from the Star Trek TV show! She spent eight days in space. There, she performed experiments such as the effects of weightlessness and motion sickness on the crew. 

Not only did her childhood dream come true, Mae became the first African American woman in space. She took with her reminders of people who had been excluded in the past: a portrait of Judith Jamison, a famous African American dancer with the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater; a west African statue; and a photo of Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman to earn a pilot’s license. If you remember, we learned about Bessie Coleman in a past episode! 

Mae left NASA in 1993, but is alive today and has continued to work on space-related projects. She started a camp for youth who are interested in space, and wrote a book for young people about her life. She often talks to young people who are interested in careers in space and science. She tells them to find a career they really enjoy and are good at, but also learn about lots of different subjects. Mae certainly followed her own advice by studying dance, medicine, and engineering, and then learning all about space science and shuttle systems in her astronaut training. 

Mae hasn’t stopped working on big, ambitious goals for space travel either. She leads a project called 100 Year Starship. The goal of this project is to make travel to other star systems possible within the next 100 years! Isn’t that amazing! This is a huge challenge! So far we’ve only sent people as far as Earth’s moon, and unmanned probes to the other planets in our solar system.  Going to another solar system would take thousands of times longer. That’s because distances in space are vast. At current rocket speeds, travel to the closest star outside our solar system would take 70 thousand years! It would be nice not to have to wait so long for something that exciting, don’t you think? 

The 100 Year Starship project is exploring new technologies that could speed things up. They are also looking at ways to solve other problems that interstellar travellers would face on their trip, such as having enough food and energy, keeping people healthy, tools to fix things that break, and making sure everyone is happy and entertained!

The vastness of space has inspired us to dream about the stars since the first humans looked up at the night sky. They wondered what was out there, made up stories and watched closely to try to explain it. The unknown can be scary, but it’s also the thing that motivates us to learn and challenge ourselves to do bigger and better things. We want to know what’s out there, to make discoveries. We don’t know what we’ll find, but as Mae Jemison learned after her mission to space, we’re already a part of it. We are part of the universe, just like the stars and moon, the planets and asteroids. So it’s only natural that we want to explore it. 

Many people didn’t believe Americans could get a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s, a project that President John F. Kennedy proposed in 1962. But as the young Mae Jemison watched and tracked those missions from the South Side of Chicago, she and the world saw that enormous, seemingly impossible goals can be reached. They are reached by many people working together with a common purpose and vision. Mae Jemison helped show that race and gender do not matter when it comes to achieving these big goals. What matters is having passion, purpose, and determination. These are the kind of people like you who will build a better future for our world and beyond it in the stars. 

Sources

https://100yss.org/mission/challenges

https://www.biography.com/astronaut/mae-c-jemison

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/mae-jemison

https://www.today.com/video/dr-mae-c-jemison-on-breaking-barriers-as-first-black-woman-in-space-101574725699

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/545.html 

https://www.startrek.com/database_article/jemison

Jemison, Mae. 2001. Find Where the Wind Goes: Moments from my life. Scholastic Press. New York.

The post The Mae Jemison Story for Kids & Families appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Rosa was born on February 4, 1913 in Tuskagee, Alabama. When she was a child she was often sick and sadly had to spend a lot of time in bed. Then when she was two their family moved to live with their grandparents on a farm in a town called Pine Level. Rosa loved being on the farm with her family. It gave her and her siblings lots of room to play and spend time with each other. They explored the woods and streams nearby and she enjoyed the school there. 

Rosa was safe in Pine Level, but this wasn’t the case in other places in Alabama. Rosa and her family were African American and this was a time when black people were treated poorly in Alabama. They were forced attend separate schools, used separate bathrooms, and to drink from different drinking fountains. This is called segregation. They were often called mean names or abused.

When Rosa was eleven, she moved to Montogomery, Alabama to go to a better school. It was called the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls. The head of the school was a white woman named Alice White. She didn’t go easy on the girls, but this wasn’t because she was mean, it was because she wanted them to learn and grow. Often people who love you, do this because they want to see you be your best you. This motivated Rosa to try her best in school and learn as much as she could. She wanted to become a teacher like Ms. Alice someday. 

Rosa stayed at the school until her grandmother became sick, so she moved back to Pine Level to help. There she found jobs to help earn money for her family. She worked very hard to support them. 

When Rosa was 28, she met a young man named Raymond. Raymond inspired her to take even more interest in the problems black people were facing in Alabama and other places in the South. He was part of the NAACP, the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People. Rosa was proud of Raymond’s interest in helping this cause. He often put himself in danger for it. Rosa and Raymond fell in love and were married in 1932.

In 1934 Rosa finished high school, then started working as a nurse’s assistant and later at an army air force base. On her way home from work she rode a bus, but like all African Americans at the time she had to ride in the back of the bus. It made her very upset to be treated differently. She didn’t say anything at the time, but she was very angry deep inside. 

