Jerome Lagarrigue's Freedom Summer

I read Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles and illustrated by Jerome Lagarrigue. ISBN: 9780689830167. I would use this book in the 5th grade when teaching (5) History. The student understands important issues, events, and individuals in the United States during the 20th and 21st centuries. The student is expected to: (A) analyze various issues and events of the 20th century such as industrialization, urbanization, increased use of oil and gas, the Great Depression, the world wars, the civil rights movement, and military actions. Freedom Summers was written to take place during Civil Rights act of 1964 in the summer when it was passed. Joe and John Henry are best friends and love playing marbles, they both want to be firemen, and they both love to swim and they want to do all of these things together. There was one thing standing in their way, Joe is white and John Henry is black and in the South during this time John Henry isn't allowed to do everything Joe can do because of the color of his skim. A law is passed that was supposed to end segregation, and this leads to the town pool to open to everyone. Joe and John Henry are so excited about this that they wake up early to be the first there at the pool. When they arrive the see the pool being filled with cement so that no one would have the …show more content…
During this time blacks were not allowed into most places that whites were and this was displayed when Joe goes in to get ice cream and John Henry cannot join him. It is also accurately depicting this time when even though a law was passed people would rather shut something down than to allow blacks in. There are no stereotypes shown in the language or pictures of this book. I do not see any limitations if this book were to be used to help teach students about the civil right