Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Letter to the Editor”

In this activity, students write a letter-to-the-editor-style opinion essay on school integration and extend their thinking by providing additional alternatives, solutions, or reflections from a modern perspective.

Placing yourself in the shoes of someone living in the US in 1957, in the aftermath of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, write a letter to a local or national newspaper giving your opinion on school integration. What is at stake for those involved? What does the nation seek to gain? What does it stand to lose? Limit yourself to 300 words. Then choose one of the extension prompts below, writing as much as you need to answer the question.

• Writing from where you are in the present, how would you have implemented school integration in your community? Would you have done it the way it was done in Little Rock and across the nation, with students going first? If not, how would you change the rollout?
• Writing from where you are in the present, how successful was school integration? Did it equalize education for American students regardless of race? Provide evidence to support your opinion.