Around this time Rosa joined the NAACP and helped as a secretary for several years. She also registered to vote. At the time the government in Alabama made it very hard for black people to vote. Rosa had to take a difficult test and pay a tax that was very expensive. When she was finally able to vote she was very happy but also upset that so many of her friends and family were prevented from voting.

Rosa worked very hard for her family through these years and continued to help the NAACP. She was never able to have her own children, but helped the youth through the NAACP. She wanted them to have good lives and took the time to care for them. 

To get to and from work, Rosa rode the bus every day. Like other buses in Alabama, this one was segregated which means anyone who was black had to enter the bus from the back and sit at the back of the bus. This day, Rosa took courage and got on the bus through the front. The driver told her to get off and get on through the back. Rosa refused! The driver told her to get off again. She said she would not. The driver grabbed her by the coat and pulled her toward the front of the bus. She sat down again. The driver continued to yell at her. Rosa finally got off the bus, but she had stood up for herself and made her point.

In 1954 Rosa made friends with a white woman named Virginia Durr, who wanted to help her and other African Americans. Virginia encouraged Rosa to attend a workshop in Tennessee that trained people to fight for equal rights for blacks and workers who were treated unfairly. People of all races and different states came together to learn how to make the world a better place. There she met Martin Luther King and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. a black congressman from New York City. There she began thinking about ways to fight racism in her own city.

On December 1st 1955, Rosa left home to catch the Cleveland Avenue bus to go to work. When she got on the bus she realized the driver was the same one who had forced her off the bus a few years earlier. Rosa went to the back of the bus and sat down. As the bus went drover further and more people got on the bus, the bus driver told Rosa and the others in the back up to stand up so the white passengers could sit down. Rosa refused to get up. The driver yelled at her to get up, but she did not. The driver threatened to have her arrested. “You may do that,” Rosa replied. Soon, the police officers arrived and took Rosa to jail! She was very afraid. Fortunately, her friends at the NAACP were able to pay to have her released until her trial. She was going to be put on trial for not giving up her seat. Can you believe that?

Rosa and lawyers at the NAACP decided they would sue the bus company for not letting her sit down. Suing is when lawyers use the law to try to punish a company like the bus company by getting money from them. If they won the lawsuit then hopefully the unfair laws would be done away with. 

Rosa and her friends also decided to boycott buses that treated them unfairly. A boycott is when you refuse to use something and pay for it, so it punishes the company. If no one paid for bus rides, the bus company would see how much it cost to treat African Americans unfairly. During the days leading up to the boycott, Rosa and others passed out notes urging others to not ride buses on December 5th. If enough people didn’t ride the buses it would send a message to the bus companies. Rosa was nervous about whether it would work.

On December 5, 1955, to Rosa’s excitement, she saw that the buses were empty and thousands of people were walking to work and school instead of riding the buses! They were inspired by Rosa’s actions! Rosa set the example by refusing to give in to the unfair treatment of the city and bus companies. And the boycott didn’t only happen for a day — it went on for an entire year! Never before had so many people in the community come together to fight for civil rights. And the bus companies lost money because very few people rode the buses. 

Rosa’s trial also started on December 5, 1955. She lost the trial, but didn’t mind because they wanted it to go to a higher court. People around the country were watching the boycott and knew about Rosa’s trial. They started to send money to her and to the NAACP to support their fight for equality. She began spending all of her time writing and speaking about civil rights. She met other famous leaders and Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was also believed in her cause. 

On November 13, 1956 Rosa’s trial went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, the most important court in the country. The Supreme Court is located in Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court judges ruled that not allowing people sit where they want on a bus because of their race was against the Constitution — and not legal. Rosa Parks and her friends had scored a huge victory!

Soon after the trial, Rosa rode in the front of the bus and a famous photograph was taken of her to memorialize the event and her bravery in standing up to an unfair system. 

While there was still much work to do, Rosa’s act of courage and the result of the trial is often considered one of the first big events in the Civil Rights Movement. In August 1963 over 200,000 people marched in Washington, D.C. to show their support for Civil Rights. There Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous “I Have a Dream Speech.” Rosa was excited to see so many others speaking out about Civil Rights. Then in 1964, the President signed the Civil Rights Act that made it illegal to treat people differently because of their race.

Eventually, Rosa and her husband moved to Detroit and lived a quiet life there. In 1966 Rosa was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton. She received many other awards over the years for her bravery. She wrote books and spoke about her life and passed away at the age of 92. 

Spend some time thinking about Rosa and her decision to stand up for herself and for her rights. She was afraid and knew that she might get in trouble for it, but doing what was right was more important than her feelings. She refused to move when the driver told her to move. She knew it was wrong and didn’t back down. There will be times in your life when you will have the chance to stand up for yourself and others. Take courage even when you are afraid. Speak up when something wrong is happening! If not you, then who? You can make a difference in the world by speaking up and taking action. 

